Getting Married in South Korea

Well, as many of you probably know by now, I am happy to announce that according to the law, Soo and I are officially married!!!

Traditional Wedding Hanboks... that we got to try on because I'm a foreigner :)

We still don't live together and I don't think I'm going to really "feel" married until after the wedding, lol. But it happened! And you know what? It was really stressful. It was actually difficult to find information. Technically they had it online on the US embassy website, but if you have lived in Korea for any amount of time, you know that what it says online, even on government websites, isn't always what is true. So! I decided to write up a post about the process we had to go through to get our wedding license.

6am and here... we.... go!

Step 1- Embassy Visit
As an American citizen, you are required to make an appointment and visit the US Embassy in Seoul in order to get your "Affidavit of Eligibility of Marriage", which basically says you aren't married to anyone. You have to make an appointment, which can be hard since their open hours are so short >< When you go to your appointment, you can bring your future significant other with you. We were worried only I could go in, but Soo came with me and we were both allowed in.

If you have never been to the embassy, the entrance to the embassy is on the side. Also, don't be worried about all of the Korean police officers around. ((Side Note- pay attention to what you can and cannot bring. We forgot that you cannot bring cameras and Soo had to run back to the station to put it in a locker)) Once you get inside, you have to wait till its your turn, then they give you the Affidavit to fill out. They'll ask for your address and you can put your Korean address, but you should put your permanent American address if you have one. When it is filled, you give it to the person at the counter, go and pay, then wait for them to call you to a side window. There you meet someone who makes you swear that you aren't married, and BAM! Affidavit acquired!!

First second we realized - Ohemgee, we got it?

Seconds later- YES~ THE AFFIDAVIT IS IN OUR HANDS!

Step 2- Translation
Next, you have to get the Affidavit translated into Korean. The awesome thing about this is that your soon-to-be-spouse can be the "translator" AND there is an amazing person out there (a Korean girl who married an American guy) who went ahead and made the translated document into a pdf! All you have to do is download it, fill it out, and sign! Make sure you fill it out in Korean! That includes your name and everything. It all needs to be in Korean. I've included a link to the lady's webpage here. Basically everything you filled in on the English document gets filled in on the Korean document, then your significant other can sign as the translator!

My adorable translator at work <3

Step 3- District Office

This was actually the hardest part of the whole thing. You can luckily go to any district office (구청) to do this. At first, someone told us we had to go to Soo's hometown to turn in our paper work -_- Yeah, not happening. Luckily, we found out they were wrong, so we went to the Jongro District Office. Please, please, PLEASE call before and ask them what you need to bring in. Each district office's staff is different. Some require extra forms, others don't care and don't want them, and some even want pictures to prove you have been dating. It really is best just to call and ask before.

Last stop- District office, aka the Gucheong or 구청

One thing that is the same everywhere- You have to fill out a form at the office which needs 2 witnesses's signatures. Soo had 2 friends sign it for us while he filled out a lot at home. Some places are okay with this, some need to see the witnesses sign. Again, call to make sure.

Now unfortunately, we had a lot to fix on the form. Your name needs to be in Hangul, not English, and it HAS to be Last Name First Name Middle Name. Also, you need to have your parents names, in Hangul, as well, Last First Middle, and their birth dates. Actually, the website I mentioned before explains a lot of it. Just visit here. It's in Korean and the form is explained as though the wife is Korean and husband is American, but it's the same general principle.

Step 4- Celebrate
If you're really lucky, the place you visit will have a little cultural photobooth thing! Jungro District Office has one, but they only let people take pictures on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lucky us, we were there on a Tuesday ^^ So once we had turned in all the paperwork, we were able to take some cute pictures. A nice little way to celebrate and commemorate the day! After that, we had lunch at Outback to also celebrate <3 A very nice way to finish a slightly stressful, but amazing, morning.

The nice lady taking out picture caught him looking at me and... my heart melts every time I see this picture

Step 5- Pick-up Marriage License
We actually got the call either the next day or the day after saying that everything was finalized and good to go! Apparently we could pick up our marriage license any time! Soo went and picked up our marriage license on February 9th and... ta-da!

FA-DA! Happiness in the form of a sheet of paper from the government ^^

So all in all, the "marriage" part is over! It was a lot less painful and stressful than I thought, but I'm glad we got it over with. The "wedding" part is in the works. But next stop (in March) is- THE DREADED F-6 VISA!!