Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Keepongoing]

They wanted to see my original. No problem. Also I can get original like copies for $10.00 each at San Jose State. I think most institutions can make those available and it is probably good to have an extra on hand. I orderered 20 sealed transcripts from them. Some places have a facility allowing you to order them online.

[Son Deureo!]

Yeah, the OP's boss may very well be telling the truth. I went through this with the director of my hogwon before. He said he needed to show it to the Department of Education, and since my boss had previously held my diploma for 7 months despite my repeatedly asking him for it I didn't trust him for a moment when he said he needed it again. Since neither of us was willing to back down I went along with him for the ride to the local Department of Education office when he showed all of our original diplomas.

That bureaucrat was really confused.

[Metsuke]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the good responses. And just to clarify... I do very much trust the school/hiring director.

My bone of contention is still what I wrote about previously. Just getting tired of jumping through all these hoops when all my paper is legit.

For better or for worse, the BS I'm going through now is positioning my stance on illegal teachers working in Korea with fake degrees. And the stance that is forming is that I think people who are using fake degrees are causing to many problems for the rest of us.

Thanks again...

[Grotto]

Homer can you show me a website that confirms that it is now law? I have looked around but have been unable to find one.

I do know of a co-worker that sent his original in last year and it was returned to him, folded, with 2 holes punched in it at the top where they had put it in a folder. Not much respect for a legal document.

I have my degree with me but I havent had to hand over anything but copies (certified by the Korean embassy)

Is this 'law' something that has come about in the last couple of months?

[Son Deureo!]

That incident in my previous post was almost 3 years ago, so no.

The Board of Education wanted to make sure that everyone teaching in the hogwon had a college degree, including the Korean teachers.

[Metsuke]

I think I just figured out why this is bothering me. There seems to be a bit of a double standard going on here.

First thing I had to do while in Canada was get my actual degree notarized by a lawyer, then take that notarized copy to the Korean Consulate in Toronto for them to certify it. Then it got mailed to Korea, and then to immigration. Immigration is processing the visa right now... everything is cool as can be.

Ok... so thats fine. I did that, and its all done. But heres what I don't get.

If all that trouble I went through is good enough to arrange my work visa, then why are the steps I've taken previously not good enough now for another department in Korea. Or more specificly... if the documentation of my degree, notarized/certified/transcripts are good enough for immigration to get me into the counrty... than why won't those documents also work for the ministry of education.

It just seems kind of backwards and weird to me. But hey... such is life right?

[prairieboy]

Strange as it may sound, in Korea, separate departments of the government, rarely if ever cooperate with one another. In otherwords, each department or ministry that has some influence in a particular working area will apply their own set of rules, regardless of conflict or redundancy with another department.

You've gotta jump the hoops. That's bureaucracy.

Cheers

[fusionbarnone]

Be very careful with your original anything. I remember reading how a hogwan director requested the original degree from a teacher only to have it framed and hanging on the wall of his office. The teacher had to "liberate" it back.

I worked in the public ed. sys . When it came time to renegotiate my contract, I was told my masters was considered a "non-entity" because it looked as though I'd completed "it" in one year. My BA and MA graduations were a year apart 'on the actual degrees so the "public sector gangster"/moe representative tried to tell me it wasn't recognized.

If he had bothered to study the transcript he would've seen that it was a 2 year masters. This was just a deliberate ruse to deny a payrise. They(the accredited and approved public hustlers) already possessed the transcript copy but requested that I bring the "original" from NZ. When I returned with the transcript, they tried to purloin it, I objected and told them to copy it, and return it ,within 5 minutes. Which they did.

The point I'm trying to make is those notarized copies and originals are your passports to work. Lose them than you'd may as well go back home. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Hogwan owners are looking for additional and novel ways to keep the foreign endentured labor tethered in conjunction along with the E2 noose-visa.

I have 3 degrees and already had one stolen which is going to cost me $150.00 to replace and weeks to verify with registry. I'm currently in China ,and where I am (Chongqing), is where a "well-known" document replacement company is located. "All" of it's business is on behalf of US owned diploma mills or for those people that "lose/misplace" their sheepskin.

I've lost mine, so I intend to get a cheap replacement(at Chongqing prices, US$20.00 and not, US$400).

Guard your documents well.

[casey's moon]

[tzechuk]

Oh, replacing your certiificates is no big deal... I gave mine to my husband before I came here (so he wasn't my husband then), who handed them over to his stupid ex-secretary, who punched holes in them to put them in a ring binder. I screamed bloody murder, I tell you.

I had them replaced. 25 UK pounds apiece. I had 3. Needless to say, I was extremely upset and shortly after, my husband fired that secretary (not solely because of this... she was very absent minded!).

[prairieboy]

Sorry, but my sarcasm wasn't really transmitted well through my message.

Anyway, my point is, in a country that is supposedly the most wired country in the world, a veritable leader in technology nowadays, why can't the two departments share the information more easily.

Why is it necessary to provide an original degree( or notarized copy) to Immigration to get a visa and then have to do the exact same thing for the board of education, especially with the techonology here in Korea.

Every country does what it can to support it's bureaucracy, true enough, but in Korea it should be at the very least, slightly easier. Until that time, you've gotta jump the hoops they've set in place.

Cheers

[Derrek]