Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jaganath69]

I've had cause to apply for two different working visas for Korea in the last 3 months. First was a C4 for a winter camp and the second an E2. I was given the paperwork for the former and headed to Cheongju immigration where I went through the process and was sent my confirmation number. I then travelled home to Australia for the Xmas break and phoned the consulate in Sydney to double check what I needed to send. They told me my application form, photo, confirmation number, passport and a money order would be all. Next day I received a phonecall from a woman employee of the Sydney CG. She barely spoke adequate English and demanded that I send my degree and transcripts. I told her that I should not have to do this as they were already checked by Cheongju immigration and that the visa confirmation number should show this. She then proceeded to tell me that the number was wrong and that her computer showed that I was not the intended recipient of the visa. Flustered, I called my boss at the University where I was to do the winter camp. She called back an hour later, having phoned immigration and the CG to tell me that I was in the right. I could have told the lady at the CG that and saved myself the screaming match I had with her over the phone.

Getting my E2 coincided with a trip to Indonesia, to see my wife who couldn't return until I had an E2 myself. I asked the guy at immigration, again in Cheongju, if I could pick up my E2 in Jakarta. He told me no and that I could only get it in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok. Worried as I would have to shell out for a return flight to Singapore from Jakarta and pay for 3 nights in that expensive city, I had my wife call the Korean Embassy in Jakarta. They confirmed that I could indeed process my E2 there, which I did a week later.

Here are two examples of bureaucracy gone mad. Although they are two different branches of governmennt - immigration are Ministry of Justice and Embassies fall under the gambit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - both participate in the visa process. Despite this, I found on two occaisions that both sides were ignorant of the proceedures when it came to issuing both visas. Whats more, the woman at the Sydney GC spoke English so poorly that I failed to see how she could best serve the interests of the ROK abroad. I eventually got my visas, but have never experienced this level of bureaucratic ineptitude from any other country I have travelled to or lived in, save perhaps for the British NHS, but that is another story. If this country wishes to become anything more than the hub of its own rear-end, I suggest that they better train their public servants in the systems that they employ.