Korean Job Discussion Forums

[judge-ing-na]

Hi all
a friend of mine wants to 'invite' an Australian taekwondo teacher to his taekwondo academy.
any ideas about what kind of visa is needed?
I have had a quick look at the immi website but couldn't find anything specific.

Any help is appreciated

cheers

[spliff]

Will he be working there?

[judge-ing-na]

Hey splif,

I don't understand the arrangement exactly (my Korean ain't that flash) but I assume the invited teacher would be paid.

Do you know if the E-2 covers a taekwondo academy?

cheers

[ttompatz]

[BigBuds]

Taekwondo schools aren't allowed to get visas for foreigners in Korea to teach Taekwondo. A business college of mine owns a Taekwondo school and wanted a foreigner to teach there but immigration said they will not issue visas to foreigners for martial arts such as Taekwondo, Judo, Karate as there are so many Koreans who can do it.

They did say, however, that if its a type of marial art that is not readily found in Korea, they will issue a visa for a foreigner to teach that type of martial art. My business college now has a foreign teacher who teaches Danmudo (I think thats how its spelt). The visa he was issued with is an E-7 visa.

My business college also looked into getting a C-4 visa, like ttompatz suggested, but was told that immigration won't issue E-2s or C-4s for martial arts teachers.

Hope this helps you out but remember that you'll probably get different answers from different immigration offices, and for that matter, different immigration officers as well. You may need to ask a few times to get the answer you want, if ever.

Best of luck.