My GF lost her Korean passport and the consulate said she needs to get her family registry to prove her identity. Problem is only her or her parents/siblings can get it and she does not have their contact info and she can't get it because she would be stuck in Korea for overstaying here in the US. Is there any other way she can prove her identity or maybe claim asylum here. Reason we need her identity (passport) is so we can get married.
My GF lost her Korean passport and she needs to get her family registry, etc.
- Thread starter tthiga
- Start date
No other ID. Since the Korean government can't really help me I was considering the Asylum angle for her since if she was to go back to Korea she would basically be homeless with nobody to help her there. The Korean Consulate was going to renew her passport but her fingerprints did not match what they had on file which is why they wanted the family registry. The Korean Consulate does believe that she is who she says she is since she knew her Korean identity number (like our SS number) and she could give them her parents and brothers, sisters names etc. She originally came here on a student visa and eventually married a Korean US citizen but the marriage became abusive so she got a divorce. She was trying to go back home but her step mom basically said she is on her own so she has stayed here.
SusieQQQ
Well-Known Member
That is not grounds for asylum.
Well, she can't go back to South Korea anyway, since she doesn't have a passport, right?
Can she hire an attorney in South Korea to represent her and get the necessary documents on her behalf?
Is there any other document that the South Korean consulate can issue? Even if not a regular passport, maybe a temporary travel document? (Obviously if the US government were seeking to deport her to South Korea, they would need to get a travel document from the South Korean consulate.)
What state are you guys in? Maybe there is some kind of state ID that she can get? Some states offer driver's licenses and/or IDs that do not require legal presence documents, though they generally still need some identity document, so this probably won't work.
Can she hire an attorney in South Korea to represent her and get the necessary documents on her behalf?
Is there any other document that the South Korean consulate can issue? Even if not a regular passport, maybe a temporary travel document? (Obviously if the US government were seeking to deport her to South Korea, they would need to get a travel document from the South Korean consulate.)
What state are you guys in? Maybe there is some kind of state ID that she can get? Some states offer driver's licenses and/or IDs that do not require legal presence documents, though they generally still need some identity document, so this probably won't work.
The Korean Consulate would give her a temporary passport but she would be stuck there since she over stayed. I have tried off and on for the past 4 years trying to find an immigration lawyer both here and in Korea and no takers. We live in Hawaii. The thing that pissed me off with the Korean Consulate is they said her fingerprints didn't match. So I asked them if they don't match then who's identity does it match and they couldn't tell me. Supposedly they have everyone's fingerprints on file after a certain date because their system was compromised awhile back.
Hmm... will they give her a temporary passport if she doesn't intend to go back to Korea? If she can get a temporary passport, then she can use it for all the things she needs an ID for during the passport's validity period. You guys can get married with it, and apply for Adjustment of Status (assuming you are a US citizen), and she can potentially try to get a state ID if possible.
My other option is I will be retiring in about 10 years (I'll be 70 then to collect max SS). I would then go and live with her in Korea and we will try to get her ID or get a new ID for her from the government and bite the bullet and stay there 10 years before she can come back to the US. Maybe we will find a lawyer or laws change that will ease the penalty.
No. They will give her a temporary passport only to return to Korea.
Also, the Korean Consulate said the passport would be issued like the day of the supposed flight so you do not have time to get married with it. I guess other people have tried that in the past and got away with it.
She wouldn't have to stay there 10 years. You said she came on a "student visa". If she came on F1, then she would have had "D/S" on her I-94, so she wouldn't have accrued any "unlawful presence" as long as she has not applied to USCIS for anything afterwards. No unlawful presence = no unlawful presence ban when she leaves the US.
It wouldn't have to be an immigration lawyer in South Korea. It would just have to be someone who can conduct official business on her behalf, like getting her family registry, or whatever else she would do if she were there herself. Is there no way for Koreans abroad to hire someone in Korea to do this for them?
Hawaii does have limited purpose driver's license, but it still does require proof of name and date of birth. So she probably doesn't have enough documents to apply for it, but it might be worth a shot to go to DMV and ask if there is anything someone in her situation can do.
Well, you did say that the consulate will issue her a temporary passport the day of the flight. So that would be enough to deport her.
Thanks for the info. Hopefully your right and she did not accrue any unlawful presence. Not sure off hand but I guess when we find an immigration lawyer they can look into this. Biggest problem is finding an immigration lawyer in hawaii or in Korea (that can speak English so I know what they are trying to do).
But they can't prove she is a Korean citizen just like we can't prove she is a Korea citizen. It's like me saying I am a Japanese citizen but I don't have any ID but I am really American.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
The US government has record of the documents she used in applying for her F1 visa though. So if they really want to deport her, they can present those to the consulate to demonstrate she is a Korean citizen.
SusieQQQ
Well-Known Member
Plus, they can pull details of the passport she used on entry from her biometrics. Long story short, if they want to deport her to Korea, they can. However, unless she’s done something to really hit USCIS’s radar, there’s no real reason to suppose they would find her and go through deportation proceedings.
Her ex husband never filed for a green card for her?
You said her previous marriage to a US citizen was abusive. VAWA might be a possibility; though that depends on whether there is evidence of actual abuse. (Of course, if you are a US citizen, then applying for a green card based on marriage to you is simpler, but the problem with that is the lack of ID for marriage.)