Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Spoono]

I'd rather not ask this here as I know it's not relevant to everyone and possibly not relevant to the board.... however, I think the odds are good that someone here can help me out.

I've been hired by EPIK on very short notice. I found out officially that I was hired this previous weekend and I begin around September 25. My documents were already in Korea with my agent, and EPIK has already sent me my contract and official notice of hire paper, which I now have in my metaphorical hand.

I'm now preparing to apply for the visa here in California, and this is where the problem comes. The Korean consulate here is literally impossible to get a hold of. Their phone service is 100% automated, when you push an option to speak to someone it either restarts the message or says it does not understand. When you e-mail them, the e-mail gets rejected. When you go to their website, it says "not authorized"

What the hell is going on? Does the Los Angeles Korean Consulate still exist?

Basically, if anyone has any experience with the consulate here in Cali, specifically the LA one.... what's the process like? I believe I need to bring my notice of hire, visa application form, and passport. I plan to also bring my original Diploma, copy of criminal background check, and whatever other documents I can throw into a binder.

If i drive down there with the documents, can we complete the interview and the whole shebang right there? Or do they schedule it for another time and have a processing schedule?

Any information would be greatly appreciated as things are running a bit rushed here.

Thank you so much.

[tenchu77491]

I am from NY and I went there. Basically my recruiter had to lie to them and make an excuse as to why I am going there and not LA. I had to say I was traveling around the entire USA.

Basically if you're not from LA you will get hammered there. They are hard asses.

There is a cute handy young girl that stands outside the booths trying to help people tho, and she speaks native English.

It took me a total of 5 days, and the company paid for my hotel. Nightmare.

[Marissa0687]

I just got my visa through the LA consulate last month. I was able to get through on the phone, though. Call between 9 and 4 and press 2 to speak in English. There should be an option for visas in the automated menu. If it keeps bouncing back, that means the lines are busy. Bad timing, I guess. And the website -- not sure when that happened, but you may want to bring it to their attention when you get there. Sorry about all of the trouble you're having.

When I went to get my visa for my SMOE position, they only wanted my passport, application, contract and notice of appointment. They didn't care about the diploma, CRC, etc. Still, it would be a good idea to bring them. Oh, and you'll need a passport-sized photo. They took my 2x2 without blinking, even though the application requests a 3cm x 4cm.

I'm with SMOE and they didn't ask for an interview. I think it's because it's one of the large public school gigs. I was in and out in 15 min. I would imagine that since you have an NOA through the Korean government, you won't need to interview, either.

It's $45 and you can pick it up the next day. If you park in the lot right next to the consulate, make sure to validate your parking slip with the stamp at the window counter. It's self-serve.

[Spoono]

[SarahMarin]

I see that you already got the answer that you were looking for but I wanted to share with you my experience with the Korean Consulate in LA anyway.

1- They take a lunch break from 12pm-1pm and they turn off their phones during that time.

2- Even though I begged and pleaded they insisted that I have to come down to the office for an interview. I was living in San Diego so that meant a 3 hour drive for me.

3- When I arrived promptly at 9am I had my paperwork all ready including a resume and all these other things that the website said it needed. But they didn't even ask for it! Now, I'd advise that you have it just in case, but I'm just saying all they wanted was my 2 forms filled out and my passport.

4- The "interview" I had was incredibly short and lasted about 2 minutes. They asked me things like "Have you been to Korea before?" and about my teaching experience. Really, this guy did not seem to care about my answers all that much, he just "uh-huh'ed" me and let me go.

5- They said I could come back to pick up my paperwork at 3:30pm but I decided to go early and see if it was ready. It was ready at 2pm. I bet it was probably ready before lunchtime, but who knows.

The process was really painless once I made my way to the consulate.

Hope that helps!

[Spoono]

Thanks Sarah, I appreciate that. Did not know about the lunch time... that's generally the time I tried to call, as luck would have it.

I'll be going down tomorrow. Everything should be fine, but I'll post here if there are any hiccups, just to keep this thread informative.

[UCLAgirl]

Yup, lunch between 12 and 1...i've been able to talk to someone every time i call so maybe you just called at the wrong time? they are not the nicest folks there but they eventually gave me my visa after a few trips - it was an F4.

[awong004]

it may take a few tries to get ahold of someone but if you press 0 .. they will eventually answer.

[Spoono]

Beautiful.

Received my visa in the mail today at noon, the day after dropping my documents off at the LA Korean consulate. I left them an envelope with pre-paid express postage since I'm in a bit of a rush.

Things went without any problem at all.

Do note, however, they required a signed copy of my contract, which it seems they are going to keep. So in total, the necessary documents were:

1) Passport

2) Visa application form

http://www.koreanconsulate.org/inc.php?inc=80100&ln=en

3) Official, original notice of appointment from your employer. Rather official looking paper stating you have been officially hired etc.

4) Signed copy of your contract


There was no interview required.