Travel back South Korea from USA, with long term visa (ARC) and a dog!
>>ภาษาไทย
I don’t think I’m ready to go back to South Korea during the “Second Wave” of Covid-19. But it’s time to go back, we have to…
What we need to have before/during travel (some due to our company requirements).
1. Covid-19 test in the US, this is required by our company. We got the Covid-19 test in Covington Louisiana and it took only 2 days for our results to come back (our friends took the tests in Texas, it took 5-6 days for results).
In Louisiana, the test was a nose swab and not fun at all. But I like the way they set us up to sit with our head on the wall so we couldn’t move away until they were done. It’s too deep in my nose and hard not to back away!!!
2. Confirmation of Residence/Accommodation Information. This is provided by the apartment agency to show that we do have a home in South Korea. But guess what? I don’t feel like the airport officer cares about this form. We did show them but nobody took it. But it’s good to have it otherwise they will make us go to the government quarantine facility.
3. Transport Certificate, to be confirmed that we will be pick up by a private van. In the USA, we’re asked when we did the check-in at the airport but they don’t really care about our paper. Also, I think we need this in the Korean version because when we show it to the airport officer in Seoul, they still led us to the public bus waiting area.
4. Application “Self-Quarantine Safety Protection”, this is very important that you have to have on your smartphone, it’s MANDATORY! The Government will track us by this app during the 14-day quarantine. We will have to enter our temperature in the app twice a day for 14 days. It’s available to download for both Andriod and iOS.
After download, when you open the app, please put ID : CORONA
My Korean friend told me, the Korean government will rent smartphones for people who don’t have the phone. But it will be a version that’s good enough for checking on you during 14day -Quarantine.
*After downloading the app, you can get ready by input your info.
We left our house about 4 in the morning, we traveled with our small dog, click here if you want to know about traveling with a small dog from the USA to South Korea during Covid-19 (coming soon)
At the New Orleans Airport, it’s very quiet. There are only a few airline counters operating today. Not many passengers but our plane was almost full.
We showed our Covid-19 test and all document we have. But we were asked about transportation in Seoul, and we said yes we have. So I think they are just checking on you about transport.
Not sure that all the shops are closed because of Covid-19 or it’s too early in New Orleans.
Delta will call the back rows to board first, so when they call your row number, you stand on the dot for 6ft distancing.
Mask is required for public transport in Louisiana, so if you don’t wear masks, they will give you one for free.
So everybody on that plane has the mask on!
While boarding, they give us a hand sanitizing wipe…but no water or snack LOL
1.5hrs later, we arrived at Atlanta Airport in Georgia. This is a huge airport, you have to take a train to go between the terminals.
The airport is not that crowded today. There are more people in the domestic terminal but the International Terminal was almost empty.
*International Concourse, Atlanta Airport (6/1/2020)
Food Court in Atlanta Airport, International Terminal 6/1/2020
At the counter for airport check-in to Korea, they will provide information about downloading the app for Self-quarantine in South Korea. It’s recommended you download it now and fill in your information. It will save time when you get to the airport in Seoul.
Today, it’s more than 90% of Korean Passengers for our flight.
All flight attendants are wearing a protective suit.
We had the mask on at all time during boarding , except while we’re eating…
After take-off, we got 4 more papers to fill out:
1. Arrival card (I’m not sure that we have to do this card because we have ARC (Residency Card) but during Covid-19, we just did it all (just in case)
2. Travel Declaration, we have to do this one even in normal times.
3. Health Declaration Form, this asks you to declare if you have any symptoms during the trip.
4. Travel Record Declaration, to check how many countries you have visited in the last 14days, this form mention more about the tracking app. that we have to have it installed on our phone as well.
I would recommend you have a small paper for a Passport number, phone number, and address in Korea with you at all times.
Arriving Incheon (Seoul) Airport
We walked right to Immigration. They were all set up for Quarantine Stations during Covid-19.
This is our experience when we arrived on 2nd June 2020.
The first station, they would ask from all document that we got on the airplane. If you have ARC, you have to show it to the officer as well, if not they will give you the tourist badge.
The officer will check your temperature, you should not have a FEVER (over 37.5 Celcius). But if you do, they will send you to the Covid-19 test next room.
If you pass this station, the 2nd Station is for Application Installation/entry data.
If you have downloaded app “Self-Quarantine Safety Protection” and put your info as I mentioned before. You will need to put it your first “Self-Diagnose” which includes listing the temperature you got from the first station. We have to do this 2 times a day during Quarantine!
***You should bring a thermometer (the app uses Celsius ) with you.
Don’t hang around in this station, there’s no real line here. Once you have confirmed that your app is set up correctly with one of the helpers in this area, move to the next station (which will have a line!)
3rd Station This station will take a little longer because they will check the phone number that you put in the application. They will try to call in your phone to see it really works.
So I’m not sure that if you travel together with one phone or if you travel with your kids. How this app will work?
They pretty much checked all our info at this station.
4th Station, this station is very boring, I hope they will make it better and easier in the future (only Covid19 is over very soon).
There are 4 pages in different sizes of paper that you have to fill out the same info. Especially, your address in Korea (which is very long and we even can’t read it). My friend was saying “man! I hate writing down my address!” and even me, I was tired (we have been traveling for more than 20hours!) and my hand full of papers, so I left my suitcase at this station haha!
Note: we were confused about “Status of Sojourn”, this is your type of visa that shows on your ARC card.
This station will check your ARC card very close, your expiration date etc.
So I guess if you are a tourist, you will have to do a different station than us…
Next the Immigration Station (5th), as normal they will check your passport, do your fingerprints and take your photo. But during Covid-19, the officer will collect some of the Covid-19 paperwork you just finished.
At this station, you will get a small card with a barcode. At first, we don’t know what it is but don’t lose it yet!
After we passed the Immigration, we had to declare our dog. I think the pet is easier to pass all the gates than us during Covid-19!
We took about 1hr and 15 mins after arrival to the baggage claim.
But it is NOT done yet!!! Once we walked pass the Custom gate, there is the last station, 6th!!!
This looks like a check for transportation. They asked me for a small card that we got from an Immigration officer, passport, and something (I can’t remember I just gave them all we have!)
They didn’t say much after they checked they put an orange sticker on our shoulder and tried to move us to the public transportation waiting area. I heard the guy said, KTX which is the train. We were trying to tell them that we have the company car to pick us up, we had to have our drivers talked to them in Korean. Then we moved to the “Private Vehicle Pick Up Area”
At the end of the process, we will have these papers left with us.
And We are now starting quarantine day 1!!!
We rode about 5 hrs to get to our apartment in Geoje Island. The driver did stop for a restroom at about the 1/2 way mark so try not to fill up on water…
We were a total of 30 hrs traveling from door (USA) to door (South Korea)! We were really happy to get to the apartments, and there was a mad race from all of us (including our dog) to get to a restroom!
!We’re home just a little before midnight. We had to do the 2nd Self-Diagnose (check our temperature) right away (just follow the rule, 2 times a day), we wanted to make sure that the day we arrived counted as day one for quarantine!.
Remember if you didn’t follow the rule, you will be fined up to 10,000,000won (~$10,000), and you will have to wear the wrist band after that, also your visa will be revoked!
Tomorrow, we will be picked up for Covid-19 test (again!!!)
Read More for our 14-Day Quarantine in South Korea…
For more about our experiences/trips in South Korea: https://www.somethingjam.com/south-korea
