Korea and Chaos

Let's just say things have been incredibly chaotic lately. The whole process of getting my documents in order and trying to get the Visa and all is stressful. This has been an incredibly good past 10 days or so and happy ones, but they are still stressful because there's a big time crunch. If everything goes well I just might have everything done in time to get to Korea the end of August. That would be IDEAL for me but, worst case, I leave two weeks later. I tell you, I wish I had thought of teaching in Korea back in May after I first graduated. I would have applied for my passport to get renewed, would have had plenty of time to make sure all my documents got in, and there wouldn't be such a crunch. On the other hand I can be a rather bad procrastinator and sometimes work best under pressure. This is taken from Reach-To-Teach's website:

Korean Visa Process

Part One

All below items will need to be completed/collated.

When you have all the below items in hand, you will need to FEDEX them to your school in Korea.

The Items

1. Criminal Background Check - *Mine is in the mail and should arrive any day now*
2. A signed copy of the employment contract - *interview Wednesday night and i HOPE to have one end of this week or latest end of next week*
3. Sector Background Check - *This one is for Canadians instead of me. At least ONE thing I don't have to do*
4. Apostille or Appropriate Notarization - *Will get my background check notarized soon as it arrives and then I have to make a 2 hour drive down to Columbus, Ohio to get it Apostiled next week*
5. A copy of the first page of your passport - *Passport is on expedited renewal and I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope to get it by end of next week*
6. Two Official Sealed Transcripts - *in the mail and should arrive any day now*
7. Four Passport Photos - *I have 8 taken. This was the easiest part*
8. Bachelor’s Degree - *Finally got in the mail. One less headache*
9. Health Statement - *Haven't gotten this yet. I imagine it'll be included in the email with my contract*

ONE. Criminal background check OR a Vulnerable Sector Background Check

1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please apply for this right away!**
2. How to get your Background Check: please apply for your Criminal Background Check at your local police station. Request a statewide check if possible (in the United States), if not then a local or county check is fine.
5. The background check must have a contact number for the police station, a signature from the issuing officer, the issuing station’s police stamp and the search result.
6. Please don’t delay in applying for this, as it is valid for 180 days and not having it in time can prevent you from landing the job you want!

TWO. Apostille or Appropriate Notarization

1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please apply for this as soon as you receive your Background Check!**
2. What is an apostille? Simply put- an international notarization. Right now your criminal background check is only legal in the United States. By getting an apostille, your background check will be legal in any country that recognizes the apostille, in particular South Korea.
3. America: Your Criminal Background Check must receive an apostille from your state’s Secretary of State Office. Sometimes you may have to get a public notarization before receiving your apostille. Please call your Secretary of State to see if this is necessary or if they will notarize the document for you.

THREE. Official Sealed Transcript

1. **Important/Time Sensitive: Please request these from your University right away!**
2. The envelope must not be opened!
3. A stamp from the university must be placed along the seal line of the envelope. Some Universities will do this automatically, but most will not. Please request this from your university just to be safe.
4. One transcript will be sent to Korea in Part 2 listed below. The other transcript will be taken with you to the Korean Consulate described in Part 3 listed below.
5. 2 Official Sealed Transcripts are the minority requirements. For some positions you will need a total of 3 transcripts. We suggest getting a total of 4 transcripts as security.

FOUR. Bachelor’s degree

1. This must be the original copy of your Bachelor’s Degree!
2. If you wish not to send your original degree, then you must have a copy notarized by a public notary and by the Korean Consulate.
3. Please check the name on the degree. It must match the name on your passport.
4. To avoid any problems with your degree, we HIGHLY suggest you send you original degree to Korea. You will receive a tracking number from FED-EX and your school will keep the diploma safe until you arrive, where you will get it back.

FIVE. A signed copy of the employment contract

1. Make sure you have completely filled out each part of the contract.
2. Make sure you have signed or initialed each page of the contract.

SIX. A copy of the first page of your passport

1. This is the page with your photograph and personal information.
2. If you are worried about identity theft, you may cover up your passport number.
3. Your passport must be valid for the next 12 months.

SEVEN. 4 passport-sized photos

1. Please take a total of six. You will mail four to Korea and keep two for later.
2. They must all be the same picture.

EIGHT. Health Statement

1. This form is also attached to the Visa Information E-Mail.
2. Please be as honest as possible when filing out this form.
3. Please see below for further details.

PART TWO

When you have all the above items in hand, you will mail them to your school in Korea. We will give you this address, of course! The school will then submit these documents to the Korean Ministry of Immigration.

Private School: After approximately 10 business days immigration provides the school with a Visa Issuance Number in your name (it typically looks like this: HSBO000070). This number will be given to us, and then we will pass it along to you.

Public School: Often times, it takes much long for private schools to process your documents. When it is complete, the public school will mail to YOU a visa issuance letter, not a number. Essentially, this will be a letter of acceptance into the program.

PART THREE

At this point, you will take your Visa Issuance Number or Letter, visa application which was also attached to this e-mail, passport, 2 passport photos and fee money (about $45) and schedule an interview at the nearest Korean Embassy/Consulate (*Chicago in my case - a 7 HOUR drive away!). Subsequent to your interview, the Korean government will take approximately three (3) days to process your application. You can then pick up your passport, with visa inside. At that point, congratulations, you are officially ready to come to Korea!

Sometimes, consulates will grant phone interviews or you may submit a video of you if the consulate is too far away from you. Please note that that is very rarely granted, but some applicants have been allowed to do this in the past. Unfortunately, schools cannot reimburse you for travel to and from the Korean Consulate to apply for or pick up your visa.
FURTHER INFORMATION

Health Statement: Applicants will be required to submit a health statement form to Korean Immigration when they apply for their working visa (mentioned in part one of the visa process). You must answer this form as honestly as possible. Shortly after your arrival to Korea, you will be required to visit one of the local hospitals or health clinics to undergo a health screening. You will be tested for HIV, other contagious diseases and illicit drug use (including marijuana use). If the responses on your health statement form are inconsistent with your health screening results, your visa could be revoked and your contract terminated. Ultimately you could be deported and blacklisted, making it almost impossible to work in Korea again. SEE YOUR DOCTOR!

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So, yes, lots and lots of stress and chaos and a strict timetable where everything just MIGHT fall into place and fit but with no real margin of error. It's hurry up and get everything you can and wait for things to arrive in the mail. Then hurry up and send stuff to Korea and then just sit around and wait two weeks to get the number. And after they send you the number there's the BIG HORRIBLE headache of dealing with having to go to Chicago.

Here's scenarios for that whole debacle from best to worst case:

1. If I go with YBM ECC which are public schools I call the Consulate and they tell me I don't need the interview. I imagine I would just mail them the application and documents and they would mail me the stamped passport. Save me a 7 hour drive and hotel fees. YAY!

2. I overnight mail everything to the Consulate in Chicago and they go through my documents and are nice enough to give me a phone or webcam interview (I'd need to buy a webcam for that but I was planning on it anyway so I could videochat with my family while away) and then express mail the passport with the Visa stamp back to me. An unlikely scenario but possible.

3. I drive down to Chicago with everything I need, conduct the interview, they stamp my passport, and I can drive back the next day - or even they stamp it the day after the interview and I pick it up before going home. Chicago's a 7 hour drive one way so I'd need to stay one night anyway. Very improbably scenario.

4. I overnight them the documents so they arrive 3 days before my interview. I drive down, conduct the interview and get my passport stamped before I leave the next day. Again, very improbable.

5. I drive down with everything I need, conduct the interview, provide them with an a pre-paid addressed express mail envelope, go home the next day, and they mail my passport to me 2-3 days later. Rather iikely.

6. I drive down with everythig, conduct the interview, pay for a hotel, stay around 3 days waiting for them to process everything and stamp my passport, pick up my passport and drive back. This is the most likely, unfortunately, and expensive option considering we'd have to pay for a hotel and my Mom would have to miss work for several days. It's not like there's really anyone close to the main city that we can crash with for the time. But, if this is what happens then at least I wouldn't have to wait the few extra days for the passport to arrive in the mail.

Like I said, MAJOR headache. Plus, I've already gone through my entire wardrobe and chosen the clothes I want to take. I am going to look GOOD! Mainly dressy/semi-formal business/teaching attire that I can also wear around the city and going out on the town stuff that I rarely ever get to wear plus more casual stuff and rugged stuff I can wear while hiking. At least with international flights I get two bags of 50 lbs each, plus a 45 inch 40lb carryon bag and a shoulder bag/purse. LOL. That might be enough to carry everything.

I've also been doing some research on the computer note. I have the one I want all picked out - one of Alienware's laptops with all the fixings. I have the config I want and once I have more money saved up around XMas time I'm going to email the config to Dell Korea and see if they can make it for me. For some reason the Korea Alienware website doesn't have all the options that the American version does. If the Korea branch can't make me a model with all the US options I picked for a comparable amount of money then I'll just order it from the American website, have it shipped to my parents, and then they can ship it courier to me. Might cost a bit more but it'll be worth it. Until I can save up the $5000 US (yes, that much. Damn it for ONCE in my life I am getting myself my dream laptop and nothing's going to stop me. At least I know the sucker'll pretty much last forever). Oh, and on the engraved nameplate I'm going to get Capt. Elizabeth Monroe. I just can't resist.

I'll be looking into buying a cheap desktop over in Korea. Some folks on Dave's ESL Cafe http://www.eslcafe.com/ forums say there's a place called Yongsun where you can get one for 300,000-600,000 won including monitor. That's comparable to $300-600 US. I'll probably get one of those as soon as I get my first paycheck end of September and use that for mixing and everything instead of my poor little laptop. I'll still take it with me though, and make do til then. But, the end of the year of laptop HELL is in sight. Thank whatever Gods there are out there for that!

All the stress is going to be worth it though to get out of my basement room. out of my house, out of Cleveland, out of the States in general and off to Korea to have an adventure and an apartment of my own for the first time. I won't be coming back to the States for at least a year and even then probably only for a visit before I'm off on another adventure. I'll probably end up renewing my contract or moving on to teach in Japan, China, or Taiwan. We'll see, though. That's at least a year away. I'm still just trying to get through the next month without spontaneously combusting. Though, in my case since my town has a nuclear power plant in it I'd probably turn Lake County and maybe Cleveland into a US version of Hiroshima.