Listed roughly in order of importance. Let me know if I missed any important ones! If you live in Korea (and have a Korean bank account and phone plan), then see my companion post, Useful Apps for Residents of South Korea. Essential Papago | 파파고 The picture to translation feature might be the most critical one here! To me the English <-> Korean translations are much more natural than Google Translate. (Japanese and Chinese, as well). ...
These are apps that I’ve found useful for learning Korean while living in Korea, in no particular order. Many of these will apply to various languages, not just Korean. Please let me know if I missed any good ones! Also, note that there is no “one best app”. Learning a language requires using multiple different resources. Essential Youtube | 유튜브 If you had to have 1 app for learning, youtube is probably the ultimate choice. For beginners, there are incredible channels such as: ...
Once you have a Korean visa, getting a Resident Card is fairly straightforward. The Resident Card (RC) was previously known as the Alien Registration Card (ARC). Amusingly the Korean text hasn’t changed, it still says 외국인, meaning “foreigner”. Why: The Benefits The reason I applied for the F-1-D visa in the first place was the ability to get a resident card. Without one, staying longterm in South Korea is an exercise in frustration. ...
In December of 2023, the South Korean government a new F-1-D visa, called the Digital Nomad / Workcation visa (hereafter referred to as the Workcation visa). I’ve lived in Korea before and I love Seoul, so I jumped at the chance to get a more long-term visa. This is my perspective of the application process as a non-Korean U.S. citizen. Please consult your consulate’s requirements for your particular situation, especially if you’re Korean, as the requirements will be different. ...