Korean Job Discussion Forums

seoulsucker

Okay guys...through some contacts I have managed to get some face time on Friday with the Vice Minister of Justice and some other heavy hitters involved in the decision making process regarding the new E-2 regulations.

It has been explained to me that at this late time in the game, the odds of making any big changes are kind of out the window, but that they're willing to take into consideration some suggestions and input from the foreign community.

I've poured over all the threads here and have a pretty good idea about what I'd like to say.

1.) Medical/Drug checks are awesome.

2.) Criminal checks are okay, but a standard must be set (local, state, federal?) and the industry will need at least a year to adjust.

3.) Consulate interviews are bollocks, and I think they know that. Too expensive, too time consuming, and will bog down the consulates with hundreds of interviews a month. Are there any viable alternatives?

4.) Having to travel home to have stamps, staples, seals or other materials affixed to a diploma is out of the question. How about hiring a couple dozen people to make FRIGGIN' phone calls to universities to check out applicants? Other suggestions?

5.) WTF is an apostille? Wink

Keep it short and clean, please. I know how these changes will affect the industry, and how it will drive out/away qualified teachers, increase illegals, etc. I have a limited amount of time with these guys and want to be as concise as possible.

seoulsucker · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:25 pm Post subject:

*MODS*

Please keep this in the general discussion forum. I've asked people not to rehash the old arguments but to make suggestions. I think this is pretty vital, and seeing how this forum gets the most traffic, I'd like you to keep it here please.

Thanks!

SS

freshking · Joined: 07 Dec 2006

I think you're right on with the issues to present. Not so much a suggestion as a question that I have would be, "How will the Korean govt. deter people from coming in on travel visas and teaching illegally?" There should be a process to make it tougher for teachers to return over and again on travel visas in my opinion.

Good luck and I hope they are responsive.

endo · Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Location: Seoul...my home

kiwiliz · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Location: New Zealand

Apostille

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Convention_Abolishing_the_Requirement_for_Legalisation_for_Foreign_Public_Documents

Basically its too much expense and would require a lot of time and money to obtain. Especially for those living in big countries where they would have to travel long distances.

Atavistic · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 8:59 pm Post subject:

You should only need to turn in transcripts and stuff ONE time. This is the most wired country in the world. Your ARC number doesn't change when you get a new one. Why not attach a note to your ARC/passport/visa/whatever file saying DEGREES CHECKED, TRANSCRIPTS REAL, INTERVIEW DONE, NOT A CRIMINAL, especially with this new "apostille" thing.

Who owns your visa? There is even MORE potential for abuse from hogwons with this. Before, if you got fired--or, like me, your boss never paid you and got you evicted because she had no money--you could find another job and a school would send you to Japan. Now you have to go home on your own dime to get everything over and over and that's going to turn even more people off of Korea. I can imagine lots of people staying in shitty situations because it was such a pain in the ass to get the visa in the first place.

thebomb · Joined: 13 Nov 2006

fruitcake · Joined: 18 Apr 2004 Location: shinchon

clarification between RENEWING a contract and APPLYING for a new E-2 would be nice. At the moment, teachers who renew their contracts aren't required to leave the country to deal with VISA documents. Will this change?

Drug tests? This seems a bit silly to me. Korea is not necessarily known to be the place to go if you want to do drugs. Quite the opposite in my opinion. If they require this, where exactly would we go to get tested? Again, would this involve new teachers or EVERYONE. This is an expense for the government and/or schools, so teachers should not be expected to pay for that.

Accountability for schools not doing background checks ought to be considered. If people are busted with fake diplomas and schools they worked for never checked for verification of their credentials, the schools should get punished. That would be excellent incentive.

The most frustrating thing about this whole mess is that the people who are here legitimately are the ones who end up being punished. We're the ones who have to pay the money for the plane tickets to go to the embassies to get our paperwork done. What's up with those who continually live here on tourist VISAs?

nicholas_chiasson · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Location: Samcheok

-Documents should be verified by phone call in case of diploma and transcripts. Drug tests and medical exams should be performed IN korea, for people already here. Drug Tests are accetable, smoking pot SHOULD make you unemployable here!
-Lastly stop asking for my original diploma, if you're going to keep losing the things...its $45 each time.

dcrayne · Joined: 25 Nov 2004

Havea reasonable amount of time to implement everything. How is it possible for all the elementary, middle, high, and uni teachers, who have to renew their visas in March, to obtain all the necessary docs? I say start everything in July to give teachers and employees time to adjust.

seoulsucker

endo · Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Location: Seoul...my home

endo · Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Location: Seoul...my home

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

I'm going to agree with endo about the drug tests. Hard drugs pass the system in 1-3 days while harmless marijuana stays for 2-6 weeks. Having marijuana in the system doesn't mean squat as far at teaching goes as the effects of it are gone after a few hours.

However, if they want teachers to be drug tested, say, 2 months into being in Korea, then that would check for teachers breaking Korean law. It was still be absurd and a waste of time and money, but it is at least more productive than ruling teachers out based on smoking marijuana in another country.

seoulsucker · Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 10:19 pm Post subject:

Knowingly doing illegal drugs displays questionable judgement at best.

You're simply saying, "I know the rules, and I'm choosing to break them."

What's to stop you from breaking other rules then?

It's simply a way to, as you so eloquently stated, weed out potential miscreants. Same with the 4 year degree deal.

Having a four year degree does not qualify you to be a good teacher, but it does show that you have ambition, drive, motivation, and have kept it together long enough to get it done.

Statistically speaking, I would venture to guess that a non-drug using 4 year degree holder would make a better candidate to teach overseas than a burned-out couch jockey.

Anyway, again...thanks for your input. But let's keep this discussion for another thread. This is exactly what I didn't want.