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Re: Visa for South Korea

2004-01-12 13:40:24
Ken,

As it happens, I attended a dinner Saturday that was addressed
by Ambassador Han, the Korean Ambassador to the U.S.

Taking up the Korean visa issue today, I spoke with an official
in the Washington DC visa section.

I believe I can state the visa regulation as it applies to U.S.
citizens.

  - Individuals traveling to Korean to attend the IETF meeting
    do not need a visa, as they are traveling to attend a
    non-profit conference.  They can stay in Korea up to 30
    day for such purpose and for tourism.

  - If you travel to Korea for business purposes, such as
    meeting customers or other business purposes, then a
    visa is needed.

  - This applies only to private U.S. citizens.  Government
    employees and citizens of other countries need to contact
    their local Korean embassy for a determination in their
    case. Ken, in your case, if you are a government employee,
    you will need a visa.

  - Another consideration concerning visa.  People attend
    IETF meetings as individuals, not directly representing
    their company -- and clearly a private individual traveling
    to attend a nonprofit technical meeting clearly does not
    need a visa.

Warning.  I am only relaying what was told to me today by a
responsible embassy official.  I am not attending the Seoul meeting,
but if I was, I would want to have an official statement from an
Korean official regarding the visa request.  One official who can
handle such a request at the visa section in Washington DC is
Mr. Sang Yoo.  I am copying this email to him.  A member of the
meeting committee might want to put a formal query to him, and
email his answer to the list.

For Mr. Yoo, details of the meeting:
59th IETF Meeting, Seoul, South Korea, 29 February - 5 March 2004.
For information about the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
see: http://www.ietf.org/overview.html



    

Gene Gaines
gene(_dot_)gaines(_at_)gainesgroup(_dot_)com

On Monday, January 12, 2004, 12:12:27 PM, Ken wrote:

I'd be interested in answers people get from other consulate/embassy
staff both from locations other than Boston and with different
phrasings of the question.

Well, I finally was able to talk to someone at the Washington, DC, embassy.

Their answer?  "We're not sure, but you might need one".

I basically took the same tactic that Sam took; I described the IETF as
a professional organization, and explained I was attending a meeting
of this organization.  At first he said that a visa was not required,
because this counts as a "visit", but then he said he wasn't sure, and
maybe I would need a visa.

I then started asking a few more questions.  I asked what exactly
"business" travel was defined as, and after going around a few times
about it, he basically settled on the definition that if you were
travelling to Korea to a meeting for a "business purpose", then you
need a visa.

The whole thing was as clear as mud, and he clearly wasn't that familiar
with the regulations.  I might try calling a few more consulates to
see if I can find someone more knowledgeable.

BTW, has anyone been able to contact the host web site?  (The one
linked off of the IETF Seoul meeting web page)

http://www.tta.or.kr/ietf59/index.htm

I've been trying for a few days now and no go.  It doesn't seem like
a local network problem from where I'm sitting, but sometimes it's hard
to be sure.

--Ken


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