Alien Registration Card (ARC) Info

I wasn’t given much information regarding the ARC. And the info that I was given wasn’t very clear… So lemme just share the info that I know and what the process was like~

First, a little info about me:
I’m a Canadian student studying at Yonsei University as an exchange student for 2 semesters (1 full year). At first my plan was to get my ARC  ASAP after my parents & I arrived in Korea to avoid the flood of students after orientation. But we found out that I needed some papers that would only be given to me during/ after orientation (the Certificate of Enrollment)… So we had to wait until after orientation.

First of all, there are different branches of Immigration Offices and you will go to a different one depending on the jurisdiction/ area you life in. I’m actually not sure where to find this information but perhaps it can be found somewhere on their website: http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/main_en.pt ??

Since I’m staying in SK Global House, I went to the Seoul Immigration Office in Omokgyo. This post will be based on my visit to the Omokgyo branch. There are some good videos on Youtube which shows you how to get there if you are taking the subway. This is the video I watched to lead me there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YiYHSN9IB4

If you are planning on taking a taxi instead, this is the Korean address for the Omokgyo branch:
서울특별시 양천구 목동동로 151 서울출입국관리사무소

Skip to the end for a summary of what you will need & stuff!

It took almost an hour from Hongday station (Line 2) and although the office starts running at 9:00am, my parents and I arrived at the Seoul Immigration Office – Omokgyo at around 8:55am. To be honest, aside from filling out the form, we didn’t really know what to do once we got there… there were no clear signs saying what had to be done first… All I knew was that 2nd floor was for Chinese students, so we naturally went to the office on the 1st floor. We got a ticket number (we were #13 which meant there were already 12 other people waiting in front of us).

While I was filling out the form & pasting my photo onto the form, my parents looked at what the other people were doing. They noticed that a foreigner girl had already gotten everything done and were just waiting. So my mom went over and asked them aside from filling out the form, what else had to be done.

It turned out we had to pay the 30,000KRW fee first. The ATM machines where you pay are towards the left-corner of the 1st floor. You will need your passport while paying since the machine will need to scan it. After you pay, you will receive a receipt. I think it is just for your reference since the immigration officer didn’t take my receipt and I think that by scanning your passport, that’s how they know you paid. If you want your ARC mailed to you after it is made, you can pay that here as well. It was fairly cheap (I think 3000KRW) but we decided to go pick it up instead because we were afraid of it getting lost in the mail LOL bad experiences from North American mailing services…

The counters opened at 9:00am and it was our turn at 9:15am – which was a fairly short wait. HOWEVER, we were told that we were on the wrong floor… The officer looked at my application and said “you live in seodaemun-gu? you need to go to 3rd floor”. ㅠㅠ

So we got to the 3rd floor at ~9:17am, got a ticket number (#9) and thankfully only had to wait a few minutes. When it was my turn, I gave the lady my form and everything and that was when she told us that she needs a copy of my passport (which I had an extra copy of) and a copy of my visa. All along, we thought they were going to take my passport but we realized that all they need are copies of my passport & visa… So my lovely parents ran to the 2nd floor and got my visa photocopied. Photocopies costs only 100KRW 🙂

Then finally, I received a paper which I will need to bring back to pick up my ARC. This sheet tells you when your ARC will be available & where you will pick it up. If your paper is like mine, and says “WHERE: Visa & Residence Division (2nd floor), A.R.C. Pick-up Point” you will go to the 2nd floor and line up here (pic below) to get a number and wait towards the right side (—>) until your number is called.

SUMMARY

For a ARC registration, with a D2 student visa…

You will need:
– a completed form (forms available at the office)
– 1 photo (same size as the photo for visa application)
– a copy of your passport
– a copy of your visa
– a Certificate of Enrollment – given to you at the Yonsei orientation
– a Certificate of Residence – available if you ask the dorm office (I’ve heard this isn’t necessary but I’m not sure)
– 30000KRW (or +3000KRW if you want it mailed to you)
– your passport (which they will not take/ keep – just to scan into the ATM)

Notes:
– not every immigration officer speaks English!!!
– make sure you are going to the correct branch (as said above) – depends on which region in Korea you are staying
– you can make appointments on their website (but since I didn’t do that, I don’t have much info on that)