Apostille Korea offers agency service for Overseas Korean Registration certificates If a national never files an overseas registration at the local consulate, no certificate is issued even when the stay abroad actually took place, which can cost applicants special-admission eligibility at universities.

Apostille Korea said it provides an administrative agency solution for the Overseas Korean Registration certificate. The document cannot be issued online, requiring either a personal visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jongno, Seoul, or the appointment of a proxy, and it takes more than four days to be released after application.

Without registration, the stay itself cannot be proven

Overseas Korean Registration was introduced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protect nationals living or staying abroad, ease their activities at home and abroad, and support administrative processing and overseas protection policy. It applies the domestic resident registration concept to nationals abroad, and the certificate records basic personal details along with the address of stay, the purpose and status of the stay and the date of first entry. It covers Korean nationals who stay in a given area abroad with the intention of residing or remaining there for 90 days or more, excluding those holding foreign citizenship. New registrations must be filed within 30 days and changes within 14 days. The most common problem is simply never registering: even when a stay abroad is factually confirmed, no certificate is issued if the consular registration was skipped. Because daily life abroad is unaffected by the omission, many people overlook it and only discover the issue when they return home and try to obtain the document. Entries are recorded as of the application date, so filing late does not put past periods of residence onto the certificate.

Issuance procedure and the agency service

Even for those who did register, the issuance procedure itself remains a second obstacle. The certificate cannot be issued online, so the applicant must visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jongno, Seoul, in person or appoint a proxy. For applicants whose family and acquaintances are all abroad, or who live far from Seoul, neither option is realistic. Even once an application succeeds, issuance takes more than four days, which leaves little room for urgent submissions. Apostille Korea provides an agency solution that handles these steps on the applicant's behalf. When the certificate is submitted for special university admission, immigration matters or visa applications, translation into the relevant language along with notarisation and legalisation is often required as well.

Frequently asked questions

Source: 폴리뉴스 · 2017-04-07