Part of being a legitimate expat / Korean is getting your alien registration card – the card that lets the Korean government know you’re here legitimately. I’m sure the US has something similar for those who enter the country legitimately, but I thought I’d explain the process here.

Earlier today, my boss mentioned that we would be visiting the immigration center to get this done. Myself, the boss, and the head teacher of the school headed to the Incheon Immigration Center (if you ever fly into South Korea, chances are you’ll fly into Incheon – not Seoul). In any case, my boss already had the forms mostly prepared. I filled out a section on my home address (WTF? I’m in Korea now!) and another form on my educational background – probably so the Korean government can verify my degree. After getting the forms filled out, we waited in a queue for about 15 minutes before our number came up. I ended up giving my passport to the boss as a part of the papers (more on this later) The immigrations official looked over the forms, circled a couple places, then spoke Korean to the boss. We then went to another desk, where the boss paid a fee and sent us back to the first desk. The boss handled all the paperwork, which was nice since I had no idea what was going on!

I did have to give up my passport and a passport-sized photo. Supposedly I’ll get it – and my alien registration card – in the mail in about 10 working days. I won’t be going anywhere – but giving up my passport made me feel a little uneasy. Again, I didn’t exactly know what was going on – I was simply doing as I was told. I’m trusting the Korean immigration service with the only thing that’ll let me OUT of the country if need be… In any case, this ended up being another formality to the process of legitimately entering the country. Since your boss / head teacher probably know more about the rules and ways of making things legitimate, trust them when it comes to getting things done 🙂

UPDATE 4/28/08: I received the card and passport back via mail – I’m officially an alien! Strange – if I’m an alien, why does that picture on the card look like me?

In all seriousness, the card is standard-sized like a driver’s license, has my picture and name, and my entering and leaving date according to my visa. It also has my birthdate in a coded format – I’m not sure if I could use it if I were ever carded, but so far I’ve yet to be carded for buying anything. I guess I look old enough 🙁 The back has areas in Korean for notes to be entered if needed, I suppose. In any case, into the wallet it goes – probably not needed for anything specific for months to come.