You might be wondering why I didn't just get a D4 visa from the beginning? Well, there's just too much work to get that visa and I'm just too lazy, haha. I didn't want them looking at my financial statements. You also might be wondering why I said 3 months instead of a year? I didn't want the Korean Embassy asking too many questions and how I was going to pay for everything. I didn't want to go through all the grief of telling them that stuff, haha. Anyway, after a few days I got my passport in the mail. This is the pre-paid envelope I bought. You see the over sized stamps?:
Front of Envelope
Back of Envelope
I open up my passport and to my absolute utmost surprise I got a.......
......D4 visa. Not a C3 visa, but a D4 visa. Do you see THAT? haha. I wasn't trying to get one until I got to Korea. I had to check 3 different times to see if I was seeing an illusion. I definitely wasn't, haha. D4 visa is definitely better than a C3 visa. BINGO!!!!! I think I hit a jackpot and this will give me more time to have fun ^__^V. I actually wanted to see what the process was to change my C3 visa to a D4 visa while in Korea, but I guess I'll do an entry later on how to extend your D4 visa.
I just noticed why my pre-paid envelope was so much. The top stamps were $4.90 each. The middle stamps were $1 each. The bottom left stamp was $0.10 and the bottom right was $0.75. So I paid $13.65 just for stamps =__=
I just noticed why my pre-paid envelope was so much. The top stamps were $4.90 each. The middle stamps were $1 each. The bottom left stamp was $0.10 and the bottom right was $0.75. So I paid $13.65 just for stamps =__=
Very nice! Glad you got the visa -- Mark and I were dumb and believed that "you don't need a visitor for 3 months" stuff. And then he had to do a visa run to Japan. So yeah, you definitely needed a visa of some sort to be able to do an exchange within the country. :) And D4 is so much better... it's no fun sitting around the immigration office waiting all afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI did a quick search online and found this helpful advice about finding housing here. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100506191230AA7DHG9
Also, I just remembered a Chinese American from Level 1 (who since went back to the States). I'm going to check with him to see how he found his place and will get back to you. :)
Okay, I checked with my American friend. He said he used this link to look at places: http://klec.sogang.ac.kr/lms_bbs//data/gallery/20101207102234.jpg
ReplyDeleteThen he had a Korea friend call around for him once he found a few places he liked... Sorry, I'd offer but I really don't think my Level 3 Korean would cut it. Plus, I think if you could find a fluent speaker to call you might be able to get a better deal... :) Good luck. I've also seen signs around Sogang for a homestay program. Would you be interested in that? I could get the info for you if you want...
By the way, today I tried to change C3 visa to D4. All I needed was the certification of admission, receipt for paying tuition, letter from a bank showing I have 3,000,000 won and application fee of 50,000 won.
ReplyDeleteHowever, once I had everything ready - shock. Turns out I have C3-2 visa, which cannot be changed to other visa. Only C3-1 visa can be changed. It actually says in visa stamp C-32 visa. Anyway, now I have to leave Korea and reapply abroad. This is completely new to me as nobody, not even university officials new about the difference between C3 visas.
Awww, that sucks. I'm not sure how the whole process works. How long were you planning on staying? You probably could stay 6 months though. If you're an American, we can stay for 3 months on a tourist visa. So when your C-32 visa expires, go to the immigration office and ask if you need to leave the country to get a tourist visa. If you wanna stay longer, ask for an extension, but it requires you to show a plane ticket. I'm not sure how long you can extend it though.
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