Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iancarvalho87]

Hey everybody, I've been reading as much information as possible in this forum and others and I've really been enjoying the work put into this and the information that you all have been providing, but moving on...

I'm a 26 year old Brazilian currently residing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but I was raised in the US, Southern Florida to be exact, from 4 years of age until I finished High School. I then moved back to Brazil to go to college and I currently work for a multinational company here (the only reason why I'm still here). I have spent basically all of my life in the US, thus I'm a Native English speaker with fluent Portuguese and intermediate Spanish. I have already officially worked with teaching English in a well-known and well-respected private English franchise in Brazil for more than 5 years during some of my college years (having documents to prove this and letters of recommendation). I'm interested in moving to Seoul and I'm currently planning a trip to Seoul for December or maybe next year where I will stay in South Korea for about 25 days.

THE QUESTIONS:

1.) Is it possible to distribute my resume while I'm there and possibly get an interview and land a Job and apply for a working visa, all while I'm there, considering that I will have to do the whole Korea>Japan>Korea to get the working visa?

2.) I have a college degree in System Analysis from a well-known University in Brazil, but here in Brazil the I.T. college degrees, except for Computer Engineering (not my thing), are not a Bachelor's degree “per say”. They are 2.5 to 3 years in length, very intensive and are valid "University Degrees" to avoid the "by the time you finish, what you learned will be obsolete" dilemma. Will this stop me from being able to get a well-paying English Teaching Job even though I have a good resume with working for 5+ years as an English Teacher and also working for about 3 years for a Multinational company that also has a branch in South Korea and about 120 other countries?

3.) (Personal Opinion) I'm a very adaptable and easygoing person so I'm not concerned much about the culture shock, but how is the experience? It seems to be well worth it. Although I have a good job/career, I can’t help but want to live in either Japan or South Korea for a while for the experience. What fascinates me about countries such as South Korea and Japan isn't just the culture, but the respectfulness, the lack of violence compared to countries like mine in which we have an abundance of (Brazil). Summing it up, what do you have to say about it for someone who is new to this and plans to do this in 2014? I do not intend to reside in Brazil; I would like to move to Asia, but to a safe, modern country such as South Korea or Japan.

4.) If anybody who is currently working at a Hagwon (as I figure that Hagwons are my only chance) could help me out with asking the above questions, finding a company to sponsor or at least point me in the direction that would be great, I'm already looking into a couple of sites but there is so much useless and misleading information it's driving me mad and most of the "programs" require you to be graduated from an English speaking country. My English is native, American English, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

[ghostrider]

It doesn't sound like you'd qualify for an e-2 visa.

[iancarvalho87]

Thanks for the quick and informative feedback ghostrider.

I've searched for the difference between an E1 and E2 visa (see below *), but what about the E3? Can't seem to find anything on that. Wouldn't this visa be only for those who are going to work for the government (public schools) for the private Hagwons, wouldn't it be a seperate hiring, not having to be exactly a "teacher" but just a regular empolyee, altough I would be teaching. Would it be possible to apply for a regular working visa?

Taking advantage of this post, do you happen to know if Japan has the same restriction. Meanwhile I'm going to search. Thanks!




*English professors working at educational institutes higher than a junior college, need an E-1 Visa while those working as conversation instructors, require an E-2 Visa.

[wings]

The short and long answers are both that you can't work legally as an English teacher in Korea because of the restrictions on nationality and also on where you got your degree. An E-1 visa is for professors.

[faeriehazel]

Yes, hakwons only give E2 visas to teachers. E3 visas are for researchers.

It sucks, because I kind of know how you feel - I have a Korean passport yet was raised in the US. English is my first language, and I can prove that in an interview, but sometimes people won't look past my passport. Fortunately I don't need to screw around with visas. In your case, it won't matter how fluent your English is because the schools can't give you an E2 visa. If you had an F visa you could probably get work here regardless of your passport, but getting an F visa isn't as simple as getting an E2 visa.

[ttompatz]

[Brooks]

I bet you could work in Japan.
I knew a Brazilian who had MA from an American college and he didn`t have a problem getting work in Tokyo or Kanagawa.

[waynehead]

It sounds like you're highly qualified, but, yeah that's not always what matters in Korea, sadly. Japan or China might work for you.

[iancarvalho87]

It's a shame there is this kind of restriction, but I do understand why the Government does this, otherwise the market can get saturated and that's not good for anyone.

I guess following Arnold Schwarzenegger's "You've got to break the rules" isn't gonna work this time lol.

Thanks for all the advice though. Just for the record, I don't plan on living/working/doing anything illegal in any country. I guess I'll just have to decide in another country.

Japan sounds like a good option. The problem isn't just that I'm a Brazilian passport holder but also that my college degree (which is between an associate's and a bachelor's) is from Brazil as well... I'm going to search this in another forum. Thanks to all by the way and if anybody knows all of this information for Japan, once again, let me know. Thanks!

[CentralCali]

[ttompatz]

[CentralCali]

OP: Is your degree a licenciatura or tecnologia? If so, you simply don't qualify as a degree-holder as far as Korea is concerned.

[Weigookin74]

[ttompatz]

[Juregen]