Korean Job Discussion Forums

[plchron]

I think my school/ contract will be starting at the end of August. Can I arrive early and just explore or get used to the time zones before I show up to my job on the first day stated in the contract? I know that It is cool from my employers perspective, but what about immigration? Am I required to leave the country and go on a visa run just so that I enter the country on my visa start date?

Thanks

[Darkeru]

I arrived a day early and it was fine. Either way I needed to get an extension near the end of the contract, since it didn't cover the whole year + training time.

[rayne]

Is it possible to arrive maybe around 1 month early? The apartment probably won't be ready, but I can stay at a goshiwon or a friend's house until then. I'm Canadian, by the way, so I am allowed to go to Korea for less than 3 months (I think? or maybe 6 months?) without a visa.

[CentralCali]

Simply put, the day you enter the country on the visa sponsored by your employer is the actual beginning date of your period of sojourn. That means that's the day your contract period begins. Thus, the ending date of your contract period, the ending date of your one-year period of sojourn* is the anniversary date minus one day from that time. Entering the country on the E-2 visa is not entering the country for the puproses of one month (or however long) tourism prior to the beginning of your employment.

*Recent change in the visa period is 13 months for the visa; however, once you are no longer employed by your employer, your visa is finished. The 13-month period is for convenience on renewing, not tourism.

Darkeru: I noticed you mentioned "training time." Was that perchance with CDI?

[rayne]

But when you get your E-2 visa, don't you get a date on it, which is the date you start working?

(I'm not taking about when you get to the airport they stamp the date on it, I'm talking about a pre-printed date)

[ttompatz]

[Foster]

What about entering 3 weeks early for the purpose of enrolling on an intensive K-language course? I'm hoping to spend 3 weeks in Seoul doing just that before the start of my contract. Surely you could apply for a extension towards the end of your visa for the extra 3 weeks or so of your contract?

[ttompatz]