Whether you live in Korea now or lived in Korea before, there may come a time where you are living outside of Korea and you need a document from the Korean government or other Korean institution. You may also need to prove the authenticity of that document with what is called an “Apostille” – which you also have to get from South Korea.

The process is a relatively simple one in that it is not necessary to have a legal expert’s help. Some private companies offer to speed up the process for a fee (regular process generally takes only a few days and many departments offer an expedited option). Costs generally work out to the equivalent of 10,000 and 40,000 won per document. Each country has a designated authority competent to issue apostilles.

Procedures :

1. Academic Records:
– Obtain from the registrar of the University an official true copy of the credentials bearing the seal of the university.  The registrar should then execute an affidavit attesting to the validity of the document before a notary public in the registrar’s office or elsewhere at the university.  Frequently the business offices of colleges and universities have notaries public.

– Gather together your documents that need to be apostilled, as well as the money needed to pay for it. While each state is different, the price to apostille each document will range from $8 to $30.

– Decide if you are going to mail the documents or take them in person to the state secretary’s office (usually located in the state capital city). If you mail them, you must include your name and address, form of payment (a personal check will work) and the location to which you want them mailed, as well as a postage-paid envelope for mailing the apostilled document. Many state websites will have an apostille request form you can download and fill out to mail with your documents.

2. Criminal Record
The following information is from the FBI website.
The CJIS  (Criminal Justice Information Services Division) of the FBI will authenticate fingerprint search results for international requests by placing the FBI seal and the signature of a division official on the results if requested at the time of submission. Documents prepared in this way may then be sent to the U.S. Department of State by the requester to obtain an apostille if necessary. This procedure became effective on January 25, 2010 and will apply only to documents finalized after that date. Requests to authenticate previously processed results will not be accepted. This procedure replaces the letter formerly provided by the CJIS Division that indicated the service was not provided.

3. Driver’s LIcense
The Korea Driver’s License Agency now requires an apostille rather than a notorized certificate as authentication of a foreign resident’s home country driver’s license from citizens of certain countries. For more details see the K4E Getting a Korean Driving License page.