Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iiicalypso]

I am leaving my current job at the end of the month, but I don't really feel like leaving yet. My plan is to stay in Korea for a few months, study Korean, and just hang out. In a few months, during the Uni hiring period, I will start looking for a job.

I know there are people who are here on D2 visas, but all of them are Uni students. Do private academies qualify as educational institutes? The MOJ website is not very helpful; all I know is that I have to have proof of 3000$US. Does anyone have experience doing this?

On the other hand, am I better off just geting a 90 day tourist visa? How do people that don't seem to have a fulltime job stay in Korea? I have met you, and I would like to know how you do it. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mashimaro]

you can get a student visa studying at a korean language institute. If you have a work visa I believe you will have to leave the country and return to change the status of your visa.

You will need a letter of acceptance from the academy and little else (check with the academy) to do your visa run.

If you are only plan on studying for 3 months or less a tourist visa might be ok, though the big advantage of a student visa is that it can be extended beyone three months (if your plans change or whatever).

One point I'll mention, thought it probably won't be relevant to the OP.
Through expensive first hand experience I found out that if you have a tourist visa you can later transfer that to a student visa (in korea). I on the other hand entered korea on an entry permit and so I had to do a visa run to japan to get the student visa (wasn't happy!!)

[Css]

One possible downside of that plan is that you need to take 20 hours of classes per week to qualify for a student visa.