Korean Job Discussion Forums

[afsjesse]

I found this to be a surprising twist in events regarding the visa issue. Here's the article.

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

A group of human rights lawyers plan to file a petition with the Constitutional Court against what they call discriminatory visa rules that require foreign English teachers to submit documents on health checks and criminal records.

Chang Suh-yeon, an attorney with the Korean Public Interest Lawyers Group ``Gong-Gam,'' told The Korea Times Tuesday that her group will take the issue to the court this week or next.

``The visa law violated the Constitution that guarantees a basic right to freedom, equal treatment, the pursuit of happiness and the protection of privacy,'' Chang said.

``The visa law is based on vague prejudice and bias that foreign English teachers have disordered sex lives and use drugs,'' she added.

Under the immigration law, applicants for an E-2 English teaching visa have been required to submit documents on criminal records and health checks since December 2007 after the arrest in Thailand of pedophile suspect Christopher Neil, who had once taught children in Korea.

A foreign teachers group has already filed complaints with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), claiming the visa regulations were discriminatory.

The human right agency plans to hold a public hearing on the issue late this month in order to finalize an official position as early as July.

``A subcommittee consisting of three members will rule on the complaint. If there are conflicts among the panel members, the petition will be forwarded to a larger committee consisting of 11 members,'' said Lee Sung-taek, an official of the state agency.

If it backs the foreign teachers group, it is likely to push the Ministry of Justice to revise the related law and also influence future rulings by the Constitutional Court.

E-2 visa holders have contended that the government should apply the same visa screening rules to foreign English teachers holding other visas, urging the government to use the same restrictions on teachers holding E-1 (professorship), F-2 (spouse of a Korean) or F-4 (ethnic Korean) visas. They made it clear that they don't oppose background checks as a rule.

In response, the ministry says that a visa policy is a country's own right and foreign nationals are not entitled to complain about it. ``We believe the human rights agency is well aware of this fact and will take sides with us,'' said Ahn Kyu-seok, a ministry official.

Meanwhile, the ministry has not taken any action against an American English lecturer who refused to submit mandatory health checks but still had her E-2 visa renewed.

Andrea Vandom, working at Chung-Ang University, visited the Suwon Immigration Office last March and got the visa without health check documents.

After the incident, the immigration office said the approval was a mistake by an official and that it would ask her to submit the necessary documents. The office added that it would deport her if she didn't heed the request.

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My favorite part is where the immi official says we don't have the right to complaign about the rules. Freedom of speech anybody....

[wylies99]

Good news. If all of the required background checks are about "protecting children", then every teacher, regardless of visa, should be required to submit the same paperwork. That's logical and fair.

[afsjesse]

I agree! I think that seems reasonable and I don't see why anyone would be against such a measure. I don't understand the F2 side of things, as I didn't read much of the ATEK thread due to the cesspool of comments on there.

Either way, it seems like a decision on this debate will be forthcoming in the near future.

[wylies99]

[afsjesse]

Yah seems fair minded anyway. Not sure about that last comment. I mean if someone has a rational reason to oppose it I think they're entitled to their opinion. But I think this is a clear cut case.

[wylies99]

At the very least, there will be a "day in court" where the Korean authorities will have to justify all of the verbal and legal bashing they do of those with E2 visas. Will the facts back up their bashing? No.

[Smee]

Who knows if this will actually get anywhere. I'm not optimistic.

I'm not that happy with the article, though (fuller write-up here).
* It's ironic to talk about media bias and discrimination, considering the KT is the worst out of all the English-language papers at this.
* It doesn't actually say what the objection(s) is, and doesn't get into why she and the lawyers consider the HIV checks illegal and a violation of human rights, nor does it say why this human rights violation is significant (because it violates the human rights treaties to which Korea itself is a party).
* It conflates the issues and makes it seem like she's objecting to the CBC and to health exams in general, when if you check the original March story you'll see she submitted the CBC.
* By conflating the issues, and making it seem this particular movement is against CBCs---love the namedrop of CPNeil there---or health checks in general, it makes it seem like we're all negligent and responsible. It's a TEACHER going up against this, not teacherS. And if there are other teachers in the fight, it doesn't make clear who.

Lazy reporting, though we've come to expect as much. They'll get theirs soon enough.

[Leslie Cheswyck]

I'd like to see our own countries return the favor.

[superacidjax]

The Wagner report (http://roboseyo.blogspot.com/2009/05/wagner-report.html) discusses the legal intricacies of the discrimination argument quite well..

[Dimitris Stylianos]

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?p=2065752#2065752