Recently, there have been many difficult cases that fall outside of the guidelines.
The case I am about to post is no exception.
Let's refer to a Korean man in a de facto marital relationship as A, a Thai woman who is an illegal resident as B, their 2-year-old daughter who is a Korean citizen as C, and the legal Korean spouse of B, who is registered as C's father in the family relationship registry, as D.
A, the Korean man, is married. However, he met B, a Thai woman who is an illegal resident, and they had C. Since A was already married, he could not register a marriage with B, and likewise, he could not register C as his child.
However, they could not leave the child as the child of an illegal resident,
so they asked a Korean man, D, a friend, to become C's legal father. B and D registered their marriage, and D became the father on C's family relationship certificate and birth certificate.
B, an illegal resident, applied for a change (grant) to an F-6-1 visa after paying a penalty for illegal residence two years ago, citing humanitarian reasons that she has a child, C, born in Korea and is married to D. However, the application was naturally denied because the DNA test between the child and D did not match. And currently, D was serving time in prison.
In this situation, A approached me to see if there was any way.
While A's situation might be complicated, B's plight and the humanitarian aspect involving C seemed sufficiently mitigating.
However, since B is currently in an illegal residency status, there is no change in qualification available under the guidelines.
Although there exists an F-6-2 visa that B could potentially change to,
since B is in an illegal residency status, it does not apply.
Change of status to Child Rearing Visa (F-6-2) Permission
◆ Eligible for permission ◆ - Foreign nationals residing in Korea on a visa status other than marriage immigration (F-6), who are raising a minor child born from a marriage (including a de facto marriage) with a Korean citizen as a father or mother
Since C is a Korean citizen, and it was during the voluntary departure period, there was also an option for B to leave the country with C,
apply for a visa at a South Korean embassy abroad,
but there was no guarantee that a visa would be issued, and the child was too young and currently receiving medical treatment, so A and B wished for B to somehow escape her illegal residency status and be granted a status in Korea, even if it meant paying a fine.
Such cases do not provide clear answers no matter how much we search for precedents, look into related laws and guidelines, or rack our brains. You have to physically confront them.
I instructed A to prepare as much documentation as possible that would approximate the requirements for an F-6-2 status change and headed to a distant immigration office.
(The DNA test report of A, B, C, B's certificate of no marriage, foreign criminal record certificate, marriage certificate, health examination report, C's basic certificate, birth certificate, family relationship certificate, C's daycare attendance certificate and payment receipt, C's hospital bill payment history, D's prison detention certificate, A and D's consent for renunciation of parental rights and consent for childcare, a childcare confirmation letter from the village chief, and a character guarantee letter from the youth village leader, etc.)
Since B was an illegal resident, we first visited the criminal department for processing.
The officer in charge carefully reviewed the statement of reasons I had earnestly prepared, and went down to the residency department with us to discuss the application,
but since the chief officer, who has the authority to approve, was not present,
he asked us to leave a contact number and visit again.
※ Like this case, since there's no content in the guidelines, the chief officer has to consult with the headquarters for approval to proceed.
A week later, I headed back to the distant immigration office, and together with A's family, we met an officer who seemed to be the chief. A, B, C, and even the village youth leader who acted as the guarantor, all visited together.
The officer asked each person involved in the case questions,
and eventually said, "I'll accept the application, so go pay the fine at the criminal department."
He then personally accompanied us to the criminal department and discussed the case with the officers there.
B received a 30% reduction in her illegal stay fine.
※ In cases of notification of illegal stay, the maximum amount that can be reduced by the authority of the director, office head, etc., is up to 50%, typically up to 30%. For reductions beyond this, concrete reasons must exist, supported by relevant documents. Moreover, approval from the Minister of Justice is required for reductions above 50%.
Immigration Control Act Enforcement Rule Article 86
The fine can be mitigated or aggravated within half of the standard amount set in paragraph (1) by the director, office head, outpost head, or detention center head, considering the age and circumstances of the immigration offender, motives and consequences of the violation, ability to bear the fine, and number of violations.
After finishing the application, I said goodbye to A's de facto family? and the village youth leader in the immigration parking lot. We thanked each other and bowed our heads in farewell.