Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ji-ok]

Hello everyone, how are you? I hope this post is in the right section, if not I'm sorry for spamming.

I'm in the visa process to go to Korea to teach English, but I'm having some difficulty understanding the following.

Basically I am now in possession of my BA Degree cert, MA degree cert and my Garda clearance letter.

The next step I must take is to get these notarised and apostilled. Here's where my confusion lies.

Do I need to get the photocopies notarised/apostilled or is it the originals? perhaps it's all of them. Every website that I look at online seems to suggest something different, and to be fair, the Korean embassy here hasn't really been a fountain of useful information thus far.

I'm sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, but I'm starting to lose it

Cheers for any helpful replies,
all the best,
Anthony

[Marklong]

Hi Anthony.

I have just sent my documents to Korea and am awaiting my VISA issuance number.

All you need is

A Photocopy of your degree which is notarised by a practicing solictor in Ireland to say that it is a true copy of the original. I got this done for free as my friend is a lawyer.

Once thats done, take your photocopies of your degree to the Foreign Affairs Office at St Stephens Green in Dublin and get them Apostilled(authenticated to use in South Korea specifically). Costing 20 euros per document.

Also take your garda record check and get that apostilled as well.

Once that is done, your ready to send everything to your school/recruiter to start the E-2 Visa process .

As for what you need to send to Korea,

1x Health Check Form
1x Copy of Degree notarised and apostilled
1x Copy of Garda Criminal record check Apostilled.(It wont need notarised as the Superintendent who signs it is a notary member of the public)
1x Photocopy of Passport photo page
4x Passport photos
1x Copy of your resume.

some websites will say you need original degree and transcripts.. as far as i know they dont even reqire transcripts anymore, but i would just send them if you have them

[Ji-ok]

Thanks so much for the comprehensive reply, thats really helpful! Cheers!

[net86]

Hey Guys

How long were you waiting for your garda check?
I handed in my dosuments last week to my local station (i understand that the one in Thurles is totally diferrent) - i just said i needed it for a visa for south korea.
However - i rang up today to check on the progress and was told by the clerks/admin office that I will be waiting 3-4 weeks for this which seems really long to me. I mentioned this to him and he said this was standard but online people are saying there were only waiting approx 5 days

[ibeattheborg]

I received the Garda check in the post 2 weeks after applying.

[Mpark]

It seems to depends on the Garda station. I applied for my first one in Anglesea street station in Cork, they claimed they had to receive individual checks from each local station to any residence I'd ever lived in. They sent faxes. Still hadn't got it back in 6 weeks. At that stage I was ringing individual stations asking them to please hurry the f*ck up sending checks back to Anglesea street. By the time I got it back it was between 7-8 weeks and cost me a job in Seoul. I reapplied to Busan and applied for the check as soon as I possibly could. This time I applied to Athenry Station as I was living there by then. I got it back in 2 days! I asked them didn't they have to send out checks or something and they said no, it was all on the centralised computer system! I got mad.