Getting a CHIR from S Korea through a Representative

[likethefox]

Hi everybody,

So as I learned from research online and from an original post on the forum, the Canadian government requires a Criminal History Information Record (CHIR) from South Korea for immigration purposes. My common law-partner lived in Seoul, South Korea for a year, so we definitely need to get a CHIR for her application package.

A person can only get a CHIR through a family member/friend in Korea, or through a representative in Korea. Since we have no family members or friends left in Korea, we need a representative. Has anybody been through this process before? Or has anyone hired a rep? Any recommendations or bits of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bartjones]

Hi everybody,

So as I learned from research online and from an original post on the forum, the Canadian government requires a Criminal History Information Record (CHIR) from South Korea for immigration purposes. My common law-partner lived in Seoul, South Korea for a year, so we definitely need to get a CHIR for her application package.

A person can only get a CHIR through a family member/friend in Korea, or through a representative in Korea. Since we have no family members or friends left in Korea, we need a representative. Has anybody been through this process before? Or has anyone hired a rep? Any recommendations or bits of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

You mean you have no friends/acquaintances/relatives/distant family members at all in Korea who can do it for you? No one at all?

 

[likethefox]

Well, admittedly I do have a few friends I could get after to do it. However, because we want it as quickly as possible, we wanted to see if anyone had given power of attorney to someone (hired representative) on the ground in Korea to get the form on their behalf...

 

[likethefox]

You mean you have no friends/acquaintances/relatives/distant family members at all in Korea who can do it for you? No one at all?

Also, the info on the CIC website re: Korean police certificates says it can only be a parent, spouse or sibling that requests on your behalf...

 

[bartjones]

Also, the info on the CIC website re: Korean police certificates says it can only be a parent, spouse or sibling that requests on your behalf...

Parents, spouses or siblings can do it without the necessity of obtaining an official document appointing them to do it on your behalf.

Well, admittedly I do have a few friends I could get after to do it. However, because we want it as quickly as possible, we wanted to see if anyone had given power of attorney to someone (hired representative) on the ground in Korea to get the form on their behalf...

If you have a friend in Korea that can do it for you, that's probably the fastest way (assuming your friend can do it quickly).

If you want to appoint a friend to do it, you will need to take your partner to the closest Korean embassy. He/she will need their passport. You will also need the name, d.o.b., national ID number, phone number and address of the person you are appointing to do the search for you. Tell the embassy you want to appoint someone in Korea to obtain a CHIR for you. There's a small fee, I think it was $6. The embassy staff will do the rest. They will give you an official looking document that you can then send to your friend in Korea. The document appoints them as your representative to do the search for you. Your friend then takes that document to the police station in Korea and does the search. If you use a courier service you can easily have the CHIR in your hands in 7-10 days. We used UPS. It was $80 to send it to Korea, $40 to send it back and 10,000 won for the search itself. If you have a really nice friend, they can also get the translation and notarization done at a translators/notary office there too. That cost us 25,000 won.

If you don't want to use a friend there is one other alternative that I've heard of, but never actually used, so what I'm going to say next is just based on what my wife has been told. Apparently if you have no one to do the search for you, the Korean Police Service will do it on your behalf. They charge a fee for the service. My wife recalls it was around 200,000 won, but can't remember the exact cost. The KPS do not send things by courier and they don't do translations/notarization. My wife was told it would take about a month to get the result. We didn't choose to do it that way, so that's about all I know.

If you want to learn more about doing it through the KPS, I would suggest having your partner (whom I assume speaks Korean) call the KPS and ask them about it. They will be able to give you a better explanation of the process.