E2 visa for South Korea

cloneslad

Thought I would post the following for anyone who needed the information, feel free to move it to a more appropriate thread if this one is not.

You will need:

• Transcripts of your results, sealed in an envelope with a university/college stamp on the seal.
• Original degree or a *copy of your degree, notarised and apostilled (more info below)
• **Criminal background check (apostilled, more info below)
• 2 passport photos
• a copy of your c.v
• a copy of your passport (the picture page)
• a health form (can be downloaded here)
• A signed contract from your school

*To notarise your copied degree: Photocopy your degree, take it to a commissioner of oathes. You should find one easily in your hometown, if you don't know any, just pop into a solicitors and they should be able to inform you of one or two (do not just get a soliciter to sign it, they must be a commisioner of oathes) get it signed and stamped by the commissioner of othes (mine worked as a pharmacist). This should cost approx €10

Take your copied degree with signature and stamp to the office of the supreme court, which can be located in the four courts in Dublin. Just ask for directions when you get there. The will attach a piece of paper to the degree copy which confirms that the person who signed and stamped your degree copy is a commisioner of oathes. This is free


After this you must take your degree copy to the dept of foreign affairs which takes up 5-6 bulidings at 80, st stephens green in dublin. They will then stamp the copied degree again for you. The cost of a stamp here is €20

You should take the original degree to the commisioner, supreme court and dept of foreign affairs just incase they request to see it.

Once you have this done then your degree copy is good to send to korea for the visa.

** Criminal Background check: you will need to apply to your garda station for your criminal background check. It is issued by the superindendant in your general area (county if you're from a rural area)

There are two types of background checks available, one you pay for that may take 6 or 8 weeks to get back from thurles, and one which is free that should take no more than 2 weeks. You want the free one.

If you can't get in contact with your superintendant personally then type out a letter informing him/her that you need a criminal background check to obtain a visa for south korea. tell them you do not need one from thurles (the safe to work with kids one) it is simply one that states who have no criminal convictions etc. Supply him/her with your name, date of birth, pps number, passport number, and your previous addressess. you don't need all that information but more is better than less.

You should receive your criminal background check in the post, I got mine about 5 days later.

Next you must take this criminal background check with you to the dept of foreign affairs in st stephen's green. (again, just like with your degree copy this will cost you €20 for the stamp.)

You no longer need to bring these documents out to the embassey to get stamped overnight. the stamps from the dept of foreign affairs are sufficient.

When you have all the above collected, simply pop them all in an envelope, ring fedex and get them mailed over night to Korea (should cost about €60 to send them)


******NEXT STAGE********

Your school/recruiter will submit your documents to immigration and after about 10 days they should have your visa number. Here is the important bit.

You need to then contact the Korean Embassy in Ballsbridge. Inform them that you will be applying for an E2 visa. They will then advise you to e-mail them/fax them a copy of your passport page along with your visa number, to ascertain whether you need an interview or not.

If you have previously worked in korea you will, most likely not need an interview, but you must still send them your passport page and visa number for them to tell you this, (you can not apply for the visa without them telling you you do/do not need an interview) otherwise you will be making the trip to ballsbridge two days in a row after finding out the hard way (like I did).

Once you have been informed that you don't need an interview you can go up to the embassy and apply for the visa.


If you have not Previously worked in Korea you will still have to get in contact with them and be told that you need to have an interview. Interviews take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays ONLY. When you go for the interview you can then apply for the visa.

To apply for the visa everyone will need:

• your passport
• 1 passport photo
• your employers name
• employers address
• employers phone number
• €40

If you are going through the public school system then you could just let the embassy know this and they can sort it out, but try bring your recruiters information just in case.


Your passport will be ready to collect in about 4 days and your new visa will be in it and you will be ready to go eat all the kimchi you want.

Hope this helps everyone

James

net86

Because of all the changes that have happened regarding documents that you need, can anyone tell me exactly what I need to bring with me to get a visa for South Korea?

pocahontas22

Hi guys,

Got a TEFL job secured with what seem to be a good recruiting agency in Korea. Basically, was due to leave on Monday but still had not received my e-ticket. The agency contacted saying my flight had been rescheduled for today.... and they were very sorry etc.... anyway, still had not received my e-ticket yesterday. Agency contacted saying that they were having trouble contacting the director of the school. Finally they got through to her and said she was having trouble booking the flight and that they offered to help her but she said she could manage it herself. I'm so frustrated; first was ready to leave on Monday and now again, it looks like I am not going anywhere again. The last I heard from the agency was this morning when they said that I am the first foreign teacher she has employed and she is now taking the agencys help and they are trying to get ticket sorted. Everything seemed fine until now (lots of contact throughout visa process). Obviously, alarm bells are now going off all over the place....I mean, if the director is this unreliable booking a flight, I imagine it would be the same scenario with wages, severance pay...... Anyway, sorry for rambling on there. Basically, I think the school is totally dodgy and as my visa is wrapped up in the contract, does anyone know how I go about transferring to a new job as soon as possible? Immigration in Daegu still have all my documentation so would it be a case of just a new visa issue number?
Anything you can tell me would be great!
Thanks,
Kate