Korean Job Discussion Forums

[guangho]

[lastat06513]

True, the salary in japan is a tad lower than, say, Bahrain. But it is possible to get about $3600 a month in the gulf states, which are alittle more stable than Kuwait or Saudi.

[hari seldon]

[hari seldon]

[fusionbarnone]

You can order state seals for any state. Mock up your own envelope. If you need an embosser, you can buy those too.

Professionally, the long awaited shit is about to hit the fan with the negative portrail of ESL teachers. There are far better places to work but, being qualified these days usually means three-years minimum experience with Tesol cert. and a Masters degree in a relevant subject.

The world-wide pool of available teachers will become very competitive as countries compete to attract the best in this field. I think Korea has taken their foreign teacher supply too much for granted and will be too cumbersome to out-manouver due to arrogance. A lot of taxable revenue is about to evaporate. When this happens perhaps it will bring about positive changes in regards to labor laws, conditions, and competitive pay scales for foreign teachers.

EPIK, if they have managed to fill their 190 positions, will have soaked up a lot of qualified 4 year degree holders(if 4 year degrees are set as a basic entry requirement).

Three year degree holders(graduates who passed everything in three years) will they find doors closed?

I have a four year bachelors degree(because, I failed one paper). I have a transcript that records my Masters graduation in the following year(on paper my masters looks like a one year degree when in actuality, its a two year degree). I've had BS about why I couldn't be paid masters level wages because Korean officials saw it as a one year degree. I supplied an original transcript(they had the notarised copy). Then, I was paid.

I am wondering if the Hogwan heyday has had it's day.

[Intrepid]

Interesting thread.

I guess I could take some of the blame for this , as I was at Konkuk University when Hector Kim was doing his "research" and I suggested to several suspicious professors that they call his "universities" if they were so doubtful of his credentials. It took them a while, let me tell you--making a phone call in English, oh, difficult.

Hector's documents, btw, were fantastic. Why indeed would a sealed transcript be any more difficult to forge? I just visited the "degree mills" on Khaosan Road and they're making excellent product; it won't take them long to turn to this new task.

A bit obliquely, I'd say the whole problem is like the girls at the front desk of the hagwon who absolutely refuse to speak English: Immigration is not in the business of calling up universities and confirming degrees; the burden will be on the applicant, even if there is no applicant-driven solution that will alleviate the problem (ie degree forgery).

I loved the anecdote about "memory lane" at Immigration. Are they still doing fingerprints for new arrivals? I had mine done in 1993, and if it's still required, well, I didn't have to do it again despite a very long absence.

[hari seldon]

[gajackson1]

I've been living and working here in SoKo for the better part of 8 years. My original paperwork was done in the Korean Consulate office in Houston, and then filed with Immigration offices in both Masan & Fukuoka.

After moving to Seoul, and having 2 different jobs here ( a total of 3 jobs in 8 years), add in full blown sets to Osaka & various Seoul-area offices.

They still wanted EVERYTHING for this new job & Visa - original diploma, resume, sealed transcripts, recc letters/references, etc. Even though I had worked for this company previously! (essentially everything asked for in the 'checklist' on the first post).

Knowing that there are copies of my transcripts in the files, here, there, & everywhere, was it OK?

no.

Would copies I had - official, notarized ones - do, then?

no.

Which entailed me contacting my school in Texas, and having a sealed set FedExed? DHLed? UPSed? here over the weekend, which are even now being processed.

At least, I PRESUME they are being processed. I know they arrived at the school today, but not from what postal service. I do NOT know if they had been opend by Korean Customs, or by my school manager. I don't know if they were 'sealed' properly, either. I DO know it was a pain, & expensive to get even 1 set sent here - even though my school will provide 12 free sets/year, it is the international mailing that is the kicker.

(FYI - my university would send them to me or anyone I requested; however, the request was in PDF format, which either had to be faxed or mailed to the Registrar's Office).

I would hazard the guess that, yet once again, it depends entirely upon which office, what the unofficial connections are, and what kind of mood everyone involved in the process is in. Try to do it right after Korean Govt. payday, if at all possible.

/shrug

Best of luck to anyone having to go through this - be it vets or first-timers.

Regards,

G.

I will follow this up - once after I hear back that my transcripts were 'accepted,' as well as another after the actual run.

Oh, and another thought - why not just have them sent to youreslf, and when you get a job you like, and them the whole freakin postal envelope?

I'm all for verification & the weeding out of bogus degree holders to help bring up the standards, but this needs to be a concerted effort on the part of all parties.

Why doesn't someone try offering teachers bounties on recruiters like David Kang and his ilk???? then, they can offer partial immunity in exchange for the names of other illegal teachers & corrupt officials? All 3 legs of this bad table need to be broken . . .

[Keepongoing]

I have 18 sealed and stamped transcripts from my university in the States. They will send more if I need them.

[Zenpickle]

My whole thing got bungled because my university does not offer express service for international packages. In the end, I have had to order transcripts twice, have them sent to my sister, who expressed them here. The original set that I had ordered through the fastest international mailing option from the university directly here has still not shown up, even though I had ordered them in mid June.

Even though the second set were expressed, they arrived so close to the knick of time that I still got in trouble with Immigration for being late, even though I was before the deadline. But it wasn't really that Immigration officers were throwing their weight around. After chewing us out for not getting everything done days ahead of the deadline, my boss overheard him yelling at a government official on the phone, defending me and my situation, saying, "This is a stupid law!"

[JongnoGuru]

[Grotto]

This seems to be a law that is applied somewhat unevenly. I have had three friends hand in their transcripts, a notorized copy of their degree and no problems getting their visa processed. This has all happened in the last 3 months.

[bourquetheman]

I'm still waiting for my sealed transcripts to arrive and the camp is NEXT Friday Aug 5-8th. Seeing as how it's supposed to be 10 tens processing time I'm going to go there on Friday with a copy of my transcripts (if they haven't arrived by then) and cross my fingers and plead with them to approve it. It's the Suwon (hwaso) office and the scary thing is that the camp director called ahead and they said specifically that they need sealed transcipts. Still I'll give it a try if they haven't got here, what other choice to I have? Of course Murphy's law will happen I'm sure as the day after my official ones will arrive after I've done all this.

[nene]

I've been stressing over the whole sealed transcript thing, then I looked at a copy of my transcript that I have, and it says at the bottom "This official sealed transcript has a watermark in the middle of the page..." I think the "sealed" refers to the transcript having the seal of the school on it- that it's official, not just a print out from some computer.

Did you all mail your original degree? Did you send it to a consulate in your home country first, or just strait away to immigration/recruiter/school in Korea? The consulate here says it needs to go thru them, but I don't think I have time for that...

[harryh]

Are there any more stories about transcripts?

I'm currently in London, and I am currently looking for a job in Korea.

I'm still a little confused as to what exactly is required by immigration.

My recruiter has informed me that I need to contact my university and order 'new' transcripts and not to open the envelope, even after telling her that I had my original transcripts with me.

Yesterday I went to the Korean Embassy in London, and asked what I need to do, in order to apply for an E-2 visa. I was told only, that I need to get my degree and transcripts notorised by the London Chamber of Commerce and then return them to the Embassy, in order for them to notorise. The lady at the Embassy didn't say anything about my transcripts needing to be in an envelope (original transcripts with the University seal on them).

What will immigration accept precisely?