Korean Job Discussion Forums

StephannieK · Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Gyeongbuk-do

The immigration representatives brought brochures on new regs.... written completely in Korean. We were told that the English version would be available online within a week.

The new regs are to go into effect Dec 14th.

New regs: each time an E-2 holder renews, transfers, changes, or applies for a new visa they must submit a medical no older than 3 months and a criminal background check no older than 6 months.

So, if you manage to jump the "shifting regs hurdle", begin the process to apply for your next set of criminal paperwork so you can have it ready for next years red tape chaos. Remember, your recieved criminal check can not be more than 6 months old. The only apostilling that was mentioned was in connection of getting a local police report. Not clear if the RCMP or FBI checks must have an apostille.

The interview for home country first time applicants has been reserved for only those with suspicious applications.

For those caught in the lurch like me... having a passport that shows you've not left Korea in the past year since your last crim. check, doesn't expempt you from having a fresh one.

Again, this was Busan Immigration reps speaking to us... and I'm sure many of us remember the "Busan 9".

Each immigration office will have their own interpetation.

There was no mention of either eliminating the Japan visa run or requiring it. The representative spent most of her allotted speach time going over the mundane aspects of immigration, leaving the reg. changes till the end and in the Q&A. Basically they "ran out of time" and the next speaker was up.

This tidbit was mentioned... if you have your degree verified by the Council for University Education you dont have to re-do your academic papers ever again. Too bad they didn't have time to tell us about how, where or who to see for this to be done.

Their plan to fill the void of teachers will be to allow E-7 and D-3 holders the option of applying for and receiving E-2 visas.

hmmmmmmm

There is an audio recording of immigration's speach available at this link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4958003811176318853

The first two speakers are Canadian diplomats & will explain some consular stuff that's only applicable to Canadians (any single Canadian guys out there want to get married? I"m American...but willing to renounce & relocate)

The immigration speaker begins about the 26 minute mark for those who wish to skip forward. There's a weird echo that couldn't be removed, the speakers were using microphones. Still for a handheld MP3 the overall affect isn't too bad.

Mr. BlackCat · Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Location: Insert witty remark HERE

So if you get a criminal check done and its all clean and don't go back to your home country for a year you still have to get another check done for the next contract? Yet again, logic dies in the face of Korean stupidity.

And what's with all the medicals? I thought AIDS, drugs, SARS, the common cold, didn't exist in Korea? If I come here without these things, in what possible way could I ever contract them by living in the land of Kimchi?

Maybe they should strap ankle detectors on us and only let us out of our cages to teach their little angles.

Stagnant wages, horrible exchange rate, expensive flights for travel, boring food and culture, xenophobia and now all these new regulations. Can someone remind me why I'm even bothering?

Thanks Stephannie for posting, though.

visviva · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Location: Daegu

Thanks for posting this info, Stephannie.

BTW, the Council for University Education is here: http://www.kcue.or.kr/ . However, they do not offer their services to private individuals; apparently only registered businesses and organizations can request credential verification (you have to present a valid business reg. number just to join the site).

If anyone who has a copy of this brochure has the time to scan and upload it somewhere, that would be wonderful. Was it published by the Immigration Bureau or just by the Busan office?

icnelly · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Location: Bucheon

Does anyone know for SURE if the criminal check has to be a national/federal one, or do online, and local ones work too?

.

StephannieK · Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Gyeongbuk-do

The "seal" on the brohure says "Ministry of Justice* Republic of Korea" I can work on scanning the pages and posting them here. I have a small break between classes now.

Snowflake · Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Location: Seoul

I've just been sent this link to a blog which answers a few questions - apologies if it's up already.
http://lao-ocean.com/2007/11/26/more-questions-answered-about-the-new-e-2-regulations/

StephannieK · Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Gyeongbuk-do

I've scanned the document, there are 16 pages to share... but each page is 26mb... any suggestions on how to upload the files?? I've tried ringo.com but the limit is 10mb...

I've just read Lao Ocean Girl's post... seems Daejeon immigration & Busan immigration aren't insync.... Is that a chaos cloud looming?

StephannieK · Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Gyeongbuk-do

Here's the link to follow~ I've set it up as a web photo album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SunnyWays/E2Changes

Bigs · Joined: 15 Oct 2006

Hanson · Joined: 20 Oct 2004

StephannieK · Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Gyeongbuk-do

At the meeting, we were told there was no English version because they had just decided on the method of enforcing the new rules the previous day (Friday Nov 23) We were told there would be an English version online at the immigration website within a week.

Different immigrations across the country are giving different answers. We should pool those answers with a GPS tag so teachers know which district offices are resonable and we can all move there.