How to apply for a Korean Visa in Cebu? (Family Application)

Our family was supposed to travel to Kuala Lumpur in March this year to celebrate our 3rd year wedding anniversary. I booked a flight with AirAsia back in March 2018 for myself, my wife - Deborah and our only child Andrei. We were set to depart Cebu on March 23, 2019 but we received and email from the airline last November 30, 2018 saying our actual departure date was moved and the flight which was supposed to leave on the original date has been cancelled due to "network re-alignment". We were sad but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

AirAsia gave us 3 options for our travel plans. I opted for option 3.

After processing the full refund with the airline. I immediately booked another flight for us to Seoul. And this was the reason why we ended up applying for a Korean Visa. Please note that although the process for Korean visa application for Filipinos is pretty much the same for the whole country, I will only discuss our experience lodging the application in their consulate office in Cebu.

Determining the visa type during your application is important as requirements for each visa class may be different. We applied for Tourist Visa for Employees since my wife and I are both working as full time employees. Now let's go on with the visa application. 

Below are the Tourist Visa Requirements for Filipino Employees which I will be discussing to you one by one.

Application Form: This is pretty much normal everywhere. All you need to do is to download the Korean Visa Application Form and fill the application information clearly. Although it may be best to fill the information by hand, since I got lazy, I did a type written application. I don't think the Korean Consulate office would mind. 

Please also note that the application form is generic for ALL visa class application. 

1 piece of Passport size colored picture: All you need to do is go to a photo studio and ask them to take a passport photo of you and you're done. Simple. I don't think the consulate office have any preference for a colored or white background but for the purpose of this post, we opted for a white background photo. You need to paste the passport photo on the visa application form (page 1). 

Original Passport (should be valid for more than 6 months): This is the most important document you need to submit. Make sure that your passport is valid for more than 6 months prior to lodging your application. Just to be on the safe side, in case of visa approval, your passport may also need to be valid for at least 6 months on the date of your intended travel. I've heard about a lot of airport horror stories when travellers presented their passport at the immigration and were not allowed to travel because of this requirement. This maybe a case to case basis but AGAIN, to be on the safe side, it will cause you no harm to get this complied with.  

Photocopy of Passport Bio-page (page 2): Just get that photocopied, will you? I did all colored photo copies of our passports for our application although the consular office's website does not specify this. You may want to do the same. 

Original and photocopy of valid visa/s and arrival stamps to OECD member countries for the past 5 years (If applicable, and Korean Visas will not be counted): Valid visas and arrival stamps are 2 separate things. If you have travelled to any of the OECD countries in last five years, you may want to include a photocopy of your valid visa - which means the visa has not expired yet. You can access the list of OECD member states here. Please note that in most cases OECD member states issue sticker visas - which are sticked on the passport page. 

If you've used the visa, your passport will be stamped at the immigration counter proving that you used it and arrived in the destination country. This stamp on your passport is called arrival stamps. 

All you need to do is to have photocopies of the pages of your passport with valid visas and arrival stamps as part of your documentation requirements. You need to submit an original copy of this document (your passport/s where the visa/s and arrival stamp/s are available) and photocopies of the same to the embassy / consulate office. 

Original Certificate of Employment (including applicant's position, date hired, compensation, address, office landline number, e-mail address): In most companies, they use a template for COE requests which sometimes does not cover the information that the embassy is looking for. Make sure you instruct your company HR to include the requested information as mentioned above. You need to submit an original copy of this document to the embassy / consulate office. 

Original Personal Bank Certificate (must include account type, current balance, account opening date, ADB): This is different from a bank statement. If you go to your bank's branch of account, you will be issued a document letter stating your account information in the bank. You will have to pay for this document and may depend on the bank and branch. You need to submit an original copy of this document to the embassy / consulate office. 

Bank Statement (original or certified true copy of bank statements/passbook for the last 3 months): This is different from personal bank certificate. This is another document from the bank that details the movement of your account - deposits, withdrawals, interest charges and earnings. You need to submit an original copy of this document to the embassy / consulate office. 

Photocopy of ITR (Income Tax Return) or Form 2316 (Checked by BIR with stamp): We had challenge on this requirement as the consulate office asked for an ITR duly stamped by the BIR. We only submitted a photocopy that came from our company HR. You may want to check with your company HR about a copy of the ITR with BIR stamp if possible. 

Copy of PRC Card or IBP Card (If applicable only): As mentioned, this is only optional for those working professionals issued with PRC license. 

Please note that if you and your wife has joint bank account, then better. In our case, my wife and I maintain separate bank accounts thus we submitted bank documents separately. 

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR TRAVELLING MINOR:

If you will travel with a minor (your child for example), then photocopy of all the documents of one of the parents MUST be attached to the application form of the travelling minor. 

You also need to show proof of relationship with the minor (if they are your own children). These documents will help show proof of relationship:

1. NSO authenticated birth certificate of the travelling minor
2. Authenticated marriage certificate of the couple

The processing time for tourist visa application: 7 working days (no exception).

Visa Fee: 

For 59 days of stay or less (FREE)

60 days to 90 days - P2,000.00

What's good about lodging your Korean visa application in Cebu is, you don't need to go through a travel agency to do it. All you need are the required documents and head on to the Consulate Office to personally tender it. Below is the complete address of the Consulate of the Republic of Korea in Cebu. 

Consulate of the Republic of Korea in Cebu:
12th Floor Chinabank Corporate Center, 
Lot 2, Samar Loop Cor. Road 5, Cebu Business Park, Mabolo, 
Cebu City 6000 
Philippines

I've read a couple of online posts about securing multiple entry visa to Korea even without specific credit cards (BPI or BDO Gold and Platinum Cards). Although I have not seen any proof of this online, you may want to increase your chances of securing multiple entry visa by showing proof of travels to Korea more than 5 times in 5 years. 

• If you have travel stamps for visits to Korea and / or entry slips in the last 5 years - attach photocopy of the stamps and entry slips. Also, you need to provide details of the travels to Korea on page 4 of the Korean Visa Application Form.

After lodging your application, the waiting game starts! You may want to check the status of your visa application online. 

Here's a copy of my visa as issued by the Korean Consulate Office in Cebu. Once this visa is used, the immigration officer at the airport at Incheon will have it stamped with the word 'USED'. Have I used it already? - a resounding 'YES'! Along with my wife and our son, we travelled to Seoul for 6 days from March 29-April 3, 2019.

For those aiming to apply for visa to Korea - I wish you all the best of luck!

I will make another blog post of our adventures in Seoul. Stay tuned!