Apostille Korea handles overseas document issuance for multicultural families With more than two million foreign nationals residing in Korea, demand is rising for documents that must be issued and certified in the home country.

Apostille Korea said it provides a service that obtains and certifies civil documents issued abroad on behalf of people from multicultural backgrounds. Education, employment and marriage procedures in Korea require documents issued in the home country and then legalised.

A growing population and growing paperwork

According to justice ministry statistics, 2,001,828 foreign nationals reside in Korea, accounting for about 4 per cent of the total population. Academics treat a foreign resident share above 5 per cent as the point at which a country enters a multicultural society, which puts Korea close to that threshold. As broader social attitudes shift, the issuance of overseas civil documents stands out as an area that still needs practical improvement. The number of people handling education, employment and marriage matters in Korea grows alongside the multicultural population itself. Those procedures require documents such as academic certificates and criminal record certificates that carry family details and past history, and each must be both issued and certified in the applicant's home country. Marriage migrants who have lived in Korea for more than a decade say the social climate has improved, while inconveniences remain in many areas.

Why individuals struggle with the process

Someone continuing their studies in Korea must apply directly to the school they graduated from abroad, obtain the academic certificate, and then complete administrative confirmation, notarisation and consular legalisation before submitting it to a Korean institution. A criminal record certificate has to be obtained separately in every country where the applicant has a record of residence, so the process splits into several tracks. Having someone on the ground to handle certification helps a little, but requirements and processing periods differ from embassy to embassy and are hard to pin down accurately. As a result, even a single document often takes far longer to legalise than expected. Obtaining civil documents abroad and completing notarisation, apostille and consular legalisation demands precise knowledge of each country's administrative requirements, and translation into the local language is sometimes needed as well. Apostille Korea said it built the service in response to the growing number of foreign residents and people from multicultural backgrounds reporting these difficulties.

Frequently asked questions

Source: 환경일보 · 2017-06-29