From C-3-8 to H-2, the Chinese criminal record certificate is the gate to the switch The certificate is issued only by the local police station registered to the applicant's hukou, and it must pass notarisation and authentication before it can be used in Korea.

Apostille Korea said it provides a service that obtains the Chinese criminal record certificate for ethnic Korean Chinese nationals converting a C-3-8 visa into an H-2 work visa. Because the issuing authority is limited to the police station of the applicant's registered hukou and notarisation and authentication follow, handling it alone is difficult.

Ethnic Korean Chinese residents and the work visa conversion scheme

According to statistics on foreign residents in Korea as of the end of October 2016, ethnic Korean Chinese nationals numbered around 630,000, accounting for 31 percent of all foreign residents in the country. Given the continued inflow, the figure was estimated at roughly 680,000 to 700,000 as of July 2017. Local governments have been designing education programmes and community events to help the growing community settle in, and central ministries have introduced their own support measures. Among the best received is the scheme run by the Ministry of Justice since the middle of 2014, which converts a C-3-8 visa into an H-2 work visa. Under the scheme, holders of the C-3-8 compatriot visit visa who have completed technical training may apply for conversion to an H-2 work visa through a computerised draw. Several documents must be submitted, and many applicants struggle with the criminal record certificate in particular.

From issuance to consular confirmation, one refusal means starting over

The Chinese criminal record certificate, also known as a personal background report, attests to a person's criminal record in China and must be submitted by anyone seeking to reside or work outside China. Unlike in Korea, it is issued only by the local police station registered to the applicant's hukou, so the applicant has to travel back to China and submit an application form and the household register to that station. To use the resulting document in Korea it must be notarised, authenticated by the foreign affairs office and then confirmed by the Korean consulate. If a refusal is issued at any point in the process, the submitted papers cannot be recovered and the whole preparation has to begin again. Without complete information and preparation, the process consumes a great deal of time. Requirements and steps can also change depending on the visa type and the timing of the application, so checking in advance matters.

Frequently asked questions

Source: 그린데일리 · 2017-07-13