By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Korea's state-supported human rights watchdog Wednesday urged a provincial immigration office to reinstate the legal status of a Bangladeshi worker, who had overstayed his visa and been consequently categorized as an illegal alien due to its failure to extend his visa on time.

According to the National Human Rights Commission, a Bangladesh worker in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, applied to change his visa type in September at the immigration office in Suwon and contacted them many times to confirm the approval.

Since no information on the visa extension was available for months, the 40-year-old, identified only by ``K,'' visited the office in April and found out that he had already overstayed his visa by three months and his status was now illegal, making any reentry impossible as a result.

He filed a complaint with the commission, arguing the office's delay was to blame and urged the office to return him to his previous status.

The commission found that the office decided to reject the worker's request on Jan. 9 and sent a letter, including the result, to his previous address.

With no recipient there, the letter was returned to the office, but it did not send the letter to his new address, the commission said.

The immigration office said ``There is no evidence that the foreigner actually visited the office. Also, he provided insufficient evidence for us to believe that he was actually living in the new address.''

An officer said, ``If he voluntarily leaves the country, the ban on his reentry will be lifted.''

The commission called the office's allegations ``groundless,'' saying, ``We have a witness who can confirm his visit to the office. Also, it doesn't make sense that the office didn't know where he lived.''

The commission urged the office to completely reinstate his status and make sure that no disadvantage would be imposed on him in the future.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr