#d2 visa

Let’s get started.

1. The first step is to get accepted into a study abroad program for a school in Korea. You cannot apply for a visa until you get accepted and receive an acceptance package. There is no way. When you do receive an acceptance package from the school it should have 3 key papers: certificate of admission, letter of acceptance, and certificate of business administration. Without these documents, it will be nearly impossible to get a visa.

Note: As a safety precaution, you should make photocopies of the 3 documents listed above for future reference!

2. So if you’ve made it to step 2 congratulations! Now it’s time to get into the real stuff. The second, step of this process is to figure which Korean consulate or embassy you need to send your information to. Depending on what state you live in, there is a specific Korean Consulate that you will send your documents to. For example, I live in Maine and I had to send all of my documents to the Korean Consulate General in Massachusetts.  

◉To find out where to send your documents visit this site and find your state under the area of jurisdiction.

3. Once you find out which Korean Consulate you are sending your stuff to I want you to write down all the items you need for this process and the address of the Korean Consulate (HIGHLY IMPORTANT). This will help you maintain all your information. I also suggest that you keep all your documents in a nice folder where they’re safe from EVERYTHING. To find out what you’ll need for D-2 go to this link and click on the correct Korean Consulate. From there hover over Consular/Visa Issuance and click on Visa Issuance. 

For all the people too lazy to follow those steps, I’ll be helpful and list the documents needed:

1. Valid passport. You must have more than 6 months left before it expires in order to obtain the visa.

2. A photocopy of your passport page (you know, the page with your picture and information). This should be in color and remember to make extra copies just in case!

3. A complete visa application form. That means signed, dated, and all information is accurate. 

◉You can download the visa application form from the Visa Issuance page of your Korean Consulate. It should look like this.

◉I will explain how to fill this out in bolded step 4!

4. A 2x2 passport photo of yourself within 6 months. You cannot be wearing glasses, head scarves, or hats. The background can be white or off white. Don’t try to photocopy an ID picture because it won’t work. They’ll reject your application so go pay a ridiculous amount of money and get your passport photo taken at Walgreens.

5. A copy of the certificate of business registration from the university/school in Korea you are studying at. This should have been included in your acceptance package.

6. The original certificate of admission from the university/school in Korean that you are studying at. THIS MUST BE THE ORIGINAL WITH THE STAMP. If you send a copy of the certificate just because you wanted to keep the original document with the colorful stamp, say goodbye to the idea of getting the visa.

Note: On the certificate of admission make sure you fill out the relationship for #8d on the from. If you don’t have a sponsor just put ‘self’ under relationship like I did. After you do that, write down your signature for #10!

7. Original certificate of graduation and a copy of it. So basically what you’re going to do here is visit your university’s registrar’s office and ask for an official transcript and a copy of it. I basically got an official transcript from my school with the seal and just a student copy of the transcript.

8. Bank Statement for proof of financial affordability (bank statement should be more than the total amount of combined tuition and living expenses stated in the Certificate of Admission).

◉For this part I had a bit of a struggle with. It involved me running around my campus a lot but I’m going to explain it so you don’t go crazy. What you need here is a bank statement that states you have enough money in your bank account so that you can survive in Korea. This is extremely important because even if you know you can survive off of $2,500 the Korean Consulate won’t believe you. So make sure the amount of money in your account exceeds $5,000 for one semester and $10,000 for 2 semesters. To get an official bank statement, visit your bank and just talk to one of the nice people sitting at the desks in an office. I’m sure they’ll be nice enough to print one out for you.

◉Important note: If you are receiving financial aid from your school that aids the exchange, you must print out a copy of your financial aid award. Since my school has a direct exchange with Sogang University, I pay tuition at my home university and living expenses to Sogang. It may also be important to have your financial aid advisor write a letter that states how much you have in aid just in case.

9. Visa fee of $45.00. This must be a money order unless you personally bring your visa documents directly to the Korean Consulate; they’ll be happy to accept cash at the front desk. 

◉You can obtain a money order at your local United States Postal Service. Just make sure that it is issued to the Korean Consulate General! BTW, there are no refunds if your application gets rejected!

10. A prepaid envelope so the Korean Consulate can send back your passport with a brand new shiny visa in it! I’ll explain the process of how to send the documents towards the end of the post, if you’re worried about being lost at the post office lol. That was me when I was trying to figure out which forms to fill out and which envelopes to use!

4. By now, you should have all your forms nicely packed in a pretty folder! This will help you out in the long run. Now I’m going to explain the most tedious part of this process: THE VISA APPLICATION FORM.

I’m not going to lie, this part really sucked. I didn’t understand what some of the sections were asking. 

◉The visa application form is 5 pages long. You can either print it and fill it out by hand with black or blue pen if your penmanship is amazing or you can be lazy like me and use Adobe Acrobat Reader’s fill and sign option to type in all the information. I used the Reader’s fill and sign option because I knew I would mess up if I wrote it out by hand.

To make things a bit organized and more informational, I’ll explain the application form by sections.

Section 1: Personal Details! Just fill out the section accordingly using the information stated in your passport. Your family name is your last name and given name is your first name. Remember to write all in capitals! Skip 1.2 because unless you can write your name in Chinese. For 1.7 National Identity Number, put down your social security number. Some people say you don’t put that down but some say you do so better safe than sorry!

DO NOT WRITE IN THE SECTION THAT SAYS OFFICIAL USE ONLY.

Section 2: Details of Visa Issuance Confirmation. You do not fill this section out unless you already hold a visa to get into Korea. So if you currently don’t have a valid visa in Korea skip to section 3!

Section 3: Passport Information. This part you must fill out accurately. If you’re just an average student like me you should check mark ‘normal’ as your passport type. The information for 3.2 to 3.6 can be found in your passport. Fill out accordingly. For 3.7, check off no unless you hold more than one valid passport. If you have another valid passport, fill out the information for the second passport like you did in 3.2-3.6.

Section 4: Contact Information. This is pretty self explanatory.

Section 5: Marital Status Details. Unless you’ve been married or divorced, check off that ‘Never Married’ box because you’re “sexy, free, and single and ready to mingle!” And continue on to section 6.

Section 6: Education. Check mark the highest level of education you have completed and the name and location of the school. I check marked ‘high school diploma’ because I haven’t gotten my bachelors degree yet and provided the name of my high school and the location.

Section 7: Employment. Don’t make things complicated for yourself in this section and just check ‘Student.’ Then for 7.2, write down the name of your school, your position (put down student), the school address, and the school’s phone number.

Section 8: Details of Sponsor. I honestly had to clue what to put here so I emailed my study abroad adviser and the answer was simply this: “There is no sponsor.” You may think that the school is sponsoring you but they aren’t so check off ‘no’ ad continue to section 9. If you are pretty sure you have a sponsor, please email the office of international affairs at the Korean university you are studying at and ASK.

Section 9: Details of Visit. Since this is a post about obtaining a D-2 Student Visa, you better be checking off that box that says ‘Study/Training.’ From there you will need to fill out how long you’ll be staying in the country and when you intend on leaving the US. If you plan on staying in Korea an extra month after a full semester you better be writing down 5 months instead of the normal 4 months.

◉For 9.4, put down the address for the Korean University you’ll be attending. If you plan on staying in a goshiwon or studio apartment put the address of that place down. If you don’t know the address, just put the address of the university.

◉For 9.5, put down the phone number for the Office of International Affairs at the university you’re studying at.

◉For 9.6, 9.7, and 9.8 just answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If you answered yes, you will need to provide the details the application asks for. 

Section 10: Funding Details. This is where you fill out how much your trip will cost and who’s going to pay for the trip. If you’re paying for the trip yourself provide your own details. If the school is paying also, make sure to provide their details along with any scholarship information. 

Note: If you guys are receiving a refund check from your home university that you are using for this trip and the school requires you to deposit those funds directly into your checking account, there is no need put down your school in this section since it is coming out of your checking account. This saves you from the hassle of getting another piece of paper to write everything on.

Section 11: Assistance with this form. If you’re still reading this, just check off ‘no.’ This blog does not count as assistance. This is mainly a helpful guide for any struggles you have.

Section 12: DECLARATION. If you made it this far without dying of a headache, congratulations! So now date the application and write down your fancy signature! REMEMBER IT IS YEAR/MONTH/DAY NOT THE MONTH/DAY/YEAR THING THE US IS USED TO. 

◉As a note, if you are using the Adobe Acrobat Reader fill and sign print off your filled application and write down your signature with a pen rather than typing it out. 

5. Alright you made it to step 5! Now grab that folder of documents and make sure everything is inside. Remember that list I told you to write down in step 3? Well I want you the check mark the items that you need to send into the consulate one by one and make sure everything is in that folder. MAKE SURE YOUR PASSPORT IS IN THERE. 

6. Now bring your folder of documents to your local USPS and put it in an envelope to send out. Remember you are sending out very important documents so don’t be cheap here. Pay for the cost of a tracking number and insurance. The Korean Consulate recommends that use USPS Priority Express and I agree 100%. It may cost more than what you expecting to spend but it will be well protected by your money. 

So you may be wondering, “Why should I pay so much for priority express?” That’s because your documents will be safe and sound and it’ll arrive at the consulate the next day. Altogether I paid $68.95 to get my visa which is much less than the $80.00 that the school stated so I guess I can save you guys a little money.

◉Now grab a flat rate envelope that looks like the one above with the OD: 12.5 x 9.5. Put that pretty folder of wonderful goodness inside it, but DO NOT SEAL IT YET. 

Note: Remember to grab a priority express mail form and fill it out by putting down your name and address in the from part and the Korean Consulate’s in the to part. The post man will help you fill out the rest. The form below is what I used and is for domestic addresses only.

◉Remember that you will need to provide a prepaid envelope so the Korean Consulate can send back your passport with the visa sticker in side it! For this, you can grab one of those red flat rate mailing envelopes. Because they will only be sending your passport back and nothing else just grab an envelope that your passport can fit in. Now when you grab the envelope make sure you grab a sticker label and write “From: Korean Consulate General (address)” and “To: (Your Name) (Your Address).” DO NOT MESS THIS PART UP.

When you fill out the sticker label and stick it onto the red envelope, bring the blue envelope that you are sending all of your documents in, the priority express mail form, and the red envelope to the checkout. 

7. So it’s time to checkout. Now I hope you didn’t seal anything like I mentioned before because this step is crucial. Go up to the counter and ask the post man that you want a money order of $45.00. Before you can fill out the money order, tell the post man that you need to make the smaller envelope prepaid. They scan the smaller envelope and put on a postage stamp. Put that red envelop into the bigger blue priority envelope. Then tell them that you want to send the bigger blue envelope to the Korean Consulate in whatever city and they will help you stick on the form and scan the envelope. Pay for everything and fill out the money order that is given to you, making sure that it is Payable To the Korean Consulate General. Write down the address of the KCG and detach the receipt from the money order. PUT THE MONEY ORDER IN AND SEAL THAT BLUE PRIORITY ENVELOPE UP WITH THE FOLDER OF DOCUMENTS AND THAT LOVELY PREPAID ENVELOPE INSIDE!

The process is finally complete! After you hand that envelope to the post man that’s well protected with your money and effort, you can relax and say, “Yes. I did it!” For those that can’t relax and are super anxious people like me thinking about all the negatives that will happen, let me tell you this: you will get your visa. DO NOT WORRY.

Remember, your passport won’t come back the next day. My visa took a total of 2 weeks from the time I mailed it out to the time I received. Each Consulate has a different processing time so don’t freak out if you don’t receive your passport back within a week.