Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nyla54]

I am still waiting on my NOA, and am very nervous as more posts about being dropped from SMOE are popping up now.

I was just wondering if you could respond with:
When you sent your final documents
When you received your NOA
How you received your NOA

I know bits and pieces of this are mentioned throughout the forum, but most lack detail so I thought I'd throw this out there (for the group of us anxiously waiting for the postman).

[allan of asia]

Sent my final documents 2nd week of July.
Received my NOA 3rd week of July, FEDEX'd from SMOE directly with prior notification from my recruiter via e-mail.

Then got my visa in 24 hours. The whole thing about people being dropped is really not nice. I guess they underestimated how many people would renew their contract?

[cruisemonkey]

[SFValley]

[cruisemonkey]

Hopefully, in a couple of months you can look back on this experience and sigh.

Two years ago, I swiched jobs (public to public) and went 'home' for a month between contracts secure in the knowledge I had my NOA and all the required documents (according to EPIK, my POE and the consulate wesite) for a new visa. After phoning the consulate the day before to confirm the list of required documents, I spent half a day travelling (on busses ferries and taxis) only to arrive and find a visa officer who didn't know what a NOA was (to be fair, it was new then), and told me I needed the "blue letter". After I was able to explain the NOA supplanted the old, blue letter, she was going through my paperwork and said "Where is your original diploma?" My reply was "In Korea." She said "Can you get it?" I countered with something eloquent like "Uuuuuuuh... sure... I'll be back in five minutes."

In the end (after many phone calls and faxes) it all worked out. Hopefully, you will have the same conclusion.

After four years in K-land, I have almost honed my skill (anticipating what I will not be told) to perfection.

[AJR]

Hey-
I have some confusion about the visa process which this thread seems to manifest. Reading elsewhere only points up how the process has changed over time and per situation.
My question is pertinent to SMOE so this thread seems a good place to ask.
Typically it seems with a Hagwon if you get the job you FedEx in your documents, they arrange things with immigration, then if all is in order, you go to the nearest Korean consulate (outside Korea natch) e.g. I live in Philadelphia and will go to NYC with my passport and smiling face, (the documents are still in Korea?).
I am being considered for Nambu District Office, which is some small Public School program different than SMOE but maybe also part of it- I am not entirely clear.
My recruiter has directed me to work out the visa entirely on my own with the consulate. I assume if approved, they will email my NOA, and then I will make an appointment in NYC, bringing all the typical documents with me.
Sounds like my recruiter doesn't know the process but someone else said, no, I can get an NOA without submitting documents and the consulate will vet that stuff out. Then cruisemonkey's story suggests the consulate may expect the documents. So they go to Korea, then come back? Sorry, I just don't get it.

[alphakennyone]

[blonde researcher]

AJR, whether the job is a hagwon status or a public school you still have to send your documents to Korea BEFORE any visa number is done at immigration ( for the hagwons and after school programs and some public schools) or a office of edcuation school ( which will issue you a contract to sign and a notice of appointment.
The notice of appointment is just a one page letter saying you are employed by a particular office of education and has a fancy stamp on it.

Whether you get the NOA back to you or a visa number back from immigration you still have to send your documents (Apostilled CRC and diploma transcripts etc) to a Korean embassy so you can get the visa stamp in your pasport - only then can you travel to Korea.

You need to get some good answers pretty soon from your recruiter to find out who exactly is employing you and how your paperwork witll be done. The recruiter surely must know who he is dealing with and can ask for you ?

[Morning_Star]

My documents were recieved by SMOE in mid July and I got my NOA on July 15th. It was sent through express mail and got to me within a day or two.

It takes about a week to get your visa if you're applying for SMOE or Epik, otherwise you'll have to interview at the consulate.

The process took me mooonths to get everything together and I totally sympathize with you about not getting a job after doing all that.

[AJR]

blonde researcher: thanks for your answer, which seems clear but actually still confuses me. I am getting my second interview from a District Office of Education in Seoul in a few days. I am dubious that either they, or the recruiter has it together. You say in your post that I will have to send my documents to Korea ( which is what I am trying to tell my recruiter) and that I will have to send my documents to the Korean Embassy (which is what my recruiter is trying to tell me). Is it both? In which case my documents will go to Korea and then go to NYC? Or I will present duplicates to each?
Also, why send documents to the consulate when I thought I had to go there? Why not just bring them?
Sorry, one misplaced or misheard word and there is a jam-up.
Finally, although this is a district office and not the metropolitan office, the contract seems identical, it is public school in Seoul, and the recruiter uses SMOE in his aggregate text, which is probably just...not a total lie...
Thanks for your help-AJR

[AJR]

The district office is like 'can you get here by Aug 26?' and I reply: not without a visa!
But I am crossing my fingers, like so many...

[cruisemonkey]

[iggyb]

All this talk about waiting for Visas and EPIKs being turned into SMOEs and people getting refused and significant overbooking --- has finally got me jittery.

That and the fact I got another job offer and had to make a decision quickly - and my wife did not prefer my preference....

[nyla54]

[nyla54]