Korean Job Discussion Forums

[elltotheoh]

I am headed to Atlanta for my interview at the consulate for my E-2 visa on Tuesday. These interviews are a newer procedure, aren't they? If anyone has sat through one, what can I expect? I know it's a group interview with four other applicants, which almost makes me more nervous than if I was being interviewed alone. My recruiter suggested they might ask me a little bit about my teaching philosophy, which would be fine since I took an ESL teaching class last spring which required us to compose one, but I'm wondering how in-depth they get. Thanks, guys.

[ttompatz]

[kardisa]

elltotheoh: I know this is OT, but how long did it take for you to schedule the interview with the Atlanta consulate once you received your visa issuance number? I've already scheduled my trip to ATL (sans visa #) and am a bit concerned that there's going to be a wait list for the actual interview slots.

I'd PM you this, but I haven't met the 25 min post requirement.

[elltotheoh]

[GoldenPennies]

it's strange, i just had a phone interview

[aweitzm1]

I had my interview with ATL last week. I was asked two questions:

1. Why I am not married

2. Have I ever taught before.

The interview seems nerve racking because the interviewer sits there quietly looking through all the paper work of each individual and then will ask you one or two questions.

[kardisa]

Glad to hear that being kicked over to the ATL consulate's voicemail is a common problem, as it's happened to me the past 3 or 4 times I've called. I'll make sure to hound them till reach an actual person when it's time to make my appointment. Thanks for the info!

[Justsurfin12]

I did my interview in Atlanta almost a year ago...

They had extra people being interviewed, so about 8 of us total.

We were all taken into a conference room to be "interviewed" at the same time. The Korean representative (I forget his title) came in and lectured everyone for about 10 minutes about how we shouldn't automatically expect to get a visa... how America makes it difficult for Korean to get visas to America... basically: Asian grandstanding to impress you with the authority he/his country has.

Then, he looked through each person's paperwork. Asked one or two questions of each person, such as: "Why do you want to teach in Korea?", "What is degree is in what field?", etc.

Then we were done... and they kept our passports overnight to process/have the visas added.

[elltotheoh]

[sallymonster]

In Seattle the consulate was rather strict. They didn't believe at first that I actually had a BA because my college didn't use credit hours like most US universities. The interviewer asked me several questions, from the typical "Why do you want to teach in Korea?", to how I would manage my classes, what did I learn from my TEFL course, etc. My recruiter had to fax copies of my diploma and CBC to the consulate in order for me to get my visa, even though immigration on the Korean side had seen and verified everything.

So I hope you have copies of all of your documents to take with you. Don't expect everything to be that easy. Believe it or not, Korea is looking for people who are serious about teaching for its schools.

[elltotheoh]

[sallymonster]

[THCbud]

I am also expecting to get my working Visa once my recruiter forwards me the contract to teach with EPIK in Daegu. I live in Toronto, Canada, and should I expect an interview with the Korean consulate as well?

thanks

[elltotheoh]

I was in Atlanta today for my interview. What a waste of time and money to come up here -- six of us in the interview, we were not in the conference room for thirty minutes, and the interviewer didn't ask any of us a single thing that wasn't plainly evident on our forms. Three of the people live within reasonable driving distance but two of us had to fly in and one guy drove for 8-9 hours each way. I feel like we basically got paraded in so they could get a good look at us and then send us back on our merry way. So tremendously annoying.

[Richard Krainium]