[INTERVIEW] Korean visa policies: 'Opaque, erratic'?

Korean immigration specialist Jang Man-ik operates a one-person consulting agency, VISA in KOREA, in Seocho-gu, Seoul. It is dedicated to migrant workers in the country. Courtesy of VISA in KOREA

'Immigration specialist' from VISA in KOREA criticizes Korean visa policies

By Ko Dong-hwan

Korean visa policies change too often and confuse migrant workers, Korean "licensed immigration specialist" Jang Man-ik said.

He operates a one-person consulting agency, VISA in KOREA, in Seoul's southern Seocho district. He regularly chats with workers and foreigners interested in the matter on the firm's Facebook page or texts them.

Jang outlines a problem with the rule change. Workers do not get a proper grace period before revised conditions to acquire certain visas kick in. It particularly affects those who have been preparing to switch visas, mostly to a better type with fewer legal restrictions and more security, he said. But in the worst cases, the problem derails applicants whose eligibility for the visa switch was based on previous standards.

Many of the workers, mostly from the Southeast Asian region or other developing nations, try to stay in Korea and even bring their families here from their home countries. But their working visas, including the E-7 "specially designated activities" visa and others under E-classifications, don't guarantee this due to stringent restrictions on family invitations or even revalidation of their present visas.

"In Korea, migrants are constantly pressured to prepare for safer visas, like the F-2-7," Jang told The Korea Times, referring to the points-based long-term residency visa that allows employment as well as starting a business. "But some of those preparing to switch their visas the following year to upgrade their status get confused if the relevant visa or immigration policies changed only a short time ago."

Foreigners visited Jang Man-ik's office in Seocho-dong, in Seoul's Seocho District, on Oct. 3, 2017, to attend his lecture on Korean visas. Courtesy of VISA in KOREA

Before September 2018, marriage migrants with F-6 visas (those married to Korean citizens) were eligible to switch to permanent-resident F-5 visas with at least the second level of the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK). But a revision that month of the Immigration Control Law and Relevant Rules under the Ministry of Justice required the applicants to complete all five levels of the Korea Immigration and Integration Program (KIIP) ― a weekly class run by the Ministry of Justice about Korean language, culture and society that needs some 465 hours to complete. The other option replacing the TOPIC condition was getting at least 60 out of 100 points from the KIIP.

The problem was that the revision applied even to those who had put applications in that followed the previous requirements.

"The policy update didn't even employ the retroactive application process for them," Jang said.

The Ministry of Justice told The Korea Times the new condition applied to pre-revision applicants because the authority was concerned about the risk of marital problems from "difficulty in communication."

"We have beliefs that erratic communications endanger marital relationships and cause disputes in child upbringing and even psychological, social isolations," the ministry said. "And it is essential that marriage migrants prep themselves with basic language skills since they are fusing into Korean families and citizens."

The ministry said, however, applicants could be exempt from the new condition it they had "humanitarian disadvantages" linked to children, illnesses or senility.

The controversial policy enforcement also involves the E-7-4 visa, a points-based skilled worker visa and one of the most popular. One of the conditions had been that they worked four years or longer in Korea. In December 2017, however, another immigration control law revision effective the following year changed that to five years. It affected eligibility for those who had previously qualified for the switch.

"I have witnessed so many victims of the sudden change of policies, who were hoping to get better visas," Jang said. "When the E-7-4 visa was introduced in August 2017, it was advertised only 10 days prior. It needed at least a three-month notice period. These all show that Korean visa policies are enforced rather surreptitiously behind workers' backs."

The ministry said the new E-7-4 visa condition followed "the test period between August 2017 and January 2018, which proved the legitimacy in strengthening the eligibility by taking into account the applicants' work proficiency, adaptability in Korea and the risk of illegal stay."

Inundated with emails and texts from workers inquiring and complaining about various visa issues, Jang realized another critical loophole in Korean visa policies ― a drastic incoherence in information provided by the state-run immigration call center and regional immigration offices.

A man with an F-2-7 visa, who withheld his nationality, sought Jang's help after first calling the 1345 Immigration Contact Center to check if changing jobs would automatically cancel his F-5 application process because workplace continuity ceased. The call center said it was OK to change because he had applied more than a year ago. But an immigration office governing his residential area told him otherwise, pointing to the changed workplace, and disqualified his application.

"The Ministry of Justice acknowledges the F-5 eligibility as long as one's total working time was a year or more but regional immigration offices don't evaluate so," Jang said. "It is a clear loophole in policies. It even beats me which of them to trust."

Jang Man-ik in a video clip from his lecture on YouTube. He shares information about Korean visas in English and Korean on social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Korean portal Naver. Screen capture from YouTube

The ministry said what 1345 told inquirers could be changed by regional immigration offices because the latter are "entitled to require additional documents based on applicants' native backgrounds." The authority called the process "an additional screening rather than an erroneous mix-up."

Lack of English support on state websites and in national guidebooks about Korean visas and immigration services are more proof of poor Korean policies, according to Jang.

The justice ministry's Korean visa guidebook in English disappeared after 2015. KIIP's official website, the Immigration and Social Integration Network, also left major menu sections in Korean. The same problem is visible on the TOPIK website.

"In such environments, it is hard for migrants not familiar with Korean even to sign up for a membership," Jang said. "This is why I started on Facebook and YouTube sharing information with them."

Frequent changes in Korean immigration policies made it hard for government print manuals that need up-to-date translations to keep up, so information regarding proof of documents and visa application procedures has been left to 1345 to handle, the ministry said. Keeping the websites translated in English and other foreign languages also faced a financial obstacle, the authority said.

"We are planning to advance our website system after we secure budgets," the ministry said. "The plan includes introducing electronic manuals to improve accessibility for foreigners."

Migrant workers feel the chill in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on International Migrants Day on Dec. 18, 2018, as they protest in Gwanghwamun Square against the Korean government's "brutal" crackdown on illegal migrants. Korea Times file

Efforts to help

Jang started using Facebook in 2016 to run VISA in KOREA and has been sharing information about Korean working visas in English since. He invests time to answer inquiries and congratulates those who are approved for E-7-4 visas. The page now has over 35,000 followers.

"I was surprised to see that the ways for migrants to access the state policies about immigration or visas were extremely limited and opaque," said Jang. "Even the existing Korean resources on state-run immigration service website Hi Korea are hard to digest for Koreans."

He opened the Facebook site to show the changing Korean immigration policies. He understands that foreigners want to make sure if any new immigration policies will affect their visa extensions or the switching process.

The Facebook page got so many inquiries that he created a separate YouTube page where he uploads content ― from PowerPoint slides to self-shot videos lecturing in Korean or English ― that answer those questions.

His social network efforts do not usually make money. He earns fees providing in-person consultations. He decided to do this alone when he left a joint consulting agency in 2014. It suited him better as it allowed him to plan and travel more easily to meet his foreign clients across the country. He not only provides information but goes to immigration offices to walk clients through the procedures. Working alone also saves him money on office rental and wages.

"Sharing information online about Korean visas was considered taboo among immigration specialists because they could take advantage of the foreigners' ignorance for financial benefit," Jang said, admitting that many migrant workers are reluctant to discuss fees. "I too need to get around the means of living but I began to share the information anyway."

Jang, an authorized administrative translation licensee, has been in the Seocho district for the past five years ― the home of the Supreme Court, prosecutors' offices and the hub for civil lawyers and judicial scriveners ― doing translation jobs for companies.

"If I focused more on helping the migrants with affairs in immigration offices and spent less time social networking, I would have been richer," Jang said. "But I like meeting foreigners and traveling. As long as I bring food to the table for me and my wife, I should get by."

Katabilla Ketiye Ge-Dara Nimal Siri from Sri Lanka received F-5 permanent resident status from the Daegu Immigration Office on Dec. 18, 2018. Nimal, who came to Korea on an E-9 non-professional employment visa in 2013, saved a 90-year-old woman from a burning house in Gunwi-gun County in North Gyeongsang Province in February 2017. The Ministry of Justice recognized his act in granting the status. Yonhap

Harsh pre-conditions for applicants

Workers with E-7-4 visas have government-issued points to maintain to preserve their status. When they revalidate the visa each year, they need at least 52 out of 180 points to qualify. The points are hard to come by, however, especially for non-professionals without academic or professional backgrounds, like those in non-professional employment with E-9 visas, vessel crew with E-10s and work-and-visit workers with H-2s. Their most reliable options are getting their Korean skills evaluated in TOPIK level tests or completing KIIP, which translates to points.

But handling the language-learning and working for the mostly Korean-illiterate workers are time consuming and energy sapping.

"Because of TOPIK's difficult literacy levels, migrants prefer taking KIIP," Jang said. "They usually take the program on weekends while working weekdays. But with the justice ministry granting more points to those with higher stipends that derive from more working hours, they feel obligated to work on Saturdays too. They literally have no free time. The pressure for the E-7-4 is especially high for older workers because their points get deducted as they get older."

Another issue is that the spouse of an E-9 visa holder who switched to the E-7-4 visa must have 20 million won or more saved to extend her "dependent family" F-3 visa ― while such a condition does not apply to spouses of other specialist visas like the E-7. Jang said some had flown to Seoul only to be sent back because they didn't have the money.

"Though their husbands are right there working hard, the government shooed them off because they didn't have the money," Jang said. "If their visas were extended so they could support their husbands and children, it would afford them more family time when they would grease the domestic economy as consumers. Migrant workers' families, not just marriage migrants, also represent a branch of 'multicultural families' that the Korean government emphasizes so much."