My Korean husband's family took my passport and my phone is monitored — I'm on an F-6 and I want to leave the marriage. What are my rights?

What you are describing has legal names in Korea, and none of them are "your problem to endure." Withholding your passport is unlawful; controlling your money, your movement and your communications is recognized as domestic violence under Korean law, which covers psychological and economic harm, not only physical injury. You can get your passport back, you can seek a protection order, and you can divorce — and a Korean husband cannot cancel your visa by telling immigration a story. The Immigration Office decides your status on evidence, and the evidence of what has been done to you is the opposite of a fake marriage.

Your passport

A passport is the property of the issuing state and the document of the holder; no relative has a right to keep it. Withholding it to control someone's movement can constitute coercion (강요, gangyo) under Article 324 of the Criminal Act and, where used to confine a person's freedom, can be examined as unlawful confinement. You do not have to go to a police station alone to recover it. A lawyer can demand its return in writing on your behalf, and, if it is not returned, can take the matter to the police and handle all communication with them. If your passport is lost or not returned, your embassy can issue a replacement travel document; a lawyer can help with that too.

Does this count as abuse?

Yes. The Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Crimes of Domestic Violence (가정폭력처벌법, gajeong pongnyeok cheobeol-beop) defines domestic violence to include acts causing physical, mental or property harm between family members — including in-laws living together. Economic control, surveillance, confinement to the home and threats to have you deported are the pattern Korean family courts see in cases involving foreign spouses, and the law's protective tools apply to it.

A victim protection order (피해자보호명령, pihaeja boho myeongnyeong) can be sought directly from the family court without a criminal complaint. It can order your husband and, where they are the perpetrators, his parents to stop specific conduct, stay away from you, and cease contact by phone or electronic means. It can be the legal basis for leaving the house with the court, not your husband, defining the terms.

Can you divorce in Korea, and under which law

Korean courts have jurisdiction under Article 56 of the Act on Private International Law (국제사법): you habitually reside here and your husband is Korean. Korean law applies under Article 66. Extreme mistreatment by a spouse or by a spouse's lineal ascendants — his parents — are both listed grounds for judicial divorce (재판상 이혼, jaepansang ihon) under Article 840 of the Civil Act. Mistreatment does not require violence; sustained control and humiliation have been found to qualify.

Which route: agreement, mediation, litigation

Divorce by agreement (협의이혼, hyeobui ihon) requires his cooperation, which you should not expect. Judicial divorce starts with mediation (조정, jojeong), where you will have an interpreter and where his side often reconsiders once the protection order and the allegations are in the file.

Children, property and support

You did not mention children. Property division (재산분할, jaesan bunhal) covers assets acquired during the marriage in either name; two years of unpaid domestic labor is a contribution. Consolation money (위자료, wijaryo) for mistreatment is a separate claim, and it can be made against his parents as well as against him where they participated.

What this means for your stay in Korea

Immigration rules provide for a foreign spouse whose marriage ended through the Korean spouse's fault (귀책사유, gwichaek sayu), and the documents that review considers are the ones this process creates: a protection order, a divorce judgment on grounds of mistreatment, evidence of the passport and financial control. Immigration outcomes are decided by the Immigration Office, not by your husband, and we do not predict them — but "I'll tell them the marriage was fake" is a threat to keep you from leaving, not a description of how the system works. MEGA X handles the protection order and the divorce; where the result affects your stay, we coordinate with an immigration specialist as part of the case.

What to do now, and what not to do

Do not use the phone he set up for anything about this; use a friend's phone or a library computer. Do not announce that you are leaving. Do, quietly: photograph any document you can reach, note the dates and content of the threats, write down where the passport is kept, and contact a lawyer through a channel he cannot see. If a situation ever becomes physically dangerous with someone in front of you, call 112; short of that, let counsel handle the police.

Practical insight

Foreign spouses in controlled households lose these cases by waiting for the control to become violence, as if only a bruise would count. It counts now. The second loss is documentary: the day you leave is the day you lose access to every paper in that house, so the copying happens before, not after. The third is the phone — a monitored phone is how a husband learns you have spoken to a lawyer before you have.

You can reach us in a way he cannot see: the text consultation form on our site from any device, or +82-2-522-3959 from a phone that is not his.

— Hyeonghwan Chon, Managing Partner, MEGA X Law Firm Korea