Bureaucracy is a many faceted thing

I've been trying to figure out exactly what I needed to do to renew my visa for another year here in Korea. The Korean immigration website is officially the least helpful website EVER, so I wasn't having much luck getting my questions answered there.

Normally, I could turn to a few specific websites where a lot of other expats write about living in Korea kinds of things, including immigration. But the Korean government just passed a bunch of new legislation about my specific visa type, and everyone is really confused about what is going on. Some of the new regulations are quite difficult to fill, and the paperwork has to be done from America.

I thought that I was on top of all of this. I ordered a background check from the FBI when I was Stateside in February, and my parents mailed it to DC to get an apostille put on it, and then mailed it to me in Korea. Of course, nobody really seems clear if I need this background check for this visa renewal, or if I'll only need it for the next one, but I have it, so hopefully it won't be an issue with this or any future visa renewals.

I have a stack of papers from my new school, and they all seem to be in order. One of the things that was terribly confusing was WHEN I needed to apply for this new visa. I technically have to apply for a visa extension and report a change of workplace. The thing is, I start my new job before my current visa expires. I didn't know if I had to apply for a new visa before I went to America, or if I had to go down to immigration twice... It was a giant mess. Immigration office visits take hours and hours out of your day. The office is quite far away from both my current apartment and my new apartment. The lines are nearly legendary, and the paperwork can get ridiculous. I didn't want to have to go twice.

To further complicate things, it has come out that the FBI background checks will only be accepted by Korean immigration for six months after they are run. This is particularly difficult, because to get the background check, get the apostille put on it, and get it to Korea can take a full six months in and of itself. I knew that it would take a long time, but the six month rule hadn't been announced in February. I was afraid that I would have to somehow try to get a new background check.

In the midst of all of this confusion, I decided that there was really only one answer. I looked up a list of Korean words, and I called immigration this afternoon. Thankfully, there was an English option in the menu, so I didn't have to try and muddle through all of this in Korean. I'm QUITE sure that would have been a disaster of truly biblical proportions.

The good news at the end of all of this is I have all of the documents that I need as of now. I'll probably pick up one document that I already submitted when I'm in Indy, just because I've heard horror stories about immigration losing documents that are supposed to be on file and denying visas because of it. My FBI background check is still acceptable -- but I only have four days to spare before it would have expired. I find myself in the odd position of both loving bureaucracy (on the American side) and being frustrated with it (on the Korean side). I only have to go to immigration once, and I don't have to go until after I get back from America in August.

So basically, in the next two weeks I'm going to finish one job, pack, move to a new apartment and fly to America. When I get back, I'm going to immediately start a new job and unpack said apartment for the last few days of August. In September, I'll apply for my new visa, start a new semester, and start a Master's degree. At least all of these things have the courtesy to be spread out a little bit!