I never imagined this day would come.
 
My family emigrated to Canada in 1988, right at the beginning of the Korean government opening its borders to the general public at the onset of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 1993, we received Canadian citizenship.
 
Fast forward to March 2022. Two years after the WHO declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic, I was preparing for my trip to Korea.
 
As someone with a Canadian passport, I never had to apply for a visa whenever I travelled to Korea (or, as a matter of fact, to anywhere I had travelled so far). But, I had to apply for one this time because the Korean government suspended the no-visa entry for Canadian travellers due to the border restrictions during this global crisis.
 
I had no idea how to apply for a visa. I checked the Korean Consulate’s website. It was very confusing. Some forms were only in Korean, and words in these forms were unfamiliar to me. What was most shocking to me was that I had to fill out a  form called “Declaration of Loss of Nationality (국적상실 신고서).” In this form, I had to prove why I gave up my Korean nationality. I thought, “That’s easy. My family emigrated to Canada, and I decided to get my Canadian citizenship.”
 
The tricky thing was that I had to prove that I was born in Korea and have Korean parents. To prove that, I had to fill out another form that the Korean government would cross-check for the credentials of my Korean roots. They wanted to know my father’s hometown address, my South Korean Identity Card number and other pieces of information I no longer have. I had to call my mom multiple times because she also couldn’t find the correct information.
 
After the ordeal, I finally submitted the Declaration of Loss of Nationality form and received approval. It’s official. I am no longer Korean. Now, I can apply for a visa as a foreigner so that I can enter my home country. How strange.
 
A month later, I received the visa. A day later, the Korean government lifted the travel restrictions, and Canadian citizens no longer needed to apply for a visa. Damn it.