Immigration Act — Article 2 (Definitions)

The terms used in this Act are defined as follows: <Amended on Feb. 10, 2012; Mar. 18, 2014; Mar. 20, 2018; Jun. 9, 2020; Aug. 17, 2021; Dec. 20, 2024>1. "National" means a national of the Republic of Korea;2. "Alien" means any person who is not a national of the Republic of Korea;3. "Refugee" means a refugee defined in subparagraph 1 of Article 2 of the Refugee Act;4. "Passport" means a passport or refugee travel document issued by the Government of the Republic of Korea, any foreign government or competent international organization, or any other document substituting the passport, which are deemed valid by the Government of the Republic of Korea;5. "Seafarers’ identity document" means a document issued by the Government of the Republic of Korea or a foreign government, which certifies that its holder is a seafarer;6. "Port of entry and departure" means a harbor, airport or other places prescribed by Presidential Decree in the Republic of Korea, through which any person may enter or depart from the Republic of Korea;7. "Head of an overseas diplomatic mission" means an ambassador, minister, consul-general or consul of the Republic of Korea residing in a foreign country, or the head of an organization carrying out consular affairs;8. "Ship, etc." means any ship, airplane, train, automobile and other means of transportation which transport persons or things between the Republic of Korea and any area outside the Republic of Korea;9. "Crew" means any person who is engaged in any capacity on board a ship, etc.;10. "Forwarding agent" means any person who operates any business using a ship, etc., and a person who executes any transaction belonging to the business of the said person on behalf of him or her;10-2. "Regional Immigration Service" means a government office and an immigration detention center established by region pursuant to any statute to perform affairs for controlling immigration and the stay of aliens;11. "Detention" means an immigration control official’s enforcement activities taking into custody or impounding a person having reasonable grounds to be suspected of falling under persons subject to deportation under the subparagraphs of Article 46(1) at an immigration detention unit, immigration detention center or other place designated by the Minister of Justice;12. "Immigration detention unit" means a place provided at a Regional Immigration Service for the purpose of detaining aliens under this Act;13. "Immigration detention center" means facilities established at a Regional Immigration Service for the purpose of detaining aliens under this Act, and prescribed by Presidential Decree;14. "Immigration offender" means any person deemed to have committed any of the offenses prescribed in Articles 93-2, 93-3, 94 through 99, 99-2, 99-3 and 100;15. "Biometrics information" means personal information, such as the fingerprint, face, iris, and palm vein of a person, which is used for verifying the identity of the person for the duties performed pursuant to this Act.16. "Departure waiting room" means a facility that the head of a Regional Immigration Service installs at a port of entry and departure to allow an alien falling under any subparagraph of Article 76(1) to wait until his or her departure, in order to ensure the humanitarian treatment and smooth check-in of such alien and the safety in a security zone.17. "Basic personal information on aliens" means the following information on aliens held and managed by the Minister of Justice in accordance with this Act and the Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans:a. Name, gender, date of birth, nationality, photograph, and passport number of the relevant alien stated in the alien's passport;b. Name, gender, date of birth, nationality, photograph, and number of seafarer's identity documents of the relevant alien stated in the seafarer's identity documents;c. Alien registration number under Article 31(5);d. Report number of the domestic place of residence under Article 7(1) of the Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans is valid.[This Article Wholly Amended on May 14, 2010]