VISA

International students (MS/Ph.D program) must obtain a student visa, or D-2 visa, international researchers who will participate the research project in GIST need an E-3 visa, and international faculty members need an E-1 visa. Students will usually be given six months or one year of period to study, which is much shorter than the official school term. Working in Korea on a student visa is not allowed, and in order to change the status of one’s visa, absolute departure from his/her original country is required by the law. Furthermore, a tourist visa is valid only for 90 days and cannot be extended nor converted to another type of visa without leaving Korea. On the other hand, D-2 visa, E-3 visa and E-1 visa can be extended in Korea without departure from the country.


Obtaining a visa

In order to obtain a visa, you need to follow the procedures.

 



Procedure1

This procedure is applicable only to international students (except for Chinese students) who are admitted to a graduate program at GIST. Once you get an admission for an academic department, GIST will send you the Certificate of Admission. You are responsible for applying for a D-2 visa in the Korean embassy in your country by submitting the passport, the Certificate of Admission, official verification of your bachelor's or Master's degree, resume and other required documents if any. With this procedure, visa approval could take two to fifteen days depending on the embassy chosen.




Procedure2

This procedure is applicable to Chinese students who are admitted to a graduate program at GIST, international faculty members who will be hired at GIST and immediate family members of international faculty members. Once you get a job offer from GIST(or get an admission for an academic department at GIST as a Chinese student), GIST will send you the Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance so that you may apply for a visa at the Korean Embassy in the country where you stay. Visa approval can take only a few hours or up to a few days depending on the embassy chosen. Some embassies require your personal presence and other embassies prefer mailing the application.The following documents are required by the Gwangju Immigration Office before GIST can send out the Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance to you:


- Student Apartments
- Official verification of your bachelor's or Master's degree
- Resume iii. Each copy of your citizenship card (both sides) and passport (if you have one)
- Certificate of Admission which was issued by GIST and signed by the student
- A recommendation letter from the president of your most recent university if available
- International faculty members
- An original copy of signed employment agreement contract
- Official verification of your Ph.D. degree
- Resume
- A copy of your valid passport. Only the pages which contain information and stamps are ecessary
- International faculty members
- A certified copy of marriage certificate with its certified English translation
- Certified copies of birth certificates of children with their certified English translations
- Each copy of your family members' valid passport
- International faculty members
- A certified copy of marriage certificate with its certified English translation
- Certified copies of birth certificates of children with their certified English translations
- Each copy of your family members' valid passport
- After we receive the required documents listed above from you, it takes us approximately 4 weeks (50 to
  65days for Chinese citizens) to send you the Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance.





Important Reminder living In Korea

Within 90 days of your arrival in Korea, you must go to the Immigration Office to register and get an Alien Registration Card regardless of the type of your visa. It is the responsibility of the individual international scholar to maintain valid visa status in Korea. Failure to maintain valid visa status may result in heavy fines.

 



Passport

You need to show your passport when you leave and re-enter your home country, when you leave and enter Korea, when you travel to other countries, when you exchange money and when you enter foreign embassies and so on. If you lose your passport, you must immediately report it to your embassy to get a new one.




Alien Registration

Within 90 days of your arrival in Korea, you must go to the Immigration Office to register and get an Alien Registration Card regardless of the type of your visa unless your total period of stay in Korea is less than 90 days. In other words, no matter how long your visa is good for, every non-Korean citizen needs to apply for an Alien Registration Card. To do this, you need two passport size photos, your passport, 10,000 won of government fee, Certificate of Enrolling Status. If you fail to carry a full-time load we must revoke our sponsorship of you.




Visa Extension

Most of the visas are valid only for a year. And also "Multiple entry" will be automatically awarded for international student visa (D2, D4) without any stamp given. So re-entry is permitted when you maintain a vaild visa status. In order to maintain valid visa status, basically you need to go to the Immigration Office and apply for visa extension prior to one month of your visa expiration. However GIST International Office provides the student visa extension service. The following documents are required for visa extension:
International students (Campus contact: Office of International and Public Affairs, 715-2063)
- Certificate of Enrollment
- Certificate of Sponsorship issued by Section of Academic Affairs
- Passport
- Alien Registration Card
- Official Transcripts
- International faculty members and their immediate family members (Campus contact: Department Office)
- 30,000 won of government stamp fee
- A certified copy of employment agreement contract
- Passport
- Alien Registration Card
- Certificate of Employment
- International post-doctoral fellows and researchers (Campus contact: Department Office)
- 30,000 won of government stamp fee
- A certified copy of employment agreement contract issued by the administration
- Passport iv. Alien Registration Card
- Certificate of Employment





Changing Your residence Korea

If your address in Korea has changed, you need to notify it to the Gwangju Immigration Office that governs your new residence within 14 days of your relocation. Failure to do so may result in heavy fines of up to 2,000,000 won.




Working in Korea

Working on or off campus on a student visa (D-2) is not allowed in Korea and may result in deportation from the country and/or being heavily fined. Even if you have a work visa (E-1 or E-3) with a job at GIST, you are not allowed to work for other organizations without prior permission.


For further inquries, please visit the HiKorea (e-Government for Foreigner) website:
www.hikorea.go.kr <-- Click here

 



Gwangju Immigration Office

 





 

Location:	(502 838) 366-1, Hwajung 3 Dong, Seo Gu, Gwangju
Telephone No.:	381 0015~7
Office hours:	9 am.- 6 pm. (Mon.- Fri.)