Step by Step on How to Extend that D4 Visa in South Korea
Before you can do anything on the site, you need to first register an account. One important thing to note is that, NEVER try to login before you verify your email. If you do, the entire account is voided and you would have to register again. It takes a bit of time, not instantaneous, for the confirmation email to arrive into your inbox. So I thought there was no harm in snooping around the site first before confirming but I was wrong. I ended up having to call the helpline and the lady told me that I shouldn't log into the site before doing the email verification step. She also added that many others did that too, which explains why she wasn't at all surprised.
So, NEVER attempt to log into the site before you receive the email verification.
Once you have gotten past registration...
Login to the site. Hover over 'Petition Application' and you will get the following drop down. Then click on 'e-Application'.
The above screenshot also roughly shows which types of visas can be extended via this method.
The fee for extending the visa online is 50,000 krw, which is cheaper than going down to the Immigration Office, which would cost, I think, 65,000 krw? Please also note the processing time above to make sure that you don't only submit your application with less than two weeks left on your current visa validity.
Once you have gone through the whole wall of texts, tick the check box then click on 'Next'.
If you have recently changed certain crucial information, for example, maybe you went back to your home country and have gotten a new passport, hence new passport number, you will need to tick on 'Notification of change in registration information'. But otherwise, just click on 'Next'.
Your details should auto populate, with most fields not amendable while fields like email and phone number, you can amend. So you can take this chance to update your contact details.
1. Certificate of studentship would be the enrolment certificate which your language school would issue you when you sign up for the next semester(s). Otherwise, you can check with the office on how to obtain it, whether it is from the office directly or if you can download from the portal. In my case, when I asked the school for visa extension required documents, I received the enrolment certificate for the current term that I am attending, the next two terms that I will be attending, my latest available academic transcript, and latest available attendance record. Since I received it all in one PDF, it is easy to upload it all in one file. If you have multiple files, just click on the 'Add' button and you can upload your next file. Do note that if you hit the 'Delete' button, it deletes the last line, you can't choose which line to delete.
2.Others(Proof of sojourn expense, and etc.): Honestly, I am not very sure of this one, but I uploaded my Korean bank statement and it worked. So...
4. Tuition fee payment receipt or certificate of scholarship: You should receive emails when you make payment for your tuition so just save those into a PDF file and upload. Or if you are on scholarship (not sponsored by the government) then you can upload that instead.
5. Proof of residency: If you are staying in the dormitory, your school will be tasked with providing you with this document. Otherwise, if you are renting a place of your own, then you need to upload your lease contract. If you are staying in an Airbnb, I suppose you can upload your Airbnb receipt showing clearing the period you have rented the place for and most other details like your name or some sort of identification should link you to the rental. Also, if your Airbnb host has experience in hosting register foreigners for a long stay, he/she may know what sort of document(s) to provide.
Take note of the limitation on the file size that you can upload. It isn't a major issue, but it won't let you continue on to the next step if your file exceeds the limit. You can easily re-save your files into a reduced size version so that it stays within the file size limit. Once you have uploaded everything required of you, click on 'Apply' to proceed to the next step, which is payment.
At the bottom left corner of the pop up, you can change the language to either English or Chinese. Otherwise, by default, it would be in Korean.
If your payment went through, it should be reflected at 'Transaction successful' under the Payment Status. Make sure to click on 'Confirm' down below to fully complete the process.
And with that, you are done! All that is left is to play the waiting game. If there are further queries, the immigration officer will reach out to you. If not, then you will get the notification that your application has been approved. And when you do, you can drop by the Immigration Office to get a sticker to update the dates on the back of your ARC. Even if you don't, I don't think it is a huge issue. As mine isn't updated and they didn't tell me that I have to either. So...
And another thing to note is, whether you extend by 3 months or 6 months, it is still the same price of 50,000 krw if you do it online. Because the fee is charged per application, and not the duration.
