Starting on March 20, non-citizens who are married to a Korean citizen will now be indicated on the citizen's residence registration. Pictured are non-citizen residents getting advice at a local counseling center in Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do Province. (Ansan City Hall)
By Kim Tae Won and Sohn JiAe
Non-citizens who are married to a Korean citizen will now be indicated on the citizen's resident registration alongside other family members, including children.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that a revision to the Residents’ Registration Law that went into effect on March 20 will allow non-citizens' names to show up on their Korean spouse’ resident registration.
Up until now, non-citizens or else Koreans with foreign citizenships who have married a Korean national but have chosen to maintain their other nationality, haven’t been able to have their names shown on their Korean spouse’s residence registration. Instead, they could only have their names indicated at the bottom of the form, and only if they had applied to do so.
The process for them to have a residence registration issued or verified, a common bureaucratic procedure for Korean citizens, wasn't easy for them. Whenever they needed a copy, they had to make sure to visit a local government office with their citizen spouse.
Under the new law, however, non-citizens will now be able to see their names on the residence registration, in the same place as other family members. As they are not Korean citizens, however, they are marked as “non-Korean” in the column asking their “registration status.”
The procedure of applying to have their names on the form, or to issue a copy of the form, has been made simpler, too.
If the non-citizen wants to have their names on their spouse's residence registration, anyone from the household, including themselves or the head of household or any other family member, need only visit a government office with their national ID card and the application form.
Once registered, non-citizens will be able to issue a copy of their household form whenever they need it, without their citizen spouse accompanying them and without any application process.
If they have an online accredited certificate, too, they can get a soft copy online.
“These revisions will help to get rid of difficulties and the sense of alienation that multicultural families might face,” said Yoon Jong-in, deputy minister for the local administration and devolution office at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
Non-citizens who are married to a Korean citizen used to have their names indicated at the bottom of their spouse’s residence registration (top). The new law includes them as a full member of the family.
twkim0717@korea.kr
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