Visa Procedure Enhancements - Fact Sheet

Feb 2, 2005

The U.S. Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea held the
2nd ROK-USA Visa Issues Working Group Meeting on 1 February 2005, at the U.S. Embassy. U.S. Consul General Michael Kirby and Director-General Lee Joon-gyu of MOFAT discussed a number of procedures to make the visa application process more efficient and user friendly for eligible Korean travellers in the short term. Discussions also continued on long-term preparations to enable Korea to seek admission into the Visa Waiver Program, if and when it is open for expansion.

Changes to make the visa process more user-friendly take effect on February 1, 2005:
a. No English translations of supporting documents will be required for visitor (B), student (F, M), exchange visitor/researcher (J), transit (C1) and crew (D) visas.
b. Shinhan Bank, with its more numerous branch network, will take over from Hanmi Bank the collection of the machine-readable visa (MRV) $100 fee.
c. The MRV fee receipt will be valid for 6 months, it will be more secure and bear the applicant's KID number.
d. We will create a means to refund MRV fees in those cases where the applicant mistakenly paid the fee through no fault of his own.

New measures to increase the numbers of eligible Korean non-immigrant visa applicants, to become effective in the coming months:
a. Effective April 4, special categories of applicants will be able to apply for a visa any workday from 10-11 a.m. and 2-3 p.m. (excluding Wednesday afternoons), within a 30-day window from the date they register online at www.us-visaservices.com. These will include:
- Applicants holding a diplomatic or official passport
- Applicants age 55 and above and spouse, regardless of age
- Applicants revalidating a previously issued full validity visa that is not lost
b. As of March 12, applicants in the Business Registration Program (BRP) will make appointments online at www.us-visaservices.com using a separate allocation of appointments.
c. Beginning April 4, we will expand participating firms in the BRP to include universities (faculty and staff only).
d. On March 31, our online appointment provider, Teletech, will open a call center for applicants.
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