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battiecrumlish
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Location: Ireland
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 Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:59 am Post subject: Can I get a job before my graduation ceremony?!!! |
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Hello guys!!
I' ve been finding this website invaluable in figuring out a lot of stuff so far and I cant seem to find a thread for this problem. Apologies in advance if it is somewhere obvious!!
Originally I thought that you could supply the hagwon with a letter of intended graduation and your results and you would supply them with your degree once you receive. Now I am discovering that most schools will only take your degree certificate and it's irrelevant that you are qualified. You need to be graduated. So my big problem is my graduation date. It's the 22nd of October, almost two months away!! When I rang the Korean Embassy in Dublin they said this requirement is completely decided by the school itself and isn't specifically a Korean visa requirement.
So the questions I was hoping you all could help me with are...
Do you know any (fairly!) reputable recruitment agencies/ schools that will accept that you have not officially graduated?
Have you ever heard of someone being able to obtain their degree parchment from their university ahead of their graduation ceremony?
Thanks folks!
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YTMND
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Location: You're the man now dog!!
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 2:25 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Do you know any (fairly!) reputable recruitment agencies/ schools that will accept that you have not officially graduated? |
You don't need to build any relationship with a recruiter, it's not a marriage.
They don't care about you.
When you are ready and you have your documents in hand, apply. Really, it's that's simple. Preparing now is futile.
Do you buy pencils and toilet paper this far in advance? |
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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 2:48 am Post subject: |
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| settle down, graduate, get your diploma, get your CBC and all the other documents then apply. Maybe you'll get here in 6 months if you can even find a job as they are harder to come by now. |
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viciousdinosaur
Joined: 30 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:22 am Post subject: |
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| Before you hop onto a plane wearing your cap and gown I would actually try to make an attempt to land a job in your home country first. These days it might actually be easier to find a job in your home country than try to get one in Korea. This is usually a place people come after totally failing at life back home. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:47 am Post subject: Re: Can I get a job before my graduation ceremony?!!! |
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| battiecrumlish wrote: |
Hello guys!!
I' ve been finding this website invaluable in figuring out a lot of stuff so far and I cant seem to find a thread for this problem. Apologies in advance if it is somewhere obvious!!
Originally I thought that you could supply the hagwon with a letter of intended graduation and your results and you would supply them with your degree once you receive. Now I am discovering that most schools will only take your degree certificate and it's irrelevant that you are qualified. You need to be graduated. So my big problem is my graduation date. It's the 22nd of October, almost two months away!! When I rang the Korean Embassy in Dublin they said this requirement is completely decided by the school itself and isn't specifically a Korean visa requirement.
So the questions I was hoping you all could help me with are...
Do you know any (fairly!) reputable recruitment agencies/ schools that will accept that you have not officially graduated?
Have you ever heard of someone being able to obtain their degree parchment from their university ahead of their graduation ceremony?
Thanks folks!
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The problem has nothing to do with the recruiters or employers.
It doesn't matter who you contact the answer will be the same.
It is immigration.
You CANNOT get a visa until you have a notarized copy of your parchment with an apostille attached to it. It is an immigration requirement and it is set in stone.
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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| viciousdinosaur wrote: |
| Before you hop onto a plane wearing your cap and gown I would actually try to make an attempt to land a job in your home country first. These days it might actually be easier to find a job in your home country than try to get one in Korea. This is usually a place people come after totally failing at life back home. |
And of the 30,000 odd E visa holders here (to say nothing of the F-visa ones)...how many of these people do you actually know?
Or are you simply assuming that your reasons for coming here are the same as everyone else?
Most people who come here stay for a year or two and then go home ("gap year"). That does not indicate "failing at life back home". Some stay longer but eventually go home as well. The percentage of long termers/lifers is fairly small...and many of those have carved out a very comfortable niche here as well. In a fair number of those cases it's better then what they could even HOPE to get back home.
That said yes there's a number of failures here. No it's not much larger than most other places. Try visiting popular foreign hangouts in say Thailand for that (not a knock against the country itself BTW). |
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viciousdinosaur
Joined: 30 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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Sure. I'll play.
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
And of the 30,000 odd E visa holders here (to say nothing of the F-visa ones)...how many of these people do you actually know? |
All of them.
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
Or are you simply assuming that your reasons for coming here are the same as everyone else? |
It's actually the first thing they say to me when they get off the plane. It goes something like this.
Me: Welcome to Korea.
Them: Do you know that I'm a regular, directionless young person who thought all he had to do was study pysch in university to land some cushy middle-class job, but then it turned out I actually had to work hard at some low-paying job and live out of my parent's basement, so now I'm here to jump on the bandwagon, because I heard that ten years ago people used to make money here?
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
The percentage of long termers/lifers is fairly small... |
I wonder about that. |
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luckylady
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Location: u.s. of occupied territories
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| Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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kudos VD you're actually learning how to deal  |
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Guajiro
Joined: 04 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:33 am Post subject: Re: Can I get a job before my graduation ceremony?!!! |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
The problem has nothing to do with the recruiters or employers.
It doesn't matter who you contact the answer will be the same.
It is immigration.
You CANNOT get a visa until you have a notarized copy of your parchment with an apostille attached to it. It is an immigration requirement and it is set in stone.
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I don't mean to challenge your supreme knowledge, as I rarely know enough to disagree with the valuable information you provide. That said, I was just told by a recruiter yesterday that according to official immigration policy a letter from the university confirming your graduation is acceptable, as long as the actual degree is provided as soon after arrival as possible.
To add to that, here is a direct quote from the EPIK website:
"Exception: Current students must initially submit a Letter of Expected Graduation and send the official apostilled copy of their diploma upon receiving it. The original diploma must be sent to Korea if it will not be issued before the teacher departs their home country."
Now back to reality, the recruiter also said that many immigration officials do not follow this policy, and most schools do not want to put the time and effort into sponsoring an E2 visa only to have it denied by immigration. So in all likelihood, one would indeed need to have the degree in hand to be considered for the position. But one can try, should one wish. |
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viciousdinosaur
Joined: 30 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:27 am Post subject: |
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| It's one thing to not have your degree before applying for EPIK. It's another to not have it when processing the visa. |
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Guajiro
Joined: 04 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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| viciousdinosaur wrote: |
| It's one thing to not have your degree before applying for EPIK. It's another to not have it when processing the visa. |
Did you read the part that said "The original diploma must be sent to Korea if it will not be issued before the teacher departs their home country"?
Maybe it's just an EPIK thing, maybe it doesn't apply to hagwons. I don't know. But EPIK teachers, it would appear, can get a visa before having the degree in hand.
And this is copied from the Korean Immigration website under required documents for E2 visa: "Degree certificates - Got Apostille or verified from the Korean embassy in foreigner's home country �confirmation certificate from the university� or �graduation certificate including degree achievement facts� or �diploma or degree copy�"
There are a couple of "ORs" in there. I'd be interested to hear an immigration officer's interpretation of that.
Last edited by Guajiro on Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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You can feel free to challenge me any time. My knowledge is neither supreme nor infallible.
There have been RARE cases when EPIK has issued a NOA prior to receipt of the apostilled degree. That practice ceased with the introduction of the matching MOE requirements.
I am not aware of any visa confirmation numbers being issued prior to immigration having the apostilled degree "on the desk" at the time of the application in the last 2 years and my contacts at immigration say that currently, as a matter of policy, they will delay/ignore (return the application and tell the school to wait for the documents) or outright deny any application without the correct documents "on the desk" at the time of the application.
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viciousdinosaur
Joined: 30 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Guajiro wrote: |
| viciousdinosaur wrote: |
| It's one thing to not have your degree before applying for EPIK. It's another to not have it when processing the visa. |
Did you read the part that said "The original diploma must be sent to Korea if it will not be issued before the teacher departs their home country"?
Maybe it's just an EPIK thing, maybe it doesn't apply to hagwons. I don't know. But EPIK teachers, it would appear, can get a visa before having the degree in hand.
And this is copied from the Korean Immigration website under required documents for E2 visa: "Degree certificates - Got Apostille or verified from the Korean embassy in foreigner's home country �confirmation certificate from the university� or �graduation certificate including degree achievement facts� or �diploma or degree copy�"
There are a couple of "ORs" in there. I'd be interested to hear an immigration officer's interpretation of that. |
Yeah, I read it. But you are assuming that exception is in there for the benefit of E2ers only. There is less urgency for someone on F2/4/5/6 to submit a degree because they would only be sending one to MOE, which has greater patience. You didn't think of that, did you? |
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Guajiro
Joined: 04 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:43 am Post subject: |
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| viciousdinosaur wrote: |
Yeah, I read it. But you are assuming that exception is in there for the benefit of E2ers only. There is less urgency for someone on F2/4/5/6 to submit a degree because they would only be sending one to MOE, which has greater patience. You didn't think of that, did you? |
Man, you are vicious.
Ok, here's another passage from further down the page (http://epik.go.kr/):
"Applicants who are current or recent students and have not received their original diploma at the time of application must obtain a �letter of expected graduation� from their school�s Registrar Office. The letter should describe their academic program and expected degree as well as the date by which they will complete the requirements for that degree. This will serve as a temporary replacement for an apostilled Bachelor�s diploma, which must be submitted as soon as possible after the original diploma has been issued. If you will not receive your original diploma before leaving your home country, you must have the original sent to Korea to be presented to your POE/MOE as soon as possible."
It doesn't say anything about the type of visa. I imagine the vast majority of EPIK teachers are on E2 visas. Again, what the recruiter told me was that official policy is to accept the letter of graduation, but most officials don't. On the Toronto consulate website, it also states that "A temporary degree or graduation letter from University is not acceptable."
Then again, that website contradicts itself on another topic by stating both that "E2 visa applicants can apply their visa at the consulate in either their own country or any other countries" and that "Visas will not be issued by a Korean consulate or embassy in a country other than the one where the applicant holds citizenship". So who knows what to trust on that website.
In the end, of course, it's safe to say that an E2 visa applicant should have his/her degree in hand. It'd be nice to have consistent facts across the board though. |
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viciousdinosaur
Joined: 30 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Guajiro wrote: |
| viciousdinosaur wrote: |
Yeah, I read it. But you are assuming that exception is in there for the benefit of E2ers only. There is less urgency for someone on F2/4/5/6 to submit a degree because they would only be sending one to MOE, which has greater patience. You didn't think of that, did you? |
Man, you are vicious.
Ok, here's another passage from further down the page (http://epik.go.kr/):
"Applicants who are current or recent students and have not received their original diploma at the time of application must obtain a �letter of expected graduation� from their school�s Registrar Office. The letter should describe their academic program and expected degree as well as the date by which they will complete the requirements for that degree. This will serve as a temporary replacement for an apostilled Bachelor�s diploma, which must be submitted as soon as possible after the original diploma has been issued. If you will not receive your original diploma before leaving your home country, you must have the original sent to Korea to be presented to your POE/MOE as soon as possible."
It doesn't say anything about the type of visa. I imagine the vast majority of EPIK teachers are on E2 visas. Again, what the recruiter told me was that official policy is to accept the letter of graduation, but most officials don't. On the Toronto consulate website, it also states that "A temporary degree or graduation letter from University is not acceptable."
Then again, that website contradicts itself on another topic by stating both that "E2 visa applicants can apply their visa at the consulate in either their own country or any other countries" and that "Visas will not be issued by a Korean consulate or embassy in a country other than the one where the applicant holds citizenship". So who knows what to trust on that website.
In the end, of course, it's safe to say that an E2 visa applicant should have his/her degree in hand. It'd be nice to have consistent facts across the board though. |
That just totally confirms what I said. It only mentions the requirement of having the degree for the MOE, not immigration. EPIK is not immigration, they can't unilaterally change immigration policy for their employees only. This policy primarily applies to those on F4,F6, of which there are many more than you think.
The second one was stated in a very crap way. There was/is a requirement that first time applicants for visa do so from their home countries. But as anyone will tell you, doing a visa to Japan is entirely possible. I myself have processed my visa in Japan twice. But the first time was from Canada. |
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