When your extension of stay or change of status is refused

Act in order from the day you received the notice. At this stage, securing the dates and documents comes first.

• Write down the date you received the notice, and clearly mark the departure deadline on the notice in your calendar.
• Take a photo of the reason for refusal stated in the notice, and if anything is unclear, ask the official in charge which requirement was lacking and write it down.
• Gather copies of the documents you submitted with your application or your application history on HiKorea.
• Start collecting documents that show why you should not have to leave, such as family, work, school or medical treatment schedules.
• If the departure deadline is within 2 weeks, get advice right away. A decision on a stay of execution also takes time.

Acting in a hurry can make the later procedures harder.

• Doing nothing until the departure deadline passes. Once the deadline passes, you will be overstaying and may face deportation or an immigration fine.
• Thinking that you do not have to leave just because you filed a lawsuit. Without a decision granting a stay of execution, the decision remains in effect.
• Reapplying right away with the same documents. If you do not fix the reason for refusal, the result is likely to be the same.
• Making and submitting documents that are untrue. Submitting false documents is punishable and becomes a ground for cancelling your stay permit later.

When the Ministry of Justice does not permit an extension or change of status, it states a departure deadline on the notice, which in principle is no later than 14 days from the notice's issue date (Enforcement Decree of the Immigration Act Article 33(2)). Sometimes the expiry date of your already-permitted period of stay is set as the departure deadline.

When a change of status of stay is refused, you may be allowed to keep staying under your original status of stay, and in that case the notice may not state a departure deadline. If you cannot leave within the deadline for an unavoidable reason such as illness or lack of transportation, you can apply to postpone the departure deadline (Enforcement Rules Article 33).

If the refusal was due to missing documents, adding them and reapplying may be the fastest route. If you believe the decision itself was wrong, choose an administrative appeal or administrative lawsuit. An administrative appeal is filed with the Central Administrative Appeals Commission and an administrative lawsuit with the Administrative Court, and the deadline for both is 90 days from the day you learned of the decision.

Either way, if a departure deadline applies, you must also apply for a stay of execution. In the application, state specifically the harm that would be hard to undo if you left, and support it with family relationship documents, medical certificates, or proof of enrollment or employment.

In the main case, we argue that the reason for refusal is factually wrong, or that even if it is correct, the decision is too harsh. Permission to change status of stay is at the authorities' discretion, but Supreme Court precedent holds that a decision based on a factual error or that violates the principle of proportionality is unlawful (Supreme Court Decision 2015Du48846, July 14, 2016).

The Jisan Law Foreigner Center reviews your notice together with your application documents and first decides whether reapplying or challenging the decision is better. If we decide to challenge it, we prepare the administrative appeal, the complaint and the application for a stay of execution in time for the departure deadline, and then handle the additional evidence and the hearings. Consultations are available in English.

If only a few days are left before your departure deadline, do not wait. Send us a message through the chat on this page first.