Originally Posted by
crabbing
we've never visited korea for longer than 90 days so neither of us has an alien registration card. but my spouse was born in korea, so i'm curious whether an ARC is actually necessary.
If he/she still holds a ROK passport then it won't be as hard once they get the Korean national ID card, if not, then expect difficulties. Even with an ARC, without a residential address and proof of income within Korea, expect it to be impossible. You wont even be able to set up a regular bank account without an ARC.
Foreigners I know that were actually able to get a credit card (with an ARC, and with an income), had to give a deposit equal to their full amount of credit, which seemingly defeats the purpose of a CC, but there are lots of discounts for credit card purchases throughout Korea.