Immigration, travel and work visas and related administrative services will all become much more convenient this year.

The Ministry of Justice has pledged to improve such administrative tasks by focusing more on providing online services. The number of non-citizens living in Korea recently rose to 1.9 million, as of Nov. 30, 2015, from 1.26 million in 2010. This is more than a 50-percent increase. In the past, people who had to visit an immigration office in Korea had to wait a long time to receive their help, due to the increasing number of visitors. For this reason, the ministry will now change its existing process to an online application-based process. It will also implement a "visit reservation system," which some selected offices have already been using, expanding it to more offices starting in February 2016, all in order to create a more convenient environment and better services.

People who need to visit an immigration office in the future will be able to make an online reservation at the Hi Korea page (www.hikorea.go.kr), an e-government site for non-citizens living in Korea, to set the date and time of their appointment. All they need to do is to then bring their reservation confirmation receipt with them when they visit the immigration office, and they no longer need to wait in line to get served.


It will also become simpler for non-citizens who live in Korea to report a change of residence. In the past, they had to visit a district or county office, a city hall or an immigration office in order to report a change of address. To remove such inconveniences, the ministry will work with local offices in smaller units so that people can register at the dong, eup or myeon offices starting this year.

Other improvements will be seen at Incheon International Airport. The ministry will increase the number of "auto immigration screening sites" and build more registration centers. As it stands now, people who want to use the auto immigration screening service have to undergo a registration process at a registration center and provide their finger prints and facial information. To improve the registration procedure, the ministry has decided to revise related laws so that people can use the auto immigration screening booths without going through an advanced registration process. If the law is actually revised, anyone will be able to use the service by certifying they are themselves with their finger prints and digital photograph, which related organizations will have on file.



By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photo: Yonhap News
arete@korea.kr