Korean Job Discussion Forums

[esetters21]

I know that this has been done to death, but I, like everyone else have been trying to follow this closely without trying to be overly sensitive and desperate. I called the U.S. embassy several weeks ago and they sent me a link on what one needs to do from here, but they also stated that they have gotten misleading information from Korean immigration as well.

My Korean gf works as an international news correspondant and has considerately looked into the matter further for me. She called the Korean immigration office recently with specific questions about the new regs based on my circumstances. This is what she was told in a nutshell:

"For those currently residing in Korea on an E-2 visa that have intentions to remain with their current school and choose to re-sign with that said school before March 15; the new laws do not apply to you." "Nothing further has to be submitted to immigration other than the initial documents that were submitted originally."

"If you are currently working in Korea under an E-2 visa and intend to re-sign with your current school after March 15, then the rules do apply. You, however do not need to go home to your home country in order to obtain the relevant background check or the health check. It can be taken care of from here. The info just needs to be Apostilled and sent to Korean immigration. The health tests can be done in Korea."

I'm sure I have left something out, and that this does not apply to everyone given their circumstances. This is what a Korean was told by Korean immigration. I hope that the information is correct.

[idonojacs]

That appears to be a step in the right direction. But can it actually be done here?

I presume we can order some sort of official CRC by mail, though it still is unclear what is officially accepted, and how long an FBI check would take for processing, if that is the only one acceptable for U.S. citizens, as originally announced.

And then there are the apostilles. Can you get an apostille in Korea, and where? I am nowhere near Seoul. (Wouldn't it be nice if you could get them from your nearest Kimmi office, or other Korean government offices?)

Can I go to my local doctor or a local hospital for an exam?

And then there are the drug and alcohol tests. Are they available in Korea? (There is nothing more assinine than a drug and alcohol test you schedule yourself, especially in Korea, where you can't buy drugs, and if you can, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how.)

And how far in advance can you submit these documents? I want to know where I stand, because I need to know well in advance whether to look for another job elsewhere if I get the runaround.

I gather, based on hearsay on Dave's, that the visit to the friendly Korean consulate nearest your home is no longer mandatory. (The person I talked to when I got my original visa was quite friendly, intelligent and helpful, btw.)

And then the final question is whether there is a time limit on any of these documents? Must they be within a certain date of the visa renewal?

(I shouldn't have to be asking fellow teachers this, but my school was of no help in getting answers.)

If I can renew while here in Korea, I will likely stay, despite my general displeasure with the attitude the E-2 regs show toward Westerners; I am happy with my job. If I can't, I'm outta here; I don't trust Kimmi to process the documents fairly.

If all this can be done, it is actually kinda sad. Korea set out to make schools safer for the children, but they have done nothing of the kind. What remains is mainly harassment of E-2 applicants, and some fancy but largely worthless notary/apostille seals.

And when the next bad apple gets through, they are going to start another witch hunt against all of us. I have no desire to see innocent teachers tarred and feathered for their amusement.

So, if I do return, I will not plan to stay more than one more year. It's a big world out there, Korea!

Say, esetters21, maybe your gf could interest AP, CP, CNN, the International Herald Tribune, or the NY Times in an article about the Korean backlash against Western English teachers following the Neil arrest?

Another idea for you posters is writing letters to the editor of papers back home. But perhaps we should wait a bit to see if Kimmi comes to its senses.

[JungMin]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[JungMin]

[Atavistic]

[esetters21]

I don't work for GEPIK, GPOE, or EPIK. I still work at a hagwon, and my gf was very clear with kimmy about this. I talked to her briefly today about this and should be able to get more info tonight. It sounds like good news at this time.

[JungMin]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[esetters21]

Aha! I did leave that out. My gf was told by Korean immigration that once those checks have been submitted initially, then you do not have to do that on a yearly basis as was originally suggested.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[esetters21]

[Kimchieluver]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Vlad Spinner]

Those of us who are getting to be long-timers here in Korea will more or less inevitably have been through something like this:

It was mid/late 2004. I was between jobs, having recently returned to Seoul from some time in Southeast Asia. The tourist visa on which I'd entered Korea was set to expire in about another week, before my new employer would have time to get the visa issuance form processed.

So I went to Seoul Immigration to ask, ever so politely, for an extension.

Oh dear! One look at the Immigration officer whose number I'd drawn, and I knew it was hopeless. Utter, complete dragon lady! I mean, honestly, if looks could kill! A baleful stare. She refused to return my hello. Took a perfunctory look at my passport, and then thrust it back at me, with "No," as her single comment on my extension request.

You had to have been there. Her eyes were shooting daggers at me before I ever reached her desk--which is why I say that all was lost from the get-go.

(Cost me maybe half a million total, to jet to Fukuoka and back for a weekend, all to get the tourist visa which Dragon Lady had denied me without explanation.) One week later I was back on the plane to Japan, to process the work visa in Osaka. NOTE TO KIS (Korean Immigration Service): ARE YOU IDIOTS? That's a lot of money I could have spent HERE, instead of giving it to your kimchi-thieving arch-enemies over THERE.

Another more recent debacle, similarly compelled, had me boating it from Busan to Fukuoka with just enough time for lunch in the Fukuoka ferry terminal (plus five minutes for a cigarette outside) before turning right round and coming back to Korea. All within the space of an afternoon! Two hundred thousand won out of pocket, just for a stamp in my passport!

Crazy!

My point being: Do not expect anything resembling rationality--let alone decency, humanity, or tenderlovingkindness, from Korean Immigration. They're here to keep you out of the country, unless absolutely compelled to act otherwise. That's their job.

And with all these new regs--oh boy, will they ever have fun!