Immigration Visas

If you wish to engage in activities other than those permitted by the type of visa you hold while staying in Korea, you must obtain a visa change permit in advance without fail.

However, if you violate this and engage in other activities without prior permission, or obtain permission by false means, your visa may likewise be canceled immediately.

If you hold a student visa and live in Korea but work part-time or engage in employment activities without permission, or if you entered Korea on a visa for the purpose of cohabitation or visitation and are earning money, this too gives rise to an immigration visa issue.

This is also grounds for forced deportation, and it is likewise followed by criminal punishment of imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than 30 million KRW.

You should not take it lightly, thinking, “Everyone does this, so it should be fine.”

Immigration issues require expertise completely different from that of ordinary criminal and civil cases.

The reasons the Foreign Litigation Center can reliably support foreign clients are as follows.

① We understand your situation exactly as it is, without barriers of language or culture

Anyone is bound to feel intimidated in an immigration investigation or interview conducted in unfamiliar Korean.

In that process, there are in fact many cases where people admit to things they did not even do or make statements unfavorable to themselves.

The Foreign Litigation Center's attorneys specializing in foreign litigation and the staff in charge who can provide multilingual consultations in English, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and more, accurately understand the situation the client faces and can assist closely from beginning to end so that the client does not unjustly suffer a disadvantage.

② We protect your right of defense together from the investigation stage

When you receive a summons to appear from the immigration office, the atmosphere of the investigation changes just by having an attorney specializing in foreign litigation accompany you.

We block unfair questions and leading interrogation, logically present circumstances favorable to the client, and, where necessary, submit a defense counsel's opinion to guarantee the right of defense.

In particular, when an immigration visa issue is intertwined with a criminal case, we establish a dual defense strategy that takes the immigration review into account along with methods to reduce the severity of the criminal punishment.

We can comprehensively prove the family relationships, economic foundation, and other humanitarian circumstances that require the client to continue staying in Korea, and thereby defend the residency status.

Do not be discouraged just because you have already received a forced deportation order, an order to depart, or a notice denying a visa extension or change.

If the disposition is judged to be unjust or excessive, an administrative appeal and administrative litigation seeking cancellation of the disposition, as well as an application for a stay of execution that halts the forced deportation while the litigation is ongoing, are all possible.

If the stay of execution is granted, you can stay in Korea and be tried until the result of the litigation comes out.

Our foreign litigation experts, who possess extensive know-how regarding immigration visas—residency status visa changes, support in immigration violation reviews, release from custody for illegal residents facing compulsory expulsion, and more—will search to the very end for a way to protect the client's immigration visa.