Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Aussiekimchi]

There was a notice sent out to many recruiters on Friday by immigration.

It basically said:

Teachers coming after January 1st, 2008 will be required to:
1. Get a criminal check
2. Get a medical done at home and in Korea.

There will be no interview at any Korean consulate unless suspicious applications are submitted.



Criminal Check:
It will be mandatory.
This must be a national check and indicating no previous record.
A lot of grey area as to what is serious and what isn't. There cannot possibly be a "no tolerance" policy. There are always degrees or severity and circumstances.

Medical Check:
Done before and after you arrive in Korea.
You will get one done in your own country or wherever you are currently.
also
Shortly after arrival in Korea, a mandatory health check will be done before the teacher is issued their Alien Resident Card. The school will instruct the teacher as to when and where the check will take place. The checks will take place at clinics/hospitals authorized by the Korean Government. It has yet to be decided who will bear the cost of the checks (the school or the teacher).

The list of approved clinics has yet to be given...but some might skeptically assume that these will be in places which have sufficiently bribed govt officials to profit from increased business...

The health check will include a physical, as well as a blood sample.
Evidence of drugs and contageous diseases will be tested.

Schools and recruiters will not be held responsible for any costs incurred by failing the tests (including plane tickets, travel costs, accommodation etc). So basically if you fail, you go home on your own coin.

Interview at the Korean consulate in your home country.

The Korean government has decided to omit the personal interview with the Korean consulate unless unusual circumstances exist. The only time this will be required is if the Korean government has any suspicions about the teacher. The teacher will be notified of the need to interview at that point.

There is still a lot of grey areas.
I am not sure where that leaves us with Japan visa runs.
Also, as the notice stated that these changes will be enforced for teachers arriving after Jan 1st, I am not sure what happens if you apply before this date for a number but intend on arriving after Jan 1st.

As always, there are still a lot of tweaks needed and as this is Korea, things will change after a few mistakes are realised...but this may be a decent start. More clues to come.

For more info or confirmation on the notice sent out by Immi, check with your recruiter or school boss.

[SuperHero]

do you have a link that says the same thing or a scan of the actual document?

[Tony_Balony]

[Aussiekimchi]

yeah I know...there is so much that is still unclear...this is all I know at the moment. It is frustrating for us too.
We still really do not know EXACTLY what to tell people.
I was just happy the consulate interviews look like to have been scrapped.

[Tony_Balony]

Yes, thats important but I'd like something else scrapped in addition to the interview. Even without the interview, it looks like the Cans might have to go back.

[moosehead]

[garykasparov]

How many brown envelopes of money did hagwon owners give to immigration officials to scrap consulate interviews?

[Atavistic]

[Optimus Prime]

[nautilus]

[jjk]

I was told by Daejeon Immigration (via my soon to be school) that the at home medical would be a self completed form- "I am drug and disease free..." or the like, and the medical check would be arranged by them when we go for the ARC.

I asked what this medical would entail, and as my step-father is a doctor, I could get it all done in Australia for free. I was told if I did a full medical here, I would still need to complete a Korean one....perhaps Canadian trained, Australian registered doctors aren't honest enough to complete Korean immigration paper work?

The school also told me that though the application would be submitted within a couple of weeks, since we are starting in February, we would need to provide all of the police checks and do the medical.

As for the police check, I was told that it is still to be finalized in regards to what level they will need- local or national, and that it might vary for different countries. Perhaps the MOJ have twigged on to the fact that there are substantial delays with federal checks in some countries. He still couldn't confirm the apostille/no apostille information, nor that of the age of transcripts or police checks. He is going to get back to me after speaking with immigration again.

The news about the interviews is promising.

[Geoff1111]

It looks like we have to go back to our home countries and give ourselves
the full medical check by our own coin. This will be extremely expensive and time consuming. Otherwise we risk coming to Korea, failing the test here, losing our jobs, and flying ourselves home at our own expense.

There are many people who are carriers of the proposed tested infectious diseases that do not have any symptoms. In fact some statistics say that up to 10% of Koreans are carriers of hepatitis B. I would be curious to know if Koreans are being tested before being allowed in the classroom.

Regardless, these diseases can only be spread through blood to blood contact.

These medical tests raise some ethical questions.

If these diseases are so risky to have in the classroom shouldn't Korean teachers be tested?

What about the students? Student can be very rough when playing with each other. Isn't there a danger that a student infected with hepatitis could infect other students or even the teachers.

Are docters tested? Are nurses tested? Are dentists tested?

[jjk]

[Geoff1111]

I don't think anyone knows for sure. HIV, Hep B, Hep C, and Syphilus (sp?) appear to be their main concerns. We will have to wait and see.

[VanIslander]