Korean Job Discussion Forums

[brimarie95]

Hi everyone, apologies if I should have posted this in another section, but I'm new here

My partner and I are in the process of coming over to Korea to teach at a Hagwon. We are just graduating now (will receive our degrees on May 18th), but we wanted to start looking around at jobs early. We have all of our required documents ready to go except for one, which this post is about.

We got in touch with a recruiter and they offered us an interview with a school, even though we don't have our degrees notarized yet. The school offered us the position which begins in the middle of August. Our recruiter said that they will accept a letter of graduation that is notarized by a notary public (we're Canadian) and notarized by the Korean Consulate. I was a bit skeptical of this since it's pretty clear what the requirements are to get an E2, so I called the Korean Consulate in Montreal (our jurisdiction), and they said yes they will notarize a letter of graduation- it depends on the school.

SO- We will be getting our letter of graduation back from the Korean consulate in a couple of days, we have our notarized CRC's ready to go, a signed contract, health statement,and all the rest, and we have been given a confirmation of visa issuance application form to fill out as well as the address of our recruiter in Korea where we need to send all of this stuff.

Just wondering if the whole letter of graduation thing is legitimate and if anyone has an experience like this. We will be getting our degrees notarized as well, but I just don't want to make this process a headache.

Cheers!

[ttompatz]

They can accept your "letter" for your job application but you will still need the legalized degree to move forward (it is the legal requirement).

Go ahead and apply for the jobs. The extra certification is less than $100 per person all in. If it gives you comfort knowing you have something lined up 90 days in advance then fill your boots.

The alternative is to wait 18 more days and just do it the way everybody else does with their parchment. Chances are that the job will still be there in 18 days since it takes longer than that to get your documents certified and sent to Korea (where they will sit on someone's desk for another 30 days or so).

Visa confirmation numbers are usually issued about 30 days prior to your expected date of arrival but they are good for 90 days from issuance.

.

[MeaB]

Your letter just states that you've completed the requirements of your program. It doesn't state that you've been officially granted your degree.

This could potentially cause issues later like:
Korean immigration being strict on visa rules which requires an official degree.
OR
Schools may put you at a lower pay grade because you don't officially have your degree.

These are just some possible scenarios - I'm not stating that these will in fact happen.
There is also the possibility that your school may not consider this an issue and all will be well.