The ARC extension notice

About 40 days before your visa expires you will receive a notice in the mail. I was really hoping that I would be able to leave Korea without having to get my ARC extended. It's not a huge deal to get an extension, it was just something I wanted to avoid. However, I think the way the system works nearly everyone has to get an ARC extension.

I arrived on November 30, 2009 so that was the start date of my one year contract. That means that the last day of my contract is November 29, 2010. In order to collect my end-of-contract bonus I must teach on November 29th but according to this notice I must leave BEFORE November 30th. So the only way I could avoid an ARC extension would be to teach on the 29th and then head to Incheon Aiport which is logistically impossible. Hopefully one day contracts will be written to account for this process.

Some teachers will have contracts that end on a Saturday or Sunday so they can probably teach until the end and still get out of Korea before the ARC expiration date, but that didn't work for me.

I am going to the immigration office next week so I'll provide more details later. I know that the fee is 30,000 Won and I am expecting my school will reimburse me for that.

UPDATE: I went to the immigration office on November 1st with an employee from the Yeonggwang Office of Education. The woman at the immigration office said that I am OK to leave Korea on November 30th without extending my ARC. I showed her the notice that I received in the mail and she thought it was worded incorrectly. So, we'll see what happens when I leave.

Here's what the letter looked like. It doesn't say Immigration on it in English so I almost threw it away. The woman at the Gwangju office said this came from Seoul, not from Gwangju.


My expiration date of 2010.11.30 is clearly noted in the blue box. You can double click this picture twice and zoom in large enough to read what it says.


Here are the details on the back. At the very top in section 1 the second bullet point notes that you have to leave BEFORE your expiration date or get your ARC extended.


Here's what an Alien Registration Card looks like.


Under my picture you can see that the card was issued on 2009.12.15 and the expiration date is 2010.11.30.


The entrance to the immigration office.


The address of the immigration office.