Korean Job Discussion Forums

yakey · Joined: 21 Apr 2003 Location: Korea

Let's say someone renounced his or her Native English country's citizenship for tax purposes.

But yet this person has already taught as a native speaker in Korea for 10 years.

Are they suddenly not a native speaker and not employable?

Is there any legal way they could get a Korean government affidavit certifying them as a native speaker, regardless of their nationality?

How about when natives become Korean citizens?

Are they native speakers still or are they also unemployable?

Also, say if a person of any nationality gets a Master's or Ph.D. in English from Harvard and teaches English in a Korean university, is that person considered an expert and thus the Native Speaker qualification doesn't apply?

lifeinkorea · Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Location: somewhere in China

Sounds like if you go to that extent, then you would get a visa that allowed you to work. I think you are thinking of this in terms of only an E2 visa. If I were to do that, I would make sure I had a better visa. The majority probably just get a dual citizenship.

Otherside · Joined: 06 Sep 2007

One of the requirements for an E2 visa is a passport/citizenship from 1 of the "magic 7" countries. By renouncing your citizenship, you wouldn't be able to fulfill this requirement.

If you became a Korean citizen, you wouldn't need a visa to work, so you'd be employable.

If you had a phd/MA in English from Harvard, you still would NOT fulfill the requirement of a having the correct passport/citizenship for an E2 visa. However, you maybe eligible for an E1/E7 visa.