Korean Job Discussion Forums

[xanderspuppy]

Have just read the new E2 visa rules and after spending a year researching, buying guide books, teach yourself Korean CDs and convincing the boyfriend that leaving home for a year+ to teach in Korea was a great idea, now I'm not sure whether Korea is the best choice or should we now be looking at somewhere like China, Japan or Taiwan instead; especially having read that quite a few teachers out there now are now looking at moving somewhere else.

We're set to go out in February so if we're going to change direction we need to look into it asap. We've been really keen on Korea (not just for the money!) but so far I've spent around �100 already just on vaccinations & criminal record check, I'm scared to find out how much the GP report is going to be. Plus the costs of going to London for a personal interview, and getting the police check and degree certificate apostilled. I've been told once to send my degree (and now police check I assume) to the Legislation office in London (at �27 per document), yet other people say send it to the Korean Embassy - which is it?

Plus, they won't apostille academic certificates without having been notarised by a solicitor and that's going to cost �25 per document. THEN it takes up to 6 weeks for the police check to come through, and up to a further 4 weeks for it to get apostilled - I doubt I'll have everything ready for an end of Feb start, nevermind in time for me to post all the documents out to the recruiter to start the actual Visa process! Sometimes I wish I could just be content with a 9-5 office job in the UK...

[nomad-ish]

personally, if i weren't already here, i wouldn't come to korea with the new regulations. when my contract is up in april, i'm heading to either china or taiwan.

[normalcyispasse]

IMHO, no. There may be a few people who still come here, but for the VAST majority of E2 holders these new regulations will be far too stringent and other countries in this area will become hugely more attractive.

I think that Korea is not really the pearl of the orient that its citizens believe that it is.

[bassexpander]

Too stringent?

I think it will be for new people (the interview is a bit much), but unless I skimmed too quickly, it seemed like people already here on E-2s, once they submit everything, would see more benefits from the situation -- especially if they work in public schools.

And I'm thrilled that local police checks with the Apostille thingie are good enough. I can get one of those in just a few days, and have it sent by the parents -- less work than getting a degree sent!

I'll have to read through it more closely.

No one seems to notice the relaxing of the 1 workplace per visa restriction -- MASSIVE PLUS! That's a big one, in my book. It's one of the reasons why people drool over F2s.

The consulate/embassy interview thing is for newbees, from what I saw. Why would this cause many of you to leave if it doesn't apply to you?

Also, not having to leave Korea for a job change. Wasn't that in there, or did I read wrong?

I've had health checks here for the past 3 years -- all paid by the schools. I can see how this will be a real pain for new people, and keep many from coming over, but for those of us here who have completed a contract, it's not too bad -- arguably good.

Why do I get the feeling that some of you are just upset that you can't smoke the wacky weed when you want to, or are hiding some previous criminal record?

If they really wanted to be mean, they could have required pee checks within 3 days after Canada day.

[aarontendo]

Yeah the regs don't sound all THAT bad. Now, if they're incompetent and lose the stuff every year then that would blow...I guess we'll see heh. They ain't shown much competency yet though so I'm not holding my breath on it

[crusher_of_heads]

New teachers would be better off in Japan with a resturctured NOVA.


As far as the new regulations-I'm not worried about them myself-with the teacher shortage coming, they won't last long-it's the pervasive xenophobia by backwards phucks that leaves a bad taste.


Korea Sucking!

[Tony_Balony]

Hi - I don't where to stick my predictions. All of comments don't direct the OP so this message might be a bit off.

Local spending will drop. These new requirements look like they might have delays and disruptions of income.

There are going to be delays from the apositlle letters. I have a feeling that there will be discrepancies amongst the record keepers and the policies they use. These records are kept per state, I think many of the policies will be different. This will produce erratic results.

I think compliance with the requirements of the treaty are vauge. Signing means agreeing to a convention, it doesn't mean providing everything thats asked or demanded.

On the other hand, after researching A. letters I've found there are services already to provide notary or courier service and it looks like a well oiled machine.

I want to say that if the immigration ministry were intentionally dissuading people by making demands like this, I would not be surprised.

[TheDude]

Topic more than covered in other active threads.