Applying for a South Korean Visa as a Family

South Korea has always been in the list of countries Mr. G and I wanted to go to even before we were married. Several korean dramas and promo airfares later, we gathered the courage to apply for a visa and thankfully, we (including Kara) were approved.

There are lots of blog posts on how to apply for a South Korean visa in the internet. I know because I did a lot of research before we submitted our papers to increase our chances of getting approved. One thing I noticed was that there were only few posts on how to apply as a family. Which brings me to today’s topic. Below are the steps we did in applying for a South Korean Visa:
*Our family consists of: an employee, a housewife and a toddler (1.8 yrs old), all Filipino and living in the Philippines.
STEP 1: GATHER all requirements. There are several documents that you need to submit with your application form. Determine which category you fall under and start gathering the requirements.
**See the categories and their corresponding requirements here.
**Download the visa application form here. The new application form does not come with guidelines on how to answer it. I will be posting how we filled up ours.
To simplify, below is a chart of the documents we submitted to the embassy:

 

EMPLOYEE	HOUSEWIFE	CHILD (1.8 YRS OLD)
1. Application Form	1. Application Form	1. Application Form
2. 1 piece of Passport size colored picture	2. 1 piece of Passport size colored picture	2. 1 piece of Passport size colored picture
3. Original Passport (should be valid for more than 6months)	3. Original Passport (should be valid for more than 6months)	3. Original Passport (should be valid for more than 6months)
4. Photocopy of Passport Bio-page (page 2)	4. Photocopy of Passport Bio-page (page 2)	4. Photocopy of Passport Bio-page (page 2)
5. Original Certificate of Employment (must include applicant’s position, date hired, compensation, office address, HR landline number(cell-phone number is not allowed), HR e-mail address)	5. Husband’s Original Certificate of Employment (must include applicant’s position, date hired, compensation, office address, HR landline number(cell-phone number is not allowed), HR e-mail address)	5. Father’s Original Certificate of Employment (must include applicant’s position, date hired, compensation, office address, HR landline number(cell-phone number is not allowed), HR e-mail address)
6. Original Personal Bank Certificate (must include account type, current balance, account opening date, ADB)	6. Personal or husband’s original Personal Bank Certificate (must include account type, current balance, account opening date, ADB)	6. Father’s Original Personal Bank Certificate (must include account type, current balance, account opening date, ADB)
7. Bank Statement (original or certified true copy of bank statements/passbook for the last 3 months)	7. Personal or husband’s Bank Statement (original or certified true copy of bank statements/passbook for the last 3 months)	7. Father’s Bank Statement (original or certified true copy of bank statements/passbook for the last 3 months)
8. ITR(Income Tax Return) or Form 2316 Copy	8.Husband’s copy of ITR	8. Father’s copy of ITR
	9. Copy of NSO Marriage Certificate	9. Copy of parents’ NSO Marriage Certificate
		10. Copy of NSO Birth Certificate

*Note that we each attached the same document from items 5-8. The consul in the embassy however, removed those attachments from my application form and Kara’s.

STEP 2: SUBMIT your requirements. Starting June 2015, the new schedule for visa processing is as follows:

Visa Application: 8:30am-11:30am

Processing time:

3 working days (for those who have been to OECD member countries within 5 years as tourist)
5 working days (for those who have not been to OECD member countries within 5 years).

Visa Fee:

59 days (or less) stay in Korea — GRATIS
60 to 90 days stay in Korea — PHP1,800.00

Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Philippines

• Address
  • 122 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig city 1634, Philippines
• Contact
  • (Tel) (63-2) 856-9210  visa local no. 270, 500
  • (FAX) (63-2) 856-9008, 9019, 9024(Consular section)
  • (E-Mail) philippines@mofa.go.kr, ph04@mofa.go.kr (Consular section)

Consulate in Cebu

• Address
  • 12th Floor Chinabank Corporate Center, Lot 2, Samar Loop Cor. Road 5, Cebu Business Park, Mabolo, Cebu City
• Contact
  • (Tel) (63-32) 231-1516(-9)
  • (Fax) (63-32) 231-2950
  • (E-Mail) phi_cebu2015@mofa.go.kr

TIP: Go to the embassy early. Mr. G arrived at 6:30am and found a crowd already at the embassy’s gates. He went to the security guard, left an ID, then they gave him a number. 15 mins before 8am, the guards started calling out numbers to go inside, fall in line and have their documents checked. He was again given a number indicating which window he will proceed for the submission. It only took 30 mins for Mr. G to get this step done, so fast!

STEP 3: PRAY. Yes, you need this. Once you have submitted your requirements and received a stub stating when you’ll be coming back for your passports, pray that your visa gets approved.

STEP 4: COLLECT your passports on the specified date.

Passport Releasing: 1:30pm-4:00pm

TIP: Arrive in the embassy early, they let you in by 1pm. Fall in line to get a number and a piece of paper where you will write the names of the people whose passport you’ll be collecting.

And there you have it! 4 easy steps to get a South Korean Visa. We hope this post helps. Goodluck!

Tagged: applying for south korean visa, family, korea, south korea, south korea travel, south korean visa application, south korean visa requirements, Travel, visa, visa application, visa application family, visa for south korea filipinos