China Visa with less than 6 months on ARC

I recently went through the process of getting a visa for my upcoming trip to China. When we went to Vietnam I needed one as well and all it involved was filling out a form at the embassy in Seoul and coming back the following week to pick up my passport. Easy peasy.

China though? Not so much. If you're a foreigner living in Korea (specifically a US American since that's what I am in case some of this info may not apply to foreigners of other countries) and you want to take a trip to China, the visa process involves just a bit more work. You can no longer apply for a visa directly at the Chinese embassy so you need to find a travel agency to take care of it for you.

And if you're like me and you have an ARC (Alien Registration Card) that is expiring within the six month period from when you are applying for a visa, you will hear that the Chinese embassy in Seoul no longer grants visas in those cases. So you have to get some extra paper work and send your documents down to a travel agency in Busan where the Chinese embassy there will give you a visa. Still with me?

Once all was said and done, the process wasn't that much more difficult but I think I was just so worried that they wouldn't grant me a visa that I worked myself into a tizzy. This post will probably be way too late to help anyone hoping to head out to China for Chuseok but for future reference I thought I'd compile the steps you need to take if you want a visa for China with less than six months left on your ARC.

Step 1
If your ARC has less than six months on it then you need to get yourself to your local immigration office and pick up a Certificate of Foreign Registration (I have heard you can also get one of these at your city hall or district office but I can't confirm this). Bring your passport, ARC, and a stamp (I bought one at the office) into the immigration office and request this form. It takes less than five minutes and you leave with a sheet of paper that basically just re-states all the information from your ARC and passport but with a fancy stamp on top of it.

If you're in Incheon then the immigration office is located right behind Inha University Hospital. I took a cab and told the driver "Incheon chu-rip-kuk" or "Incheon immigration". I think I also threw in "Sa-mu-shil" or "office" for good measure but kept butchering it and he finally just said in plain English "Office?". Somehow even when I attempt to speak Korean I sound like an idiot...

Step 2
Find a travel agency to send your stuff to. I highly recommend Kangsan Travel as I had a very positive experience with them. They have an office in Seoul as well as one in Busan. I was super paranoid about mailing off my documents, particularly my passport, and having them get lost or be returned with a fat rejection stamp on top. So I emailed them beforehand just to confirm that they definitely would be able to get me a visa with my soon-to-be expired ARC and they assured me it would be fine.

Step 3
Fill out your visa application. You can find the applications through Kangsan Travel here. The first PDF is the main application form and the second is an extra form to fill out if you're applying for the visa in a country other than your country of nationality. So basically all foreigners in Korea need to send that one as well.

Step 4
Gather up your documents. What you'll be sending:
- Passport
- Copy of your ARC, front and back
- A 3cm x 4cm passport photo
- Application forms
- Certificate of Foreign Registration

If you don't have passport sized photos you can either get them taken in a subway station at one of those little photo booths or at a photography shop. Just look for a shop window full of family portraits, walk in, and tell them what you want. I needed one for Vietnam too so I had plenty of extras.

Step 5
Mail your documents off! I just brought everything into the post office, told them I wanted to send something express to Busan, and the worker helped me fill out the address in Korean. You can find the address at the page I linked above.

Step 6
Pay the visa and handling fee. For most foreigners the fee is 70,000 won but for Americans it's 220,000. Gross. On top of that I also paid 30,000 handling to Kangsan. You can pay by wire transfer at your bank which is super easy and safe. The account name and number details can also be found on the applications page linked above. I emailed Kangsan to let them know I'd transferred the money and I also sent them the address to mail my passport back to. 

I'd sent my things off on a Tuesday and by the Friday of the following week my passport was back with a brand new visa inside. I've heard various things about the Chinese embassy in Busan possibly changing to the no-visa-for-an-ARC-with-less-than-six-months like Seoul but at least for the time being you can get one if you follow these steps and go through Kangsan Travel. I'm sure there are other agencies you can use as well, I just know I had success with this one.

Happy travels!

Trivia of the Day: Caribbean Bay is an indoor / outdoor water park located in Yongin, South Korea. Opened in 1996, it is the largest indoor / outdoor water park in the world. The Caribbean Bay park reproduces a typical bay in the Caribbean Sea. The park includes a wave pool, the world's longest lazy river ride, a sandy pool, a wading pool for young children, various water slides, and a salt sauna. The children pool also has a baby pool which is very shallow for adults but perfect for babies. Caribbean Bay has received "Must-see Waterpark Awards" from International Association of Amusement Park Attractions.

Getting this show on the road

A while back when I began making plans to spend a year teaching in Korea I also decided that I would start myself one of those nifty little travel blogs, you know, a digital diary of all the goings-on with plenty of photographic evidence that I'm not actually making this up from the corner of my bedroom. 

So here it is in all its this-basic-layout-is-really-the-best-someone-as-photo shopped-challenged-as-myself-can-manage glory. 

I'm starting this blog for a few reasons, some which are probably pretty obvious:

1) It'll be a great way to keep everyone I'll be missing back home up-to-date with what I'm getting up to in Korea. Sure I have Skype and email and Facebook but I like the idea of having one tidy spot for pictures and text to fill in the blanks. 

2) The blogs of other English teachers working in Korea have been hugely informative and I'm hoping in turn I can do the same for others. I know for a fact I wouldn't feel half as prepared as I do now if it weren't for all the advice and enthusiasm I've come across in dozens of blogs. I know you can't ever be entirely ready for what's going to come your way but sharing those experiences as you go can really benefit the person coming along behind you. Even in the application process I've hit a lot of bumps and I plan at some point in going into detail about those so new prospective teachers can avoid the same issues. Give and take folks. 

3) Most people when they hear I'm going to teach in Korea have been really excited for me which is awesome. Everyone has told me to stay safe and not accidentally wander into the North and I'm totally appreciative of that kind of support. On the other hand there have been a few (and really it's just been a few) people who hear I'm going to Korea and make some kind of comment about "that part of the world" or shake their head as though if only I knew what I was getting myself into then I wouldn't be going. 

I have a big problem with that second reaction. Those types of comments reek of xenophobia and ignorance. Also they sort of suggest that I'm pretty stupid which, despite my having for many years believed the "D" in the Disney logo to be some sort of weird "G" (come on though, lots of kids thought that!), I tend to take offense to. 

So I'm also hoping that this blog and my experiences, good and bad, will show those types of folks what Korea is really like. It's not cool to judge, especially if you're just making claims about an entire country and culture without really knowing their story. 

And speaking of my Korean experiences, I'll be heading out in just about a month now! My training begins November 22nd in Seoul and as long as that goes smoothly I start teaching the 29th in Incheon. Basically I'm a bundle of anxiety and excitement. Sometimes I fall asleep imagining all the amazing places I'm going to see and if I'll be able to snag tickets to the Pusan International Film Festival and other nights I nearly give myself a migraine worrying about the tests during the week of training, the enormous language and culture barrier I'm about to face, and if I'll get fined for putting out my trash and recycle wrong (I've heard stories!). 

But those both seem like pretty reasonable emotions when you're about to pack up and leave for a year. I'm not much of a traveler, though I'd like to be. I've only left the country once, four years ago, for a brief stint and I've never flown alone.  I'm not quick to pick up new languages and I've never lived by myself before. If you think the glass is half empty this might seem like a recipe for a disaster but if you see it half full it might seem like the best thing I've ever decided to do with my life. 

I guess you will just have to stick around to find out.