Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tabbyfoof]

Did anyone else just get an e-mail from immigration about getting an F-2 visa on a point system? There's a little information on this link http://www.korea4expats.com/article-E-visa-to%20F2-Visa.html too.

Has anyone called the number yet?

Thanks!

[Jandar]

Do they give points if the wife has an F4?

[tabbyfoof]

On the e-mail I received, I didn't see anything about marriage to a Korean national or anything, and that announcement on the link I posted (which wasn't anything official, as far as I know) didn't mention anything. I thought I did see something about accompanying family members, though. I wonder if I could just post the text of that e-mail here.... My feeling was that they wanted to give people who are as hopeless at dating as I am to get in on having an F2 on other criteria, but I'm not sure.

I haven't gone through that e-mail with a fine-toothed comb, but the English-language announcement was *very* vaguely worded. It would be good for them to have some clear guidelines about how many points each criterion is worth, and how high your TOPIK test score has to be. If I get a chance to in the next few days, I think I'll call the number, but I don't know if my Korean is good enough to understand everything I'll be told.

[TheUrbanMyth]

Notice number 3.

You get extra points if your degree was done in KOREA.

But how many E-2 visa holders have a degree from Korea? As far as I know only one guy (that Mark fellow) does and it took a protracted legal battle for him to become an English teacher here, because he didn't have a degree from one of the Big Seven.

[tabbyfoof]

I doubt people would have them out the outset, but maybe evening classes for a TESOL MA? Besides, I think it's a way for several different kinds of E-series visa holders to get F-2 status, not just E-2's. I think that includes people here doing research and stuff like that.

[TheUrbanMyth]

In fact the more I look at it the more it seems designed to exclude the average English teacher here. (bold for the reading impaired who read this and think "Well it doesn't apply to me...I'll just fire off a post and say so."


1. Age group. Yes it says older is not necessarily better...but someone who's stayed in Korea for say 10 years or more is more likely to have more money, speak Korean better and have more opportunity to volunteer then someone just 1-2 years out of university.

2. Income. Most English teachers make the same as an unionized bus driver (if you don't count the apartment and other perks). In other words it's not going to be worth a lot of points.


3. Academic credentials. I don't know any foreign teacher (with the exception of the foresaid Mark) who did their degree in Korea. And even if you did, you'd be on a student visa not an E-2 so that wouldn't count towards time served.

4. Language ability. Again most foreign English teachers have very limited ability in this area. Yes there are some who have a good command of the language but I doubt that most (who are only here for a while) bother much.


5. Volunteer. Apparently some Immigration offices make it difficult for an E-2 holder to do so....although it's not illegal. But how many English teachers here actually do so? A small minority if any (to judge from the number of posts about it).

6. The Social Integration Program. Hands up, anyone who's done it?
Yeah I thought so.

And since a majority of English teachers here only stay for 1-2 years that narrows the pool down even more.

Finally you have to have spent a certain amount of time on a certain visa...no mention of how much...but dollars to donuts it's more than 1-2 years. More likely 3-5 or something like that.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[miljeong]

You need at least 80 points to get your F-2S visa. This is the point structure as they have designed it:


Age Group

15 pts - under 25
20 pts - 25 ~ 30
25 pts - 30+


Income

6 pts - 3,000,000won


Academic Credentials

10 pts - 1 degree
5 pts - Additional degree
6 pts - Additional degree from Korea


Language Ability

10 pts - Pass the Beginners level S-TOPIK
15 pts - Pass the Intermediate level S-TOPIK
20 pts - Pass the Advanced level S-TOPIK


Volunteer Work

6 pts - Each documented volunteer job


Social Integration Program

10 pts


After calling to confirm, I scored a 61. As you can see, even someone like me whose been here 5 years doesn't stand much of a chance.
According to the representative I spoke to on the phone, it is my age and lack of multiple degrees that keeps me from reaching 80. Don't forget too, if they don't like you they'll claim that "2 years on one E-2 visa and 3 years on your last E-2 visa only counts as 3 years because leaving the country 'resets' your record to 0.". I've been told that garbage multiple times by the head of immigration who REALLY didn't want me to get an F-2 visa the last time I applied.

I do however have the added advantage of having voluntarily worked for the National Police Foreign Affairs Investigation Squad for about 2 years and they weren't sure what to give that for pointage.

I'll visit them today and find out for myself and post back on here when I confirm everything. As we all know, calling is more of a jinx than a solution.

[ttompatz]

This was one of the reasons I left Korea.

In spite of what you read, it is NOT POSSIBLE to do.

I jumped through their hoops (each and every one of them) for almost a decade and each and every time they found some other hoop to deny the application.

The paper says it is possible. The reality is very different.

If you look back you may find the thread with all the particulars in it.

It may be part of the F5 thread that tob55 had running last year.

.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[brier]

I will check in on this too. After 13 plus years I really would like to change to my visa status away from an E-2.

[tabbyfoof]

I imagine lots of E-1 E-2 visa holders have, as I have, been here for a really long time, particularly those in university jobs. I agree that it would be hard for someone who's only here for a few years to get an F-series visa, but I reckon immigration wants that to be the case. I don't begrudge them the selectivity, but what was said about your stay being reset every time you have to change jobs is silly, particularly since there are universities in Seoul who don't let people work there more than four years, and since hardly anyone wants to stay in a hagwon job if there's something better on the horizon.

[Goon-Yang]

lol...volunteer work... It's illegal on an E visa unless you have permission of the local immigration office.

Volunteer teaching is pretty much impossible. Immigration will think you are getting paid under the table.

[miljeong]

UPDATE: I called the main immigration # first (assumably Seoul?) and was told all about the magical F-2S visa (which is relatively new) and after figuring out that I could probably max out at 61 points, I was advised that in my special situation I should visit the immigration office and have a proper consultation. I agreed.

I woke my fluent business partner up and we both took to the Suwon Immigration office. Turns out, they moved to another part of Suwon. So we drove all the way over there and due to lunch time, waited about 3 hours.

Considering half the staff knows me very well there (I have actually brought the police in with me to vouch for me that I work with them on one occasion because a signed letter from the Chief of Police is apparently not good enough) I was expecting a smooth consultation. Needless to say, it was quite smooth and quick.

A very easy consultation indeed. Here's how it went: (note, I am translating the conversation roughly as I was speaking in Korean the whole time).

<me> I am here about an F-2.
<Immi> What kind?
<me> I am here about the F-2S visa that you earn with points.
<Immi> Are you married?
<me> No no. The F-2S visa.
<Immi> What's that?
<me> You know, the new one that lets foreigners get a special F-2 visa with 80 points on some scale?
<Immi> never heard of it. Come back when we know about it.
<me> wtf
<Immi> there are many F-2 visas which you clearly don't qualify for, but there is no F-2"S" visa in existence and therefor I cannot give you any information on something that doesn't exist. Who did you talk to about this?
<me> Seoul Immigration.
<Immi> Then it sounds like it hasn't drifted this way just yet. Come back when we know about it.

Well that was easy, now wasn't it? All I have to do is come back when they- what the *beep*?

Oh well. I will be pursuing this aggressively and probably go to Seoul Immigration tomorrow morning as well just to get things started. I don't expect to achieve an F-2 just yet because I haven't even taken the TOPIK test yet (which I think I'll be taking level 3 of 5 first, then working my way up).

For others interested in the TOPIK, I looked into the TOPIK tests as well at 3 different universities and all of them are booked until Sept 2010.
Because you need to apply for these tests a few months beforehand (July), don't miss the deadlines.

According to the last consensus from my phone calls (there are dozens of universities that host it), ALL spots are currently booked because they only have the test 4 times per year.

Mmmm.... red tape. Delicious.

I'll keep posting back here on this thread as more develops.

For those of you who have been here longer than me, if I get an F-2 visa this way, surely you can. We'll see.


EDIT: About my statement regarding needing to be here 5 years consecutively, that is if you want an F-2 visa on your own merits, not based on this point system (apparently). And although I'll never be sure, I can't help but think the "consecutive" part is one of those parts of the law that can be interpreted however immigration wants to.

As I mentioned in my first post, the EXTREMELY lazy (always out to 'lunch') previous 2 years chief of immigration treated me and my Korean colleague like shit for 'wasting his time' with such 'trivial questions' regarding 'F-2' visas and tried his best to get us out of his office. I think that's the reason for him saying I needed to be here 5 years consecutively.

Either way, it doesn't matter. I know this looks all bullshit and sad, but last I checked, even an American citizenship works that way. Holding a green card for 5 consecutive years makes you eligible for citizenship.

In practice, they're only as bad as America is.... Oh yea, except that citizenship and F-2 visas are totally f***ing different!

[morrisonhotel]