New policy on remarriage for marriage immigrants

When the new policy for the F-6 visa was announced in October last year, included in the announcement are two provisions related to “remarriage” by Korean nationals to marriage immigrants. Like the Korean language and income level requirement, the “remarriage” criteria will also take effect in April.

First, a Korean national may only invite a marriage immigrant once in five years. This is to prevent fraud on the F-6 or marriage visa. Similar to the “green card marriage” in the USA, there have been cases wherein a Korean national would accept money from a foreigner so they could get married for visa sponsorship. In the past, there are more documents required when the Korean national marrying a foreigner is a divorcee.
Second, to prevent cases in which marriage immigrants acquire Korean citizenship by getting married to a Korean and immediately get divorced and then invite a foreigner as marriage immigrant, the invitation would be allowed three years after the marriage immigrant has acquired nationality. This policy also stemmed from not a few incidences wherein a foreign woman would marry a Korean man. When the foreign woman has acquired Korean citizenship, she divorces her Korean husband and marries another foreigner. A foreigner who marries a marriage immigrant with Korean nationality is not usually granted an F-6 visa (but F-1 visa). From this year, the marriage immigrant would have to wait three years after changing citizenship before he/she can invite another foreigner for marriage.
In the second criteria, the exemption would be when the couple already has a child. When in doubt, it is best to call the Immigration Office near your area of residence.