Hi again. Is it necessary for me, as a NCS spouse, to obtain a VISA before arriving at Osan? I don't want to get there and then have to turn around and come back to the States. It would be considerably more costly and troublesome to get one here than it would be at Osan, I think.

A-3 Visas are only available at the Korean Embassy and Consulates in the United States. It is a very easy process. Just download and fill out the form, and send along with your passport and 2 pictures and a copy of your husbands orders to the Consulate and you can get it back within a week.

My wife and I went to the Consulate in Seattle to get hers, we just turned in the paperwork and then came back a few hours later to pick it up.

No cost, and very easy to get. If your planning on staying over here, get it before you arrive.

Does the Air Force not help you get a Visa? All I had to was go to my husbands G1 office on base. The lady helped me complete the forms and she did the rest. I'm also NCS.

You definitely don't need a visa before coming!!

I am a NCS spouse as well. I entered Korea as a tourist(they will stamp your passport upon arrival) and give you a 30 day tourist visa automatically.

When you get to Osan, just go to the immigration office on base, it's located at their little airport there...show them your passport, your husband's orders to Korea, and a note from his commander(details of what is needed in this note can be obtained from the immi office, so maybe do this first)....and voila, an A-3 visa will be stamped in there at no cost. You can also request a multiple entry visa stamp...so that you can enter and exit Korea(say if you want to leave for vacations etc.) Just do it before your 30 day tourist visa expires.

It's very easy, I've done it twice:) Hope this helps!!

Every little piece of infomation helps =D I keep hearing/reading about a SOFA visa. Do I need one of those too/instead? I'm pretty sure I'm responsible for this myself because I am NCS (Air Force), they wouldn't do the passport for me so I'm assuming it's the same for the visa.

Christina

The visa is an A-3. There is a SOFA stamp that you get at the base airport terminal. You just go to there take oders and passports and they stamp it. Make sure they stamp it for the right time, a year or so as apposed 30 days or something else like that. You need one of these in addition to your visa.

The A-3 visa is the SOFA stamp. It is called by both names. Kinda confusing, but it's really easy to get once you are here at Osan. The thing that took the most time was getting a letter from my husband's commander...but all he had to do was type it up, and get it signed. I guess it depends on how efficient your husband is...lol. But don't worry about it until you get here:)

The A3 and the SOFA are not the same thing. SOFA stands for Status of Forces Agreement and it guarantees you certain protections legally while you are here. The A3 Visa is what you need to be able to stay here longer than the initial tourist stamp you get when you arrive in country. For US citizens you can stay 30 days without a Visa. When you get the A3 Visa you will be able to stay here as long as your husband is on orders here.

I would recommend getting the visa *before* you arrive. It was free and easy, and since I'm a planner it was nice to know that it was taken care of. I wouldn't have felt as comfortable coming into country and needing paperwork from my husband's commander. I didn't want to make any trouble for anyone since we're not command sponsored. Not that a piece of paper is trouble, but more work is more work, know what I mean?

We sent our passports (Air Force issued ones, since our follow-on is to Germany), my husband's orders, a copy of my ID and my husband's ID, and the children's original birth certificates to the closest Korean embassy via Express Mail (USPS) with another Express Mail envelope enclosed with our return address on it. We received the passports and documents back in four days, and that was over a weekend. Then, when we arrived at Osan we took our passports and my husband's orders to the passenger terminal and got the SOFA stamp at the immigration office.

Hope that helps!

Kara

Agreed. I'm very doubtful that you can get an A3 visa at the PAX terminal here at Osan. You do go there to get your SOFA stamp, but that does not give you the right to live in Korea for a year. To those who think it does, I would check with the authorities (Korean embassy people). You might be in for a rude awakening when you try to leave the country after a year and are fined for breaking immigration laws.

Even if you can indeed get an A3 Visa on base, why would you? Its such an easy process to get in the states, even on short notice. Micromanagement runs rampant here at Osan, the Staff Summary Sheet I had to fill out to get my commander's signature needed to pass thru 13 different people before getting it back - why deal with the hassle when you can send off a quick few forms and get the Visa in the states for free?