Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Seoul_Star]

1. I live in Korea, I've been here more than a year. I finished a contract recently. My E2 expired recently, and I am now here on a tourist visa.

2. I found a new job. I have my original degree, about 5 sealed transcripts, apostilled CBC, medical form, and all other required documents.

3. My new employer took the documents to immigration to get a new visa issuance number for me, and was told that since the back of my transcript envelopes do not have my university name stamped on them, they are invalid. Of course my University's name and address are all over the front of the envelope and obviously printed on the transcripts inside.

On the back of my sealed transcripts, there is a red stamp which says "This transcript is void of the seal on the envelope is broken". None of these transcripts have been opened. I used the same documents (CBC excluded) 12 months ago and was issued an E2 visa with no problems.

I'm going to hold back on any judgments about Korea/the Korean government/ and people here in general, and simply ask if anyone has advice on what I should be doing. My university does not have any special stamp or wax seal that they apply to envelopes. I remember someone else posted about this problem before, but when I searched, I could not pull up his thread.

Korean immigration now has my paperwork including my original degree. My tourist visa expires in about 20 days. The make matters worse, I have 10mil won of my own money used as key money for my apartment, and the lease isn't up for another 11 months. I have various deposits in various places such as my cell phone company, cable company, internet company etc. otherwise I'd be on a plane to someplace else. This situation is becoming mildly stressful and annoying. I can speak Korean, who should I be calling about this? I remember that someone had posted a contact for someone at Korean immigration who had an IQ higher than 60, but I cannot find the thread.

My Korean boss seems to think that we should be visiting a shop that makes stamps, and simply have a stamp made up, to stamp the remaining transcripts. I'm all for that, unless someone has a better idea, or can at least tell me where I can file a formal complaint, seeing as how I am not the first person to have this problem.

[yingwenlaoshi]

I'd look into it further at immigration. Your boss must be able to convince them. I don't know.

Sounds pretty fkn stupid.

[moosehead]

were you at immi when they rejected your transcripts? or did your new employer tell you they were rejected?

I had transcripts rejected once just as you did - they said they weren't the proper "seal" and I emailed back (I was in the U.S. at the time) that they were exactly the same as I'd submitted before and nothing had changed.

they were resubmitted and accepted.

try insisting they are correct and stop letting them victimize you. be pro-active about your papers. you've done nothing wrong so don't act like you have.

just insititutional abuse is all it is.

good luck.

[Seoul_Star]

I'm at a loss currently. My boss, whom I trust, has relayed the information to me, as there was no reason for me to be at immigration just to get the issuance number.

I suppose I will ask for the documents back and try to re-submit, while at the same time locating a shop that makes stamps and see if they can bang one out with my university's name on it.

It boggles the mind that I have gone through this process in the past using the SAME sealed envelopes from my university, and there is a recently expired E2 visa in my passport showing that the transcripts were accepted before. If the Korean government wants me to leave that badly, they least they could do is talk to my landlord and see if I can get my 10,000,000won key money back so that I can just get out of this country.

[loose_ends]

[yingwenlaoshi]

Having to provide transcripst job after job has got to be the stupidest fkn thing. Duh. You gave me a visa before. Did my degree just disappear?

Bunch of wankers.

[Seoul_Star]

It adds insult to injury because I just got back from flying all the way to the USA to get my criminal background check, renting a car for a week, getting a hotel, driving to the State Department etc. All told, I probably spent around $3000 USD just to get my stupid background check in California and get it prepared to come back here for another year. As soon as I get back here, it's like a giant slap in the face having immigration tell me that my documents which were acceptable 12 months ago, are no longer acceptable.

I am fairly certain that if all else fails, I have a stationary shop that can duplicate a rubber stamp from my university for about 30,000won.

The irony of having to put a fake stamp on my authentic document in order to get my visa....

[bassexpander]

I thought degrees were no longer needed?

Oh, that's just for that one gov't program, right?

[moosehead]

[Seoul_Star]

Thanks for the encouraging words moosehead. Yes, I will go down there with my boss, that office was closed today because of the holiday. I do need to be more proactive. I guess they really are just farmers in business suits with cow shit all over their shoes. They need someone to yell and scream at them before they will do their jobs.

[nomad-ish]

[cruisemonkey]

[Seoul_Star]

That, coupled with that fact that it is EXTREMELY easy to defeat the CBC/Apostille process for potential criminals and child molesters makes you wonder how government stupidity affects normal Korean citizens as well.

As someone who has been through the CBC and apostille process, and seen all of the GLARING loopholes, I can say with 100% certainty that I could take someone who is fresh out of prison, and show them how to obtain an apostilled clean CBC with almost no effort.

[marlow]

[prairieboy]

How old are the transcripts? 12 months? The date they were printed is probably on the transcripts inside.

Immigration won't accept transcripts that were printed more than 3 months ago.

Like they would magically change during the year in a sealed envelope and that D in Korean studies magically become an A+.

Go figure what they are thinking but those are their rules.

Cheers