Korean Job Discussion Forums

[OnTheOtherSide]

Hey everyone.

Everything I have read online has told me that I must go to the local police headquarters to get my crim background check. Well, I went in there and the guy told me that the police dpartment couldn't do anything for me, he said I should contact the Sheriff for a "letter of clearance" and that would be all I need.

So I contacted the Sheriff and he told me he could give me a letter of clearance. At this point I hadn't even heard of a letter of clearance and I don't knew how that document ties into this whole thing.

Then the Sherriff's Department said I would also have to contact the Department of Justice in Sacramento to get my crim check first, and also get fingerprinted, in which I would send my fingerprints through the mail to Sacramemento???

On top of all this I will have to go to the Secretary of State's regional office here in San Diego to get the crim check apostled once I do get it.

This is really frustrating. I feel like one, or maybe all of the people who I am talking to don't actually know what the process is and are giving me the run around.

It can't possibly be this complicated. Shouldn't I be able to do all of this in the San Diego area without having to mail documents up to Sacramento? I have heard so many different things about how this process works and I am very, very confused.

If anyone knows how this process works in California and could help me out that would be great. Any help would be appreciated, thanks a lot.

[seoulsucker]

Go federal. I think it takes longer, but the process seems much more simple.

http://www.fbibackgroundchecks.com/get-your-own-FBI-record.html

[OnTheOtherSide]

[bogey666]

[darkcity]

i live in the bay area, CA. i just went to my city's police department, filled out a form, paid $29 and was told it would take at least five days.

still waiting on it (6 working days later), but i never heard of all the hoops you have to jump through.

[OnTheOtherSide]

[I-am-me]

Don't be in such a hurry to get here. You will probably find yourself with no health insureance, no pension, and a boss pocketing your monthly taxes. If you are lucky you might even be fired in the first few months so you won't have to worry about the aforementioned.

[Jessie]

It is supposed to be quite simple! I went to my local police station and although they did not issue criminal background checks there, they gave me a list of other stations in my county which did them. I went to one of the stations on the list, paid $20, and they issued it in 10 minutes! In order to get an apostille for the documents, you will have to send it to the state capital, but you can mail them, and have them back within a few days. Tell them to get their heads out of their asses!

[esetters21]

Mine is on the way via DHL. I have been in Korea the past couple of years and I had no problems acquiring it from my state in the U.S. Oh yeah...I have connections (my father is a city manager in my home state) .

[inmytree]

to give you a little insight of how the process worked for me ( i was in NY, not CA, but it seems as though it was similar)...
I went ot my local PD, they told me they had no idea what i was talking about but would give me a 'letter of good conduct'. This sounds awfully similar to the letter that they said they could give you. I didn't know if this was okay so i went to another local PD, outside of my town, and asked for it. They told me i could fill out a FoIL form, and that is all they could do, which is for local. I lied and said i lived in that town and they did it for free. FOIL forms can be filled out for pretty cheap, and a lot of times for free - If you ask the specific PD for that, I think they all have to do it, as it is Freedom of Information...


Anywho, i got that done and had to go to my county (after notorized) office for it to be certified. This process took a few days, as the county ran a background check on me to make sure i didnt' have any criminal history (which made me wonder why i even bothered with )the local PD first, but i think the county required that document first...) This cost me $20, but I've read in some states it is free (although my guess is CA would charge too). They also told me that a 'letter of good conduct' would have been sufficient as well.

Lastly, one i had my local PD Foil form notorized, i was given a new paper from the county that was certified, and i went to the apostille at the state capital. They were able to apostille it in about 5 minutes for 10 bucks. It was the most efficient part of the whole thing...


Hopefully this gives you a good idea. What i would do is contact the county office that is in charge or certifying, and asking if that letter is sufficient. If it is, great, if not, try another local PD and say you live there for school or something. You can certainly do Federal, but that takes A LOT longer, and many times the finger prints aren't clear enough and you have to start the process over (I've read it on here and it's happened to my mother 3 times!!)

Hope that helps...

[OnTheOtherSide]

Thanks for all the info people.

Wouldn't it be a lot more convienent and easy for someone in Korea to make a quick call, or look this up themelves really quick instead of making us go through all this hassle? Or at least ease up on the apostling and all that. There are places online where you can instantly look people up. I think they should have one of their people invest 5 minutes into doing this instead of making us deal with a million idiots, and possibly weeks of waiting.

Speaking of which, do they accept those "instant criminal checks" offered online for like $20? I assume they don't accept them if everyone is dealing with the police and all that to get them.

All of this BS has almost got me to the point of losing interest in teaching there altogether. They should reform the process. And it looks to me like most other countries don't require anywhere close to the same amount of tedious document gathering and apostilling. Maybe teaching in China is a better idea after all.

This is 2008, not 1988. We have better ways of getting this done.

[Seoul_Star]

I'm from San Diego too, but I've been working in Korea for a while. I didn't have to get this done, but now I have to figure it out as well. It's a nightmare trying to figure anything out here. Please post if you are able to get this done at a local police station, or if you go the mail route.

[sonicmatt]

i just went on the state of illinois police website, filled out the appropriate paperwork and they got it to me in like 2 weeks. Is it true that the piece of paper only lasts 3 mos from the date they print it?

[Colorado]

[sonicmatt]

yep no fingerprints, u can get them if u want to, but it costs like 5 bucks more