Practical guides for life in Korea — visa, transit, banking, hospitals.
If you move apartments in Korea, you have 14 days to update your address with Immigration. This is not one of those laws nobody enforces. They notice. And the fine is annoying. The rule. Article 36 of ...
HiKorea is Korea's immigration portal. It's the only way to book an ARC renewal appointment in most Seoul offices now. The interface is dated but workable. Here's the walkthrough that gets you through ...
OK, so this happened to me my first year. I thought "renewal" meant I could sort it out the day after my visa ended. I was very, very wrong. Here's what actually happens if your ARC expires and you hav...
Short version: start the renewal process about 2 months before your visa expires. Here's why the timing matters. The 2-month rule. Korean immigration lets you file for renewal up to 60 days before expi...
The ARC renewal process in Korea is not hard, but it is very specific about paperwork. Show up missing one thing and you get sent home. This is the checklist I use. When to file. You can start the rene...
I've lived in three apartments here now. Nobody prepared me for any of the following. 1. The deposit will shock you. Even for a small one-room, expect 5–10 million KRW deposit ('bojeungeum') on top of ...
Updated this year because things changed. If you're on a D-2, D-4, E-7 or an F visa, this is basically the current state of it. Cash-only life gets tired fast so you probably want to sort this early. B...