Korean Job Discussion Forums

[j2345lennon]

I am currently in process of renewing my E-2 visa and have a very limited amount of time in which to receive my notarized criminal background check. I'm from the state of PA and I already Fed-exed the necessary form to the capital to be issued and notarized, but I really need to make sure that it makes it here by my visa deadline. I have until February 28th and then I don't know what will happen if I don't get it in time.

Would the thirty day extension be of any help? Would it do any good to call up my state office and ask for the CBC and apostille to be rushed? Any help would be much appreciated.

[warren pease]

I'm a little confused by your question but i'll tell you what i just went through, and if it helps it helps:

I'm from PA also (Pittsburgh), and all i had to do was go down to my local courthouse and give them my info (name, SS#, birth date), they didn't even ask me for ID. They printed out a rather informal looking form and stamped it with a "No Record" stamp, or something like that. The guy signed it and gave it to me. $15 if i remember correctly.

I took that piece of paper and mailed it to some apostle office in Harrisburg with a $15 money order and a SASE, and a week later it was returned to me with a slightly more formal letter stapled (yes stapled) to it that basically said that the first letter was legit.

all in all one week. Maybe week and a half. And this was around Christmas.

I then fed ex'd it to korea and it was there (here) in like three days.

I'm telling you all this because, although you've already set things in motion, if you are afraid of your employment being placed in question by a sluggish bureaucratic office you could have your mom or friend or whatever drop by your local courthouse and send the background check out to be apostled. If they did that there is no reason, that i can see, why you wouldn't be able to have the thing in your hand within two weeks. It might seem like overkill but if it means not having to leave the country the extra $30, and whatever it costs to fedex a package here $50 i think, and maybe a trip into town for mom seems worth it.

Good luck.

Go Steelers

[j2345lennon]

hey, thanks for the comforting experience and subsequent advice. I was, in fact, really freaking out about the sluggish bureaucracy thing. I have since found out that notarization and apostille-ization are two different processes. I went through the public notary who does background check and notarization in one, and then I have to send it to Harrisburg. They say they do the background check within 24 hours, but that remains to be seen. I guess I have a little more faith that when I mail this thing to Harrisburg, it'll be returned in a timely fashion.

By the way, I lived in the burg for university and really consider it my hometown. It's too bad there's no bowl party here in Daejeon. Go Steelers!!!

[Yesterday]

Why do people always leave the police certificates until the last possible moment..?

I have no sympathy for you if it arrives late..

[warren pease]

[Yesterday]

Its a photo of a real statue - in the south of South korea... depicting an ancient, passed-on from generation to generation, ancient korean custom..

sorry - a certain mod - made me decrease the photo to a tiny size to make it less than 100 pixels in strict accordance with Daves new avatar laws...

anyway - I first started telling people to get their police checks NOW! (before its too late way back in October, 2007 (even before Immigration announced the new visa laws)... (It was my first thread to go over 10,000 views within 5 days)

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=103287&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I always amazes me how apparently some people just leave things to the last minute...

[j2345lennon]

It is irrelevant whether you have sympathy for my situation or not. I didn't ask for it. What I am asking for is INFORMATION. By the way, if consistency were a feature of the immigration office, I would not be in this situation. I've been here for six years and when the law first changed was told I would be exempt from it. When I received a notice of expiration, I called again and was told the same information. Then, my employer called a day later and received a new set of rules. Since you have so much fun touting that you're such a beacon of information, I thought you ought to know what you're talking about before you go bashing people.

[Straphanger]

[j2345lennon]

All of you posting flamebait need to get a life and get off this thread. I don't need to justify anything to complete e-strangers nor do I need to go through every detail. I already mentioned that I checked with immigration myself. Get the *beep* off this thread.

[samcheokguy]

Isn't it easier to just bribe the immigration officials?

[Straphanger]