I was convicted in Korea years ago and left with a departure order — now my K-ETA has been refused. Is the ban permanent, and can I apply to have it lifted?

Entry bans in Korea are imposed for fixed periods, not for life, and a ban attached to a departure order after a summary fine is at the shorter end of the range. Seven years is longer than most such bans — but "most" is not "yours," and a refused K-ETA with no explanation is the system telling you something is on file without telling you what. There is a way to find out, and there is a procedure to apply for a ban to be lifted or shortened; both can be done from Canada through counsel. Do not fly to test it.

How entry bans work

Under Article 11 of the Immigration Act (출입국관리법, chulipguk gwalli-beop), the Minister of Justice may prohibit the entry of a foreign national on listed grounds, including a prior removal and a prior conviction. The ban (입국금지, ipguk geumji) is recorded in the immigration system with a duration set at the time it is imposed. Durations are set by internal guidelines that distinguish deportation (강제퇴거, gangje toego) from voluntary departure under a departure order (출국명령, chulguk myeongnyeong), and that scale with the offense; the guidelines are amended periodically and are not fully public, which is why the honest phrase here is "verify the current rule."

A ban expires by its own terms. What does not expire is the record of the conviction and the removal, which remains in the system and can cause a K-ETA or visa application to be flagged for review or refused even after the ban itself has lapsed. A refusal, in other words, may mean an active ban or may mean a record-based screening decision. Those are different problems with different fixes.

Finding out

A foreign national can request disclosure of his own immigration record, including any entry ban and its period, through an information disclosure request to the Ministry of Justice or the relevant immigration office. From abroad, this is done through counsel under a power of attorney (위임장, wiimjang), notarized and apostilled in Canada. The response states whether a ban is active and until when. That document is the starting point for everything else, including the K-ETA question.

Lifting or shortening a ban

Where a ban is active, an application to lift or shorten it (입국금지 해제, ipguk geumji haeje) can be made to the Ministry of Justice. The review is discretionary and considers the original offense and disposition, the time elapsed, conduct since, and the reasons for entry — family in Korea is a recognized humanitarian ground, and a Korean spouse's parents, with grandchildren who have never met them, is the kind of reason the review is designed for. Supporting documents: the original judgment and disposition, a Canadian criminal record check showing nothing since, proof of your marriage and your wife's family in Korea, and a statement of the purpose and duration of the visit. A clean seven years with family ties is a strong application; it is not a guaranteed one, and we do not predict the Ministry's decision.

Where the ban has expired and the refusal was record-based, the route is different: a visa application at the Korean consulate rather than K-ETA, with the same supporting documents and an explanation of the prior matter, which allows a consular officer to review the case rather than an automated screen to reject it.

From Canada

None of this requires travel. The disclosure request, the lifting application, and a consular visa application are all made through documents; counsel in Korea handles the Ministry side, and you handle the Canadian documents — record check, apostilles, family evidence. The sequence is: find out, then apply for the right thing.

MEGA X's involvement in matters like this arises from the underlying criminal case; where a lifting application or a refusal requires legal argument, we handle it in coordination with an immigration specialist. We do not act as a visa agent, and for a routine visa application the consulate's own process is the route.

What to do now, and what not to do

Do not reapply for K-ETA repeatedly; repeated refusals are not helpful. Do not book flights. Do obtain your Canadian record check now, since it takes time and every route needs it; locate the seven-year-old judgment and disposition, or authorize counsel to obtain them from Korean records; and file the disclosure request first.

Practical insight

People in your situation lose years in one of two ways: assuming a ban is permanent and never asking, or assuming it has expired and being refused at the airport with a family watching. The record is knowable, the lifting procedure exists, and family visits to Korean in-laws are among the reasons it exists for. The one document that matters most is the one you do not yet have — the answer to "what is on my file."

Send us your name as it appeared on your Korean alien registration and the approximate dates, and we can file the disclosure request this week — by text consultation or at +82-2-522-3959.

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