By Kim Da-ye



Starting in April, foreigners will be required to have basic capability to communicate with their Korean husbands or wives in the same language to obtain a spousal visa, the Ministry of Justice said Wednesday.



And, in order to invite their foreign spouses to reside in Korea, citizens will need to earn at least 14.8 million won a year.



"We hope to normalize the abnormal interracial marriages in which men and women who cannot even have a conversation tie the knot. We also expect to prevent foreigners from abusing the system by marrying Koreans only to enter the country," the ministry said.



The two new conditions for issuing F-6 spouse visas means more documents will have to be prepared by any Koreans who hope to live here with their non-Korean partners.



Foreigners who apply for an F-6 visa can prove their language proficiency by passing the Level 1 Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) administered by the state-run National Institute for International Education.



As an alternative, visa applicants will be allowed to complete a beginner course at overseas institutions approved by the justice ministry and Korean embassies. The list of the institutions has yet to be released.



Some foreign spouses will be granted exemptions from the language requirement. They include those with degrees related to Korean language, ethnic Koreans with foreign nationalities and foreigners who lived in Korea for a year or longer in the past.



Married couples who can communicate in languages other than Korean will also be exempted from the requirement. In that case, Korean partners will have to prove that they have lived in their spouses' countries for a year or longer, or that the couples lived together in the same country for a year or longer.



Furthermore, when multicultural couples already have children, they will be granted exemptions for "humanitarian reasons."



The justice ministry pointed out that many international marriages are arranged in four to five days with couples barely knowing each other. Difficulties in communication can lead to domestic violence and even foreign spouses running away, it added.



The ministry will also look at Korean spouses' annual income, when screening a spouse visa application. When a Korean intends to live with his or her spouse only, he or she will have to have an income of 14.8 million won or more before tax in the past year. The more family members an interracial household has, the larger that amount will be.



"Households that make less than 120 percent of the minimum cost of living are subject to state supports. The new policy aims to prevent people from qualifying for state supports by marrying a foreigner," the justice ministry said.



Cho Sou-yong, the president of matchmaking agency Sejan, said in an interview with The Korea Times that the new regulation does not reflect the reality of an international marriage. In order to apply for a spouse visa, a couple must be already married and register their marriage in advance. If foreign spouses do not pass the TOPIK exam or find Korean language institutions near their home, they will be forced to stay away from their husbands or wives for months.



"In Vietnam, TOPIK is administered only twice a year. You need to study a lot to pass the test, and if you fail, you will have to wait for half a year," said Cho.



"Foreign spouses can instead finish a course, but most language institutions are in cities. Most Vietnamese brides married to Koreans come from rural areas."



