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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