Is this worth the chance?

[EllisAndRenz 193]

So here is an update.  I inquired about a "visa free tour" at Incheon airport.  I got this reply from the airport crew.  It's not the embassy, but I would think their information is accurate.  (The first line of their message is key, I hade it bold and underlined).  

 

She shouldn't need a visa if we are headed to the USA and she holds a green card.  W00t!  

Some days you are good, some days you simply dodge bullets.  

 

Thanks all for the input.  One of you all said something that triggered me to look out to the airport, so thank you.

 

---

Dear Ellis

Thank you for your inquiry. 

 

If you hold a Philippine passport and have a U.S. Green card, 

you are able to enter South Korea when coming from or heading to the United States. Sorry for your inconvenience, but the transit tour is available only for transit passengers with a layover of 24 hours or less. 

 

If you have a 3-day stay, please refer to the K-stopover website on the following link for more information. 

https://www.airport.kr/ap_cnt/en/trn/trnstop/trnwhat/trnwhat.do

 

Thank you once again for considering our free transit tour.
We look forward to welcoming you on board.

 

Thank you.

Incheon airport transfer guide team.

 

 

2023년 10월 11일 (수) 오후 6:06

---

[OldUser 4,902]

@EllisAndRenz the page you posted doesn't have any occurence of word "visa".

 

I found this page:

https://www.visa.go.kr/openPage.do?MENU_ID=1010201

 

It says yes, green card holders can transit through Korea visa free if flying to or from the US. However, there's asterisk saying it's suspended due to COVID-19. I'd double check with other source.

 

[EllisAndRenz 193]

3 minutes ago, OldUser said:

@EllisAndRenz the page you posted doesn't have any occurence of word "visa".

 

I found this page:

https://www.visa.go.kr/openPage.do?MENU_ID=1010201

 

It says yes, green card holders can transit through Korea visa free if flying to or from the US. However, there's asterisk saying it's suspended due to COVID-19. I'd double check with other source.

 

 

Good catch.  That's a private company and may be outdated. Korea lifted their COVID restrictions.

 

I just found on the embassy page this:  (It says the policy resumed on April 30, 2023)

https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/us-en/brd/m_4500/view.do?seq=761063&page=1

 

１. Visa Free Entry for Third Country Transit Passengers .

      (Resume April 30, 2023)

  □ Eligibility (excluding nationals of 23 countries* that are not granted visa free entry to Jeju)

     * Syria, Sudan, Iran, Cuba, Kosovo, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Ghana, Yemen, Gambia, Senegal, Bangladesh, 

        Kyrgyz, Pakistan, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Cameroon, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Egypt

    ◦ Nationals of countries that need a visa to enter Korea, and meets either ① or ② of the below 

       ① hold a visa (including permanent residency, re-entry permit) to enter either the U. S. (including Guam and Saipan), Canada, Australia, or New Zealand and △ transit through Korea to enter one of the abovementioned 4 countries or △ has stayed in and departed from one of the abovementioned 4 countries and transit through Korea bound for the country of origin or a third country 

 

 

[Boiler 43,546]

The plan is now to transit and not stay 3 days?

[EllisAndRenz 193]

8 minutes ago, Boiler said:

The plan is now to transit and not stay 3 days?

 

Staying three days.  Page 2 of that document says "Visa Status and Period of stay: Tourist Transit (B-2), 30 days."  

So essentially the same as USA Visa Free arrival.

 

[EllisAndRenz 193]

So I just read the entire doc again.  It looks good.

I'm going to send a question with the document over to the embassy for validation and wait for their reply.  (Best to be safe and verify)

 

 

 

[namle138 0]

Hi @EllisAndRenz! How did your trip go? Any update on the Korea leg?

[EllisAndRenz 193]

On 12/29/2023 at 3:49 PM, namle138 said:

Hi @EllisAndRenz! How did your trip go? Any update on the Korea leg?

Yeah, since you asked.  

Prior to leaving for the trip, I called the Embassy in Atlanta and they assured me we woudln't have a problem.  

 

When we got to the airport and were ready to board Asiana they called immigration in Korea.  The immigration officer there wouldn't accept the extension letter so long as the expiration date on the actual green card was expired.  So, we were denied boarding.  Asiana showed us as "abandoning the flight", so we couldn't even get a refund.  

 

(I've since contacted the embassy again about this matter, and they said the ROK immigration officer was wrong, not that it's any recourse).

 

All wasn't lost.  We spent an extra three days in Thailand and had a great time.  But, I had to buy a new ticket home.  Due to the last minute booking, it cost me an extra $2400 which wasn't expected for our trip.  Making matters worse, it was a long flight.  Bangkok - Abu Dhabi - Dublin, Ireland and then back to Florida.  (Qatar seats were REALLY uncomfortable).  Air Lingus was much better, but it's the first airline that I can recall that charges you for everything on International.  

That said: When we got to Dublin we learned that the airport doesn't have a "transit" area so we also had to clear immigration.  Wife didn't have an EU visa.  We explained it, and the immigration officer was REALLY nice.  He granted her a 24 hour Visa rather than being deported.  (So we got to see Ireland for a few hours during our 10 hour layover).  

 

All of this could have been avoided if the USA would have just issued a new card with a current expiration date.  

 

We are actually applying for her to get a tourist Visa for Korea now so she can go and visit.  (Technically she shouldn't need one, but this time not taking a chance).

 

 

 

 

[TBoneTX 43,159]

Ellis, what a story!  Thanks for returning with the details.  Your positive attitude (especially considering the extra $$$) is admirable.  Better luck next time, and hopefully with an actual card and appropriate visas in hand.

[EllisAndRenz 193]

2 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Ellis, what a story!  Thanks for returning with the details.  Your positive attitude (especially considering the extra $$$) is admirable.  Better luck next time, and hopefully with an actual card and appropriate visas in hand.

 

Yeah, thanks for that.  I appreciate it.
But what are you going to do?  This was our much delayed honeymoon.  I wasn't going to let anything spoil it.  

 

What was nice is that I used to go to Thailand so much for work (and oddly, they still remembered me) that the hotel was awesome when we came back from the airport.  We told them what happened, and they went way out of their way to make the rest of our stay amazing.  I'm forever grateful.  Wife fell in love with Thailand (she had never been before).  In fact, we are going to go back at the end of this year after we visit her family in the Philippines.  

 

Things did turn out amazing for us ... even if we had to work for it.  🙂 

 

Hopefully, they will process her green card soon.  I'm about ready to apply for naturalization for her.  

 

 

[TBoneTX 43,159]

10 minutes ago, EllisAndRenz said:

Things did turn out amazing for us ... even if we had to work for it.

This is great.

10 minutes ago, EllisAndRenz said:

I'm about ready to apply for naturalization for her

This is the easiest part of the process, and well worth it in multiple ways.

[EllisAndRenz 193]

7 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

This is great.

This is the easiest part of the process, and well worth it in multiple ways.

 

It's been great going thru this process with everyone here.  

 

[top_secret 2,069]

That is a frustrating outcome.  I recently read another firsthand account of a extension letter being rejected for this reason at ICN.  I wish I thought to come back here and post a warning.  In that case the traveler was boarded and made it to ICN but Korean immigration there refused to admit her with an extension letter despite escalating it to the supervisor.  It kind of seemed like they don't know their own rules and the individual officer made a wrong decision and the big boss backed him up.  So in her case, she spent 48 hours airside in ICN.