1. Case Overview
The client, a foreigner, acquired a master’s degree after studying diligently in Korea, and applied for a change of status of residence from a student visa (D-2) to a job-seeker visa (D-10) hoping to gain working experience in Korea for a certain period of time, but the application was rejected on the grounds that the relevance of the plaintiff's previous work experience and major was not recognized.
In response, the client appointed Law-win's lawyer as a legal representative and filed an administrative lawsuit against the Korea Immigration Service, which issued the rejection, seeking to cancel the disposition of non-permission to change the status of residence above.
2. Applicable Law
In principle, foreigners staying in the Republic of Korea pursuant to Articles 10, 24, (1), 25, etc. of the Immigration Control Act may only stay within the scope of the eligibility and duration of stay recognized by the Minister of Justice in advance, and if a foreigner needs to stay in Korea continuously, he/she must go through the procedure of re-entry after leaving the country, and only in exceptional cases, one can continue to stay in Korea only after undergoing strict screening and obtaining permission to change the status of residence or to extend the period of stay.
The administrative agency has the discretion to decide whether to grant permission to change the status of stay or to extend the period of stay to a foreigner, and with questions regarding the illegality in the exercise of such discretion, the person who contests the effectiveness of the administrative act must argue and prove it.
3. Assistance of Counsel
Since most of the case-related documents submitted by the client, a foreigner, were written in foreign languages, Law-win's lawyers first work with Law-win's judicial interpreters to accurately translate all case-related documents, while thoroughly examining the grounds for disposition of this case and focusing on a meticulous analysis of any legal issues in the application of laws and regulations by administrative agencies.
In preparing for the administrative litigation, Law-win's lawyers discovered that at the time of disposition of this case, the administrative agency misunderstood a very important fact in examining the plaintiff's application for change of status of residence, and accordingly, in the course of the litigation, our lawyers pointed out that the exercise of the administrative authority's discretionary power based on a misunderstanding of facts was illegal and unfair, and actively submitted various evidence to support the above claim and sought the cancellation of the original disposition.
4. Outcome
As a result, the court accepted all the claims of the client and granted client’s claim.
5. Significance of the Outcome
Since permission to change or extend residence qualifications for foreigners is made through a very strict examination by the administration, therefore, it is not easy to reverse the results of the disposition through a lawsuit afterwards once a disposition is made.
In particular, in the case of administrative litigation against an administrative agency, the person who contests the administrative disposition bears the burden of proving the illegality and injustice of the disposition, and it wouldn’t be easy to carry out the entire process of persuading the court by selecting effective evidence, arranging the claims and proving them, without the assistance of a lawyer.
