Shortly after I arrived in Korea, I went to the local Beautiful Korea, Wonderful Immigration - KISS office - which when it wants to be less friendly is known as a branch of the Ministry of Justice - in the hope of obtaining an F2 visa as the spouse of a Korean national. In the past, the process had appeared to be nothing more than a formality, but this time there were questions, and it even appeared we might have found ourselves in a Catch-22 situation with our marriage certificate. I was told I could go and collect my new visa on a certain date, if they didn't phone me first to notify me there would be a more detailed investigation. I left with a sinking feeling that I might get sucked into another bureaucratic farce the type of which I inexplicably seem to attract.
There was nothing to be done but put it out of my mind and get on with setting up my life here, and to be fair, I didn't believe the situation with the marriage certificates was likely to become unresolvable, though I couldn't help wondering whether in the worst case scenario, I might be back in the UK in December trying to sort it out.
So it was with some relief that I was able to get up yesterday morning, having received no call, and go down to Beautiful Korea, Wonderful Immigration and claim my newly issued F2 visa which enables me to stay here until next September, at which point we may dance our little dance again. It's a pity that the experience wasn't quite so untroubled this time, but it's nothing compared to the near-European Convention on Human Rights breaching antics of the British Government, and so very much cheaper.
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