Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tlord1986]

I will be coming to Korea in a few months to teach. I have noticed that there are a lot of discussions about visas and alien residence cards, but none of these posts explains the ENTIRE PROCESS. Would someone please give a step-by-step explanation of the process of getting legal starting with hiring and ending with the alien residence card?

Thanks everyone,
t

[gazz]

As for the VISA I'll leave that to someone else - It differs slightly from country to country.

But:

1. You need your VISA first.

2. It is best if you get your medical check done ASAP when you get to Korea, because yes you can open a bank account with your passport but it leads to problems later. The time between having the test and results is 2-3 days in my experience.

3. If you pass the tests (assume you will be tested for weed) you can then take your passport, copy of test results, your contract, two passport photographs, X amount of won (it was only 10,000 for me because I am from the UK) maybe 30,000 for US people???? + you need to fill out an immigration form - basically take everything with you to be sure!!!

This is an easy process and you then get your ARC card on the spot.

4. You can then take your ARC card and open a bank account. This is better than just opening a bank account straight away because anything else you need ie - contract mob, Internet, TV ect - you will need to give your Arc number on the contract forms.

Yes you can get back in touch with the bank and add the ARC info into your bank account but they often mess it up.

The only reason you should really get a bank account straight away is if you are with EPIK and maybe GEPIK because (epik) will only now pay the 300,000 won settlement allowance into a bank account. They will not give you cash in hand.

sooooooooo

You can either bring cash with you to tide you over until this process is sorted (you should bring your own cash if you can anyway) because 300,000 dose not go far if you need a mob ect and then claim the 300,000 once the ARC problem is sorted.

Make sure you take a Korean with you at all steps of the way that speaks and understands good English.

Take photo copies of everything you have!

[poet13]

Aside from getting legal, I would suggest that you bring extra copies of stuff if you can. If it's reasonable, get an extra diploma from your school cause sometimes Koreans "lose" these. Get several (3-4) sets of transcripts each sealed in separate envelopes. Don't open them or they are invalid. Don't forget to get a criminal records check. Two or three copies if you can cause your new job might suck monkey balls and you need to change jobs on the fly. Impossible to do without the right paperwork and you have to submit new stuff for each job. Go figure. If you're from Canada, there is also a VSS (Vulnerable Sector Search) that basically says you haven't been accused of being a pervert or an abuser of some kind...

Good luck, and if at all possible, take care of your bills before you leave even if it hurts real bad. You don't want to be sending home Won right now.

[Davew125]

[tlord1986]

So let me see if I have this right. I need a background check, notorized and apostillized copies of my diploma, and individually sealed transcripts. Then, I take a medical exam after I get to Korea. Finally, I take everything for the ARC. Have I forgotten anything? Also, I know a lot of people have discussed having diplomas notorized and apostillized, but I'm not sure I entirely understand that process either. Can someone give me the Cliff's Notes version of this process.