Dreams Do Come True: South Korea, Here I Come!

See that? I’ve got my South Korean visa stamped! That only means I have to control myself from doing my kilig dance moves.

Last February of this year, we were just so blessed to be able to find a SUPER cheap two-way ticket to South Korea, the price of which is way too cheaper compared to a roundtrip ticket to Palawan or some other Philippine destination. Anyway, at that time, we were just too ecstatic that it didn’t occur into our minds that we still have to prepare a lot of things to have our visa stamped. Nor did the accommodations and the itinerary when we will be there bothered us. We are going to South Korea (imagine that?), and that was that.

When the cloud of excitement somehow settled, that was when piling dilemmas started to hound us but we were never discouraged. This is a lifetime dream of self-confessed koreanovela addicts, hellooooooo? 


We have tons of documents to prepare, extra money to spare for processing, itinerary to plan, and accommodation to think about. But we were definitely guided and blessed for we were able to accomplish everything just in time.

I have listed down here the requirements for visa processing in the hope that this might be of help to others who would happen to open this blog: 

(Note: This is subject to change so it would be better if one would visit the official site of South Korean Embassy of their designated country.)

*Application Form
*Bank Certificate (Not Passbook)
*Certificate of employment
*Work Permit
*Employment Certificate
*Income Tax Return
*Plane Ticket
*2 passport IDs
*Certificate of Accommodation
*Reentry (to those who work in abroad)

For those who plan to go there in less than 30 days, there is definitely no fee. If you have submitted all the necessary requirements, they will be stamping your visa for free. The processing actually takes 3-4 days to a week. We were just so happy that the people in the embassy located in Bangkok were so accommodating despite our hearsays that processing of the Korean visa is more difficult compared to processing of a US visa.

It took us about 4 months to prepare everything for this trip and that’s not without obstacles and moments of wavering to pursue the trip. But if there are things which I learned, these are: (1) I am capable of doing things for the first time no matter how I’m actually scared inside, (2) No matter how capable you seem to be, you would always need other people to make things just a bit lighter than they are, (3) No great things can be done easily, (3) The processing period is part of the exhilaration of the whole adventure, and (4) Dreams do come true!

So there, I’ve got my visa stamped.Yay!!!!!!!

  

This blog should be preparing by now for an overload of travel stories and anecdotes and loads and loads of pictures. 

For now, annyeong haseyo Korea!