The Seoul Administrative Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Pakistani father in a case concerning the right to an extended visa for foreign national parents with Korean-born children, even if the child lives in a foreign country.

The Central Administrative Appeals Committee said Monday that it withdrew Seoul Immigration Office’s decision not to extend the man’s visa.

It is said the man first arrived in Korea in 1996 and got married to a Korean woman as an undocumented foreign worker. In 2006, his wife gave birth to their daughter, but soon after he was deported back to Pakistan. 

Due to financial difficulties, the wife reportedly took her daughter to Pakistan to receive help with the upbringing from her father-in-law.

After obtaining a foreign spouse F-6 visa, the man returned to Korea in 2007 and has been working in the country ever since.

Despite him returning, the wife reportedly ran away from home and committed adultery, giving birth to two children. The two are not legally divorced, but they are not living together.

When the man tried to extend his stay in Korea, the Seoul Immigration Office denied his F-6 visa, citing the “unstable marriage life and the child‘s current residence in Pakistan.”

According to immigration authorities, F-6 visas are granted to spouses of a Korean citizen or is the parent of a minor child born after a marriage with a Korean and plans to raise the child in Korea.

Upon granting the extended visa, the Central Administrative Appeals Committee said it does not hold the man accountable for the marital deterioration and that the man’s 12-year-old daughter can always return home to Korea.

By Catherine Chung (cec82@heraldcorp.com)