IMPORTANT: Alien Registration Cards

The Alien Registration Card (ARC) is for anyone staying in Korea for more than 90 days.  If you do not get your ARC within 90 days, you will be deported from the Korea, so this is pretty important.  Depending on where you are staying in the greater Seoul area/in Korea, your respective immigration office may be different from mine but for me (and anyone living in the general Dongjak-Gu area) our immigration office is located in Omokgyo (go from Heukseok to Yeouido, transfer to the purple line and go north to Omokgyo).  Getting to the immigration office in total (transit and walking) can take anywhere from 45-60 minutes.  I also recommend leaving 2 hours early to avoid any troubles.  I went for my ARC and I was half hour late for my appointment.  However I was able to make a new appointment.  There are also signs posted that state that it will be impossible to be seen without an appointment so you NEED an appointment in order to be seen by an immigration officer to get your residency taken care of.  The ARC is your residency card telling the government that you are a Korean resident and allowed to be in the country for as long as your visa allows.  WARNING: if you miss your appointment 3 times, you will no longer be able to make appointments, so try your hardest and do whatever you have to do in order to not miss your appointment.  Since I have not applied for my ARC yet, I do not know how long it takes to receive but I have heard that it takes about 3-6 weeks, so go early on.  The immigration office is easy to get around in.  If you're from America though, you will see that it very similar to the DMV and Social Security Office so be prepared to wait.  Although these officers do NOT wait for you so pay attention to the screens displaying the appointment numbers.  When you first walk in to the immigration room, the list of appointments for the day will show your appointment number and time.

UPDATE: You need to take a photo in Korea because the photo required for the ARC is a different size than that of an American passport photo.  Don't worry though, there is a photo booth near the bathrooms in the Heukseok station where you can take your photo and print it out in minutes.  However, some of us may take a little longer taking pictures since it does feel awkward taking your professional photo in a photo booth but that is how it's done here so...yeah.  The cost is 10,000W and you get 8 copies (better to have multiples than not having one when you need it).  At the immigration office there are glue sticks but not scissors.  However, you can bring your own or buy one from the little shop inside the subway.  Check your appointment receipt also for what floor your appointment is on.  Mine was on the first floor (residency for non-Chinese) but the ARC room was on the third floor.  This did not help with the fact that I was already half hour late.