Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hockeyguy109]

Hi,
I have a quick question and my apologies if it has been asked before. I will be teaching at a Public School soon. Korea received my visa paperwork a week ago and I was wondering how long it usually takes them to give you the visa number to take to the consulate? My recruiter said probably two weeks, but does it ever happen sooner/later? Also, after you receive the number, do they usually schedule an appointment right away or do you have to do it a few days in advance?

thanks for your help!

[refikaM]

Where are you?! That might help us advise you.. I'm Amerikan..and once my documents reached Korea, it took only a few days to get the acceptance number. But, that was about 2.75 years ago. There were a lot fewer teachers coming over then. These days, I would imagine it would take a couple weeks... Sit tight!

[Juregen]

The visa Issue Number is given exactly ten days after submitting the necessary docs at the Immigration.

If your employer postpones the submittion it will take longer

[muffintop]

Both times mine took about 4 days..one from the states and another from within Korea. Just depends on the office, I guess and the school's push.

[KuroBara]

It could take a while. I don't if I submitted my paperwork at a busy time or what, but my notice of appointment took over a month to reach me. My paperwork was received January 9, but I didn't get my notice until Feb. 27. That said, getting the Visa itself only took a few days, and the flight to Korea was booked right after that. I'm not trying to alarm you, just let you know things can take longer than ten days sometimes. I'm pretty certain I was the exception, not the rule. Do what others on here told me to do: if you don't get anything within the alotted time, ride your recruiter like a mad bull until you hear something.

[hockeyguy109]

Thanks for the replies.
My recruiter told me the visa paperwork was put in about 8 days ago and said that I should be ready to leave for Korea by the end of this month. I don't know if he was just trying to get me prepared or if its true. That seems like a short period of time though. I'm in the United States, so hopefully it will happen soon! The good news is I only live about 2 hours away from a consulate, so it shouldn't be too much trouble.

Does anyone ever get rejected after their interview at the consolate? I've heard it's a quick thing, but what are they screening for?

[Juregen]

The Visa procedure is the same for all E-2's

Once ALL documents are submitted at immigration, it will take exactly ten days for them to issue a Visa number. That is, on the tenth day, you can have the number.
Exactly that same day, you can transfer the number to the recipient of the VISA, and he/she just goes to the Embassy to get the stamp in the passport.

But, as long as the boss does not give you your number, you can not apply for that Visa.

Immigration does not waste time, and does not provide any shortcuts. ten days will stay ten days, unless they change the ruling.

------------------------

There is one other procedure where the request is filled at the Korean Embassy, but that one takes much much longer, and I have no clue how long that might take.
All Embassies will request you to start the procedure in Korea anyway. and yes, I tried.

[broken76]

Actually the Visa number can take as little or as long as the immigration officer wants. It usually takes 5-10 business days though. Some immigration offices are able to get them done in as little as 3 days it really all depends on which one the school is using and also how busy they are.
If it's a public school through the board of education they bypass immigration and will send you a letter of acceptance which can be used in lieu of the visa number. Again this usually takes 5-10 days but is physically sent to you while a Visa number is usually sent via email.

[Sector7G]

[neko_ohio]

I was told immediately (just 2-3 days), since they had already approved the majority of my package. We were just waiting until the criminal background check was approved. Now that the CRC is approved, they are making my school wait, because the manager argued with the officer. SO, mine is taking the full 10 days. Which will make me arrive in SoKo 2 weeks late.