Korean Job Discussion Forums

[corroonb]

Is a statment from the university that I have completed a degree and will be conferred in a few months enough to get a visa for teaching? My university somehow thinks it is resonable to have four months between the ceremonies . How dumb is that!!

[Big Mac]

I don't think it is. Korea is pretty rigid when it comes to this sort of thing. You need either an original degree or a notarized copy (by a lawyer and the Korean consulate). You also need an official transcript in a stamped and sealed envelope.

Perhaps you can put some pressure on your university to be a little more prompt. After all, you have paid them a lot of money.

[Hyeon Een]

In a foreign embassy/consulate it almost certainly wont' be good enough. If you are actually in Korea, you might be able to get away with it, especially if you are at a smaller immigration office or you have a boss willing to give the immi people 'gifts'(aka bribes). Definitely not recommended though. You really should have the proper diploma. Sucks to have to wait.. but thats the way it pretty much is.

[pskull]

It's possible to receive an early diploma. It may cost a little, but I'd recommend heading to the registrars or the bursars (I can't remember which) and explaining the situation.

[corroonb]

I've been told by a person at my university that such a statement has been used in the past to get visas. Perhaps its different if I get the visa at the Korean Embassy in Ireland. In Korea it probably wouldn't be enough. Regardless I've been told by the university that I'll have to wait until November as degrees cannot be conferred outside a comencement ceremony as this would be illegal.

[PRagic]

No, a letter is not good enough. I didn't get a pay raise to reflect my change in degree status until 1) I had the diploma in hand, and 2) my contract came up for renewal, even though I provided on offical letter, my disseratation, contact information for my departmental chair, the director of grad. studies, and the university registrar's office! Good luck.

In this respect, Korea is indeed behind the times. Can you imagine going for a prof. position at a university somewhere else in the world, and having them tell you that you'd have to make an entire salary grade lower because you don't have the diploma yet? What a joke. And they wonder why foreign scholars are not all that attracted to working here?

[simmerbroom]

No! It's not good enough. I thought it would be as well considering the degree had posted to my official and sealed transcripts and I had a letter from my university with everything on it including a seal and signature from the Dean and blah blah blah. But Korea pretty much gives a nice 'fruck you' to all of that.

It's almost like you have had an identical situation to the one I had. My school and former ESL cooridnator all told me that the letter was good enough in the past for a Korean E2 Visa but the Consulate in Chicago had no idea what I was talking about. I graduated in May and have to wait until September/October-ish in order to get my diploma.

So there is the option of just paying your own way over and trying to get a job. Most institutions, especially larger coorporate ones, will be more than happy to have you work illegally [or 'part time' as they call it] on a C3 (90-day, renewable visa) and then once you get your diploma, they will [pay and] fly you to Osaka or somewhere else in Japan to do a 'visa run' meaning an overnight stay to visit a consulate and get your E2 visa.

It's really not that bad. You'll still get paid a steady income plus a free trip to Japan! [If only for a few hours.]

[OiGirl]

Long ago it was good enough, but this is no longer the case.

[dimnd]

I spoke to the San Fran consulate. I went to Korea last yr to work...had to send original diploma..with passport

When I sent the docs to SK for the E-2 I had to send the sealed scripts...the school would not do anything until they received all in that order.