PART 4: ARC

All D-2 (student) visa holders must mandatorily apply for an Alien Registration Card (ARC) within 90 days from the arrival date to Korea. If you don't have an ARC, you are not allowed to leave Korea without voiding your visa. In other words, if you plan on leaving Korea to travel internationally, you must have an ARC.

You have the option to apply for your ARC independently or through your school.

If done independently, you need to bring the documents to the immigration office yourself, and processing is about 1-4 weeks.
Through the school, it's done on an app called HireVisa, where you can upload your documents and you don't need to visit the immigration office yourself, but processing is ~1.5 months.

If done independently, make sure you book your appointment at the correct branch according to your partner school/residence.

If you go to the wrong branch, the staff are unable to process your ARC under any circumstances.

Website
How to make an appointment
- For Yonsei, it's at the Seoul Southern Immigration Office Branch
- For other schools/residences, you can check on the website.
- I recommend making your appointment about a month prior to arriving.

📚 ARC Application Documents

- You can find printers in the SK Global lobby (only BW), as well as Yonsei's library (BW and color)

ARC Application
- View on their website linked above
- Only needed if you are doing an independent application; you don't need to do this if you are doing group applications.

Original Passport (+ 1 photocopy)

ID Photo/Color Headshot
- You can find photobooths for headshots in Yonsei's Global Lounge, the immigration offices, or in some subway stations for 10,000 KRW.

Certificate of Enrollment
- You can find this on Yonsei's portal

Proof of Residence
- You can also find this on Yonsei's portal, but SK Global prints out copies you can retrieve within the first week or so.
- The date stamped on this document must be after arriving in Korea, or else it won't be counted.

ARC processing fee
- For independent applications, it's 30,000 KRW (34,000 KRW if you want it shipped) cash only.
- For group applications through HireVisa, it's 33,000 KRW (paid with card)
  - Through HireVisa, you technically pay for their monthly subscription to get it processed, but because the process takes more than a month, you can cancel it to not get charged again and you will still get your ARC.