Up bright and early this morning (no easy feat after dart league night) and made our way to the immigration office (also no easy feat during morning rush hour).  Despite arriving a few minutes after the 9:00 a.m. opening, we drew ticket number 35 in the waiting to be served queue.

Our purpose and mission was to change my immigration status to that of being the spouse of a Korean rather than my current inconvenient designation of tourist*.  Jee Yeun came armed with reams of paperwork from the gu-office verifying that my name has been rendered in Hangul on the marriage register, financial statements, and other documents she imagined would be required.  Turns out we didn’t need any of them.

Our number was called after a 45 minute wait that seemed longer than it was.  Jee Yeun did the talking in the language of the locals and explained our reason for being there.  The immigration agent looked at my passport, shook his head, and according to Jee Yeun said that I can’t get a marriage visa when I’m in the country on a tourist visa.  He told her I would have to apply for the visa at the Korean embassy in the USA. He did seem pretty adamant about this and we were dismissed from his window within two minutes of our arrival.

I of course had nothing to say in the matter.  But there were things I wanted to say.  Like the fact that I had called the Korean consulate in Atlanta last summer and inquired about applying for a marriage visa.  They told me it would be better to apply in Korea.  How do you say “stop giving me the fucking run around” in Korean anyway?**

* I honestly don’t care so much about my visa status.  The F-6 marriage visa would certainly be more convenient, but it’s not like I’m looking to get a job or live in Korea full time anyway.  It’s just an expensive pain in the ass to be limited to 90 stays when I travel to Korea.  Sometime around June 11 I’ll need to take a quick trip out of the country (probably to Japan again).  I’ll also have to change my return flight to the USA with Delta who will ream me to the tune of $250 for that privilege.

** I actually fully expected to be rejected for the F-6 visa precisely because I can’t say “stop giving me the fucking round around” in Korean.  Apparently the ability to speak in Korean is now a requirement for the marriage visa (although Jee Yeun speaks decent English, so that might be an exception). Anyway, I guess I’ll have to wait for the Korean embassy in the states to tell me “anio” for that reason.  Or I could make an effort to actually learn the language between now and then.  One of those.