Korea is one of those unique places where two different poles meet, where the north and south approach the shortest distance, where in one part you are met with open arms and in the other you close your eyes with your hands. North and South Korea are two different countries, and they differ both in political structure and in cultural. Both there and there live Koreans, between whom there is still no peace treaty. That is, while in the universe of high technology, countries continue military hostility.
For Russian residents, getting to the southern part is very simple; for this, the country has simplified all possible border conditions. But the visa system of the north is not just harsh, but is also limited by a number of points. True, despite severe restriction, the desire to get to where the atmosphere of the Unions still reigns, where the Iron Curtain has firmly clung to the state ceiling, sits in the minds of many inveterate travelers. By the way, North Korea opened its doors to the Russians quite recently; earlier it was impossible to enter its territory. Rumor has it that the DPRK has reached Lenin's original idea and is hiding from everyone the resulting paradise flower of communism.
Visa Regime with South Korea
Consider the easiest task - to get into the country of capitalist development and complete democracy, South Korea. Thanks to the fruitful work of the two Foreign Ministries, in 2018 the visa to Korea for Russians is canceled. The visa-free regime is sixty days of continuous residence, and the purpose of visiting the country can be absolutely any.
If a person assumes a longer stay, then he needs to get a tourist visa to Korea. This is done in advance through the consulate or embassy (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, Vladivostok). Assistance in obtaining a visa can also be provided by agencies offering package tours to Korea.
The country itself is one and four, nicknamed the "Asian Tigers", due to the high economic development. Accordingly, such a visa regime went into the hands of Russian citizens. At the border, upon arrival, only the entry stamp is affixed to the passport. This is a very convenient step, since tourists no longer need to collect a whole package of documents, wait for confirmation and present the necessary papers on financial stability, guaranteeing a return to their native lands. Thus, South Korea began to cause even greater interest, and given the fact that in its relatively small territory there is everything that a modern vacationer needs (beaches, attractions, megalopolises with developed infrastructure), the tourist flow will only increase.
If you delve into more detail and understand what kind of visas South Korea has, then you can notice a significant difference from the visa regimes adopted, for example, in European countries.
What categories of visas to South Korea exist:
- C category, or short-term visas, issued only for short visits by both relatives and friends, and business partners. The same category is suitable for business days or working moments related to journalism. Such visas can be single and multiple. The permitted number of days in the country on the first occasion is 90 without a break, on the second - also ninety, but with the ability to enter and leave an indefinite number of times.
- E category - these are visas to Korea, which are issued to migrants who have moved for work, foreign workers of South Korean companies or scientists. To obtain such a visa, you need a special document from the migration service, it is also a permit, as well as a confirmation of your qualifications. The terms of such visas depend on the signed contract.
- D and H categories. These visas to South Korea are long-term, issued to students, interns, teachers, graduate students and those who plan to conduct their business in the country. With such a visa, you can not go outside the state for a year.
- F category is the most interesting. Do Koreans need a visa to Korea? A strange question, as most will think, but the government does not think so. After all, there are those types of people who once decided to leave their native country and for some reason found themselves without her citizenship. Then the authorities developed a special type of visa, allowing for a long-term stay as a resident. Family members of South Korean citizens, young specialists who have studied at the country's universities and have worked for at least six months in a local company fall into the same category.
Cancellation of tourist visas for Russians
With the question of whether a visa to Korea is needed, we figured it out, now we will consider the rules for applying for a visa-free entry. In the Russian Federation, South Korea is especially popular among residents of the Far East.
So, what documents do you need to have to cross the South Korean border:
- First of all, this is a foreign passport, the validity of which lasts six months after entering the country.
- A completed migration card, which tourists usually get on board the aircraft (or another vehicle through which they enter the country), but the forms are in the public domain at the arrival airport, in the border zone.
- A completed customs declaration, even if there is absolutely nothing to declare.
- Obligatory tickets confirming your departure from South Korea after a certain period of time.
- A paper indicating the presence of a sufficient amount of money from a tourist. Most often, such a document is a hotel reservation or a printed bank account, if this bank is supported by the country.
In general, Korean border guards do not particularly find fault with Russian citizens, do not thoroughly study all documents, so getting a stamp in your passport instead of the usual visa to Korea will be easier than usual.
Border control
We will deal with the filled out documents. A migration card is an official form with personal information about a tourist that contains the column "Address of stay", this is an important point, so you should not skip it. This includes the name and address of the hotel in which the tourist plans to stay in the first place (if he suddenly planned to travel around the country). A migration card is attached to the passport, on a U-turn with a photograph.
To complete the customs declaration, knowledge of the English language will be required in order to correctly translate all the necessary lines. But if the tourist does not import animals, weapons, plant and other goods that are subject to subsequent sale, money in excess of ten thousand US dollars, or other prohibited means, then you must put an X in front of all these items.
If the trip is made with children, then they also do not need to make a visa to Korea. True, the number of documents submitted for a minor is expanding slightly. In addition to all of the above, you need to capture his birth certificate. Plus, if the child travels with one parent or unaccompanied, then a power of attorney for removal is pre-arranged. If the child stays in the country for a longer period, then the rules for applying for a visa to Korea for Russians apply to him, without changing a bit.
Work Visa
If a person decided that it was better not to relax, but to work, then the need arises for obtaining a work visa to Korea. It can be either a D category or an E, H. As mentioned above, a country’s economy is at its highest development phase at the moment. However, it must be borne in mind that only those who have sufficiently high qualifications and experience can now get settled. Great demand goes to narrow-profile specialties with very decent pay.
A work visa is issued on the basis of a request from the employer, you can also apply to the South Korean Embassy without signing an official labor contract. But the most important thing is that an employee receives it only when he is on South Korean soil. And you can enter the country on any type of visa or using a sixty-day visa-free regime, which is very convenient.
Before contacting the immigration department, you must pre-apply online at the official website of the Ministry of Justice. In this case, the applicant is assigned a certification number that is unique. To further apply for a visa to Korea, a contract with the employer is already needed, which will contain a description of all the specifics of work, conditions and the size of wages. In addition, the following documents are included in the package of documents:
- Copy of certificate of state registration.
- Corporate Registration Act (applies only to South Korea).
- A document confirming the payment of budgetary contributions for the year.
- Copy of the financial report for the year.
- Proof of education and qualifications.
A company providing a workplace to a foreigner must necessarily provide immigration authorities with information about all foreign employees. Despite the fact that this is a recommendation rule, it is better to adhere to it, but at the moment it refers exclusively to the employer.
A visa can be three months or two years. In case of extension of the contract, the visa is also subject to renewal without any obstacles. A work visa allows a foreigner to move his family to permanent residence. Then he personally submits to the immigration department a certain package of documents, with the obligatory confirmation of kinship (marriage certificate, birth certificate and so on).
An interesting type of special visa
There is another interesting type of visa - this is the researcher's visa. It belongs to a special category and is divided into different periods. Such a visa is required if a person conducts scientific and research activities in South Korea. It is very easy to obtain, all the details about the documents for a visa to Korea of this type are on the official website of the embassy, where you can also issue it online. If approved, a document arrives by e-mail, which is printed and presented at the airport at the border control.
Student visa
Studying at higher educational institutions of South Korea is becoming more and more popular. And no wonder, because with a South Korean diploma for a graduate student, the path to the labor market of Japan, Taiwan, America, Australia, Singapore, many European countries and, of course, South Korea itself will be open.
Russian students can take advantage of a special student exchange program and get to study at one of the South Korean universities on preferential terms for admission and payment. In this case, the legalization of a foreign student will be much faster than in an ordinary format. By the way, three out of 420 higher education institutions in South Korea are among the hundred most prestigious universities in the world.
How to get a visa to Korea as a potential student? Registration can be done both at home and directly in Korea itself. Now technology has reached the point that students can enter universities remotely. But the basis for applying for a student visa will still be a supporting document for admission. It should be borne in mind that such a visa is to be issued to a full-time student. The next step is the signing of a training agreement, which, together with a request for a visa from the administration of the educational institution, is submitted for consideration to the immigration department.
The validity of a student visa will be up to one year. When enrolling in the following courses, it is renewed year after year.
Opportunity for long-term residence in South Korea
If you want to stay in the country longer in order to obtain a document for a long-term stay, one package tour to Korea is not enough. In such cases, the applicant must provide a guarantor. It can be either a company that hired a Russian as an employee, or relatives or friends (private individuals) who are residents or citizens of South Korea.
An application for a long-term residence permit is submitted by the guarantor to the immigration service. After its approval, the potential immigrant must provide all the necessary papers to the embassy or consulate of the Republic of Korea in the Russian Federation:
- A completed questionnaire in English and, attention, Korean.
- Passport with a validity period of at least six months after arrival in the country.
- A copy of the page of a foreign passport containing personal data and a photograph.
- If you have an old foreign passport with Canadian, American, Japanese and Australian visas, you must make copies of it (this is done so that the administration of the South Korean representative office understands who it is dealing with, since such countries issue visas after careful checks of the individual).
- A photograph is 35 x 45 millimeters, the head should occupy up to eighty percent of the entire photo and be on a light background.
- Invitation from a private person, university, employer company.
No additional reservation papers are required at the hotel or other accommodation.
Documents can be brought by yourself to any of the representative offices of South Korea or sent using the Pony Express service by mail from any region of the Russian Federation. Application procedure: for residents of the North-Western part and the Kaliningrad region, documents must be submitted to the St. Petersburg Consulate. Those living in Khabarovsk, Kamchatka, in the Primorsky Territory and in the Magadan, Sakhalin, Amur Regions, in the Jewish and Chukotka Autonomous Districts - to the Vladivostok Consulate. Residents of the Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Irkutsk regions, Krasnoyarsk, Transbaikal, Altai Territory, the Republic of Sakha, Altai, Buryatia, Tuva, Khakassia must send all the necessary papers to the Irkutsk Consulate.
Perhaps, after clarifying all the circumstances of obtaining different types of visas, the last question remains: "How much does a visa to Korea cost?" Of course, each visa has its own specific price or, in other words, a consular fee:
- For visa-free travel, a stamp upon arrival is stamped for free.
- A single-entry visa, but long-term in categories D, E, H, F-4, costs $ 90 (about 5 thousand rubles).
- Multiple, but long-term visa in categories D, E, H, F-4 has a cost of 120 US dollars (almost 7 thousand rubles).
It should be borne in mind that when using the shipping service, the price for shipping services will be added to the above amounts.
Visa Regime with North Korea
If in the case of South Korea everything is simple and clear enough, then the DPRK faces serious difficulties. First of all, you need to understand that the country is completely closed to any tourist routes, which means that no Korean visa centers in Moscow will help a traveler get a visa without issuing a special tour.
The country continues to build communism under the leadership of the immortal clan, which established a rigid dictatorship within the state. Therefore, in order to get a visa to North Korea, a person can go in two ways:
- Buy a place in a group tour. This is the most common form of travel. The tour operator must be in the list of certified companies of the DPRK. But it is worth considering that not every agent company selling such tours can engage in the preparation of the necessary papers and their execution. Therefore, when buying tours you need to ask in detail about all visa delays.
- Buy a tour, only already individual, which includes a tourist and a private guide. This kind of study of mysterious communism will certainly cost a pretty penny, but it is definitely worth it: a traveler can build a route and a program himself, plus no extra ballast in the form of twenty additional pairs of eyes and ears.
It is in principle impossible to apply for a visa in the DPRK on its own, the unwavering foundation of power is the main justification for the ban on the entry of foreigners. The visa required for an individual tour is issued by the same accredited tour operator (who received special permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea).
Employees of the DPRK Embassy have been considering the application for a visa for at least a month. The application must be accompanied by a questionnaire, but completed not in two, but already in three languages - English, Korean, Russian. Since the embassy does not even have its own website on the Internet, it’s pointless to talk about help through Korea’s visa centers in Moscow.
Rules of stay in North Korea
After reading the rules of staying in the country, you might think that the tourist decided not to go on a trip, but at least to places not so remote. But, unfortunately, they must be observed in strict order, and in 2018 they remain unchanged.
What are these rules:
- Ban on the use of cellular communications. But this is not a simple ban: given the country's closeness, there is not a single program supporting roaming on its territory. That is, even in the switched on mode, the telephone will work on calls and even more so the Internet will not. By the way, until 2013, all mobile phones were subject to seizure even at customs control.
- It is forbidden to use all kinds of portable devices such as tablets, laptops, and so on. That is, they can be entered into the territory, only there will be little sense from them, since there is no Internet. For tourists, the use of the Internet is prohibited, in fact, as well as moving around the country without a guide-escort.
- In no case should you blame the incumbent leader or his family; it is punished very strongly.
- The rules for the import of all photo and video equipment were relaxed, however, in limited quantities.
- When leaving Russia, a tourist must declare all his finances imported into the territory of North Korea. And in order to leave the country without hindrance, he must provide a check for each item purchased.
- It is forbidden to export the national currency of the DPRK, in case of detection of such funds from a tourist, confiscation takes place without compensation in other currencies.
- In all catering establishments, whether it is a restaurant or cafe, it is forbidden to tip workers. If you want to thank the waiter, you can give him a gift.
- All attempts to photograph technologies and buildings of a defensive nature are prohibited.
Visa to North Korea
We turn to the requested documents from the employees of the DPRK representative office in the Russian Federation:
- A passport whose validity does not expire for another six months after returning to their homeland.
- A copy of the page containing basic information about the applicant and his photo.
- Photo with a white background and dimensions of 3.5 by 4.5 cm.
- A questionnaire completed in three languages (English, Korean, Russian).
- Certificate of employment.
- Confirmation document from the agency.
In case of failures, the reasons are not explained, so you need to be prepared for such a turn of events. There is no certain cost of the visa fee, the tour operator has the right to request a certain amount. Usually it is about fifty American dollars (2800 rubles). For a surcharge, you can speed up the monthly review process, but this is not guaranteed. Communists are not very predictable.
If a child is traveling with a tourist, then the package of documents increases. In this case, it is required:
- Copy of the page of the foreign passport on which the child is inscribed.
- Original birth certificate.
- An application in three languages signed by parents.
- If the child is accompanied by only one parent, a certified power of attorney from the second is also provided.
In general, such a process simplifies the headaches of applicants, because professionals are involved in the matter. Therefore, the dream of many who did not have time to live behind the "iron curtain" of the Soviet Union, but who are interested in such a life, is quite feasible.