For those who are of Korean descendant, there may be some issues with obtaining your visa. If your nationality is non-Korean but you're a Korean descendant, there's a possibility that you may be eligible for a F-4 visa for overseas, or even Korean citizenship (dual citizenship). It's best for you to visit the Korea consulate ASAP because the process takes about 2 months and there's a lot of paperwork to do.
According to the Nationality Act of Korea, if your parents' nationality was Korean at the time of your birth, you are considered to be having a dual citizenship. To make it clear, even though the child isn't born in Korea and her/his parents is Korean citizenship, the child is a dual even though the birth isn't registered in Korea because, they have inherited the Korean nationality from the parents.
You'll be able to determine whether you're eligible for Korean citizenship by the year you were born. Here is the following:
BEFORE June 14, 1998: if your father has a Korean citizenship at the time of your birth, you're qualified for dual citizenship
FROM June 14, 1998: if your mother or father is a Korean citizenship at the time of your birth, you're qualified for dual citizenship
It was a bit shocking when I first heard this because I thought we're NOT allowed to have dual citizenship, however, South Korea lets you. Also, If you want to obtain the dual citizenship, you must check your age. South Korean government don't allow you to have dual citizenship after the age of 21.
Here are the required documents you'll need when applying:
Application form
Original birth certificate
Korean translation of birth certificate
Valid passport of country of birth
2 passport photo
Copy of Korean Family Registry Personal Certificate
Copy of Korean Family Registry Kinship Certificate
Father or mother's Korean passport
Father or mother's (need ONLY 1 of the following): certificates of Naturalization, permanent resident card, or proof of residency in foreign country for 17 years
Copy of mother's and father's Korean Family Registry Personal Certificate
Military certificate or resident register certificate (if male)
Once you're done with the dual citizenship application, you can apply for the Korean passport.
You'll need to do the following when getting your Korean passport:
Application form
Passport photo (it's free to take the photo there)
Fingerprints (they'll scan your fingerprints)
$45 processing fee.
The Korea consulate will call you once it's ready and it takes about 3 weeks for the passport to be done. The process is a bit slow since the applications are sent to Korea so please be patient.
The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea is located in 2756 Pali Hwy. They are very nice and generous that they'll try their best to help you with your process. They helped me step by step on how to get all of those documents.