(1) The head of an overseas diplomatic mission shall retain every application for a visa submitted by an applicant to examine the issuance of the visa for a period of three years; provided, the period of retention of the following documents shall be one year: <Amended on Sep. 18, 2018>
1. Visa applications prescribed by Decree of the Ministry of Justice;
2. Applications related to visa issuance by using a visa issuance certificate;
3. Other documents recognized by the Minister of Justice which are applications for visa issuance stored in the information and communications network designated by that Minister.
(2) A period of retention of an application for a visa under paragraph (1) shall be counted from January 1 of the year following the year in which the processing of such application is completed.[This Article Added on May 31, 2013]