Chinese National Who Entered Korea with Another Person's Passport 22 Years Ago—Court Upholds Denial of Naturalization

Failure to Disclose Violations When Applying for Visa Status
Court: "Sending the Wrong Signal in the Enforcement of Immigration and Nationality Laws"

A Chinese national who previously entered Korea using a passport under someone else's name filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Ministry of Justice's decision to deny her naturalization, but lost the case. The court ruled that she did not meet the naturalization requirement of "good conduct," citing her repeated failure to disclose her mismatched identity on several occasions.

Seoul Family Court. Yonhap News Agency

According to Yonhap News Agency on June 29, the Administrative Division 2 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Gong Hyunjin) dismissed the lawsuit filed by Ms. A, a Chinese national, against the Minister of Justice to cancel the decision denying her application for Korean nationality.

In 2003, Ms. A entered Korea as an industrial trainee using a passport under someone else's name, and worked at a company in Daegu. After about five months, she left her place of employment without permission. She then overstayed illegally in the greater Seoul area until she received a departure order and left the country voluntarily, but even at that time, she did not disclose her true identity.

Ms. A re-entered Korea under her real name in 2012 and continued to stay in the country. Later, she married a Korean national and has been residing in Korea on a marriage migrant (F-6) visa since March 2019.

Ms. A went through the simplified naturalization process for foreigners married to Korean nationals in 2021, but the Ministry of Justice rejected her application. The authorities determined that her past act of entering Korea under another person's name violated the "requirement of good conduct" stipulated under the Nationality Act.

During the lawsuit, Ms. A admitted, "I acknowledge that I once entered Korea 22 years ago using a passport under someone else's name," but argued, "Since then, I have entered the country legally and, from 2012 onward, have not broken the law, maintaining both my marriage and economic activities." Based on this, she requested the court to overturn the Ministry of Justice's decision to deny her naturalization.

However, the court found that the Ministry of Justice's decision was not unjust, taking into account the need to uphold the fairness of the naturalization system and the public interest in maintaining immigration order.

The court stated, "Ms. A failed to report her violation of the Immigration Control Act on several occasions when applying for extensions and changes of stay, even though there were sections in the application forms requiring such disclosures. It was only during the investigation process for her naturalization application that her use of a passport under another person's name was discovered."

The court further explained, "Ms. A violated the Immigration Control Act by using a passport under another person's name and attempted to circumvent the requirements of the Nationality Act. If the state adopts an ambiguous attitude toward the use of a false passport, it could send the wrong signal regarding the enforcement of both the Immigration Control Act and the Nationality Act."

The court dismissed Ms. A's claim, considering that she could continue to reside in Korea as a marriage migrant and is unlikely to lose her livelihood solely due to this decision. The court also noted that she may reapply for naturalization in the future.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.