How to request a Korean family certificate
The Korean request is a menu of five certificates — and the art is ordering the right set for the right process. The consular counter resolves it for the diaspora; the representative with a wiimjang, in Korea; and the archive hojeok covers what the new system inherited from the old.
The menu
- 가족관계증명서 — family relations: the holder's parents, spouse, children; the chains' mother-piece.
- 기본증명서 — basic: birth, personal data, the holder's adoptions/changes.
- 혼인관계증명서 — marriage: the conjugal history.
- 입양/친양자 — adoptions (with access protections).
- 제적등본 — the archive hojeok: the pre-2008 clan register, the source of the earlier generations.
Where to request
At the consulate (Brazil): a form, identity, the connection — and the certificate comes out of the system. In Korea: any 주민센터 (community centre — the omnipresent municipal counter) or the kiosks; online, with credentials. The representative brings the wiimjang with the grantor's identity.
The data kit
- Name in hangul (and hanja when the family knows it — it disambiguates homonyms).
- The birth date and the 본적/등록기준지 — the registration's base place (the old hojeok's 'origin').
- The jumin deungnok beonho (the registration number) when it exists.
- The desired certificate(s) and the purpose.
Timelines and fees
Symbolic fees (a thousand-odd won per copy in Korea; a consular fee abroad) and immediate issuance — the system is instantaneous. The old chains via 제적등본 may ask for an archive search, with days.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 등록기준지?+
The registration's 'base place' — the conceptual heir of the hojeok's bon-jeok: the family's territorial anchor in the system. The family's old documents mention it; it speeds up any search.
Does the wiimjang need the consulate?+
The one drawn up/certified via the consulate is the fluid format; the private one with an attached identity works in simple flows. The Korean counter checks with digital rigour — the right format avoids double trips.
Informative content about request procedures. We do not cover citizenship or visa eligibility. Rules and amounts may change; always confirm before acting.