Unilateral marriage registration for visa extension 'invalid'

Busan Family Court annulled the marriage and divorce status of a man who registered his marital situation without the woman’s agreement in order to extend his U.S. visa. /

By Ko Dong-hwan

A South Korean man who needed to extend his American visa had filed for marriage, and for divorce a year after, both without his partner’s agreement.

A Korean court has ruled that his matrimonial escapades are legally ineffective.

The man, in his 30s, was living in the U.S. in February 2014 when he met a South Korean woman, also in her 30s, at a casual get-together for the Korean nationals. The two started going out.

The man at the time needed to extend the visa and decided to register his status as married. He then asked her for documents required to file for marriage. The woman provided the documents, but told the man “never to proceed with marriage.”

But in April the same year, he filed for marriage without her knowledge.

He then filed for divorce the following year without her agreement.

The woman filed for annulment of her marriage and divorce, saying the papers were signed without her consent.

Busan Family Court on Nov. 17 ruled that her marriage and divorce were illegal.

“The filing for marriage and divorce was carried out for the sole purpose of extending the man’s visa,” the court ruled, fining the man.

“It was totally void of the social norm of accepting it as a matrimonial union of a man and a woman.”