Moving to South Korea to teach English is becoming more and more popular. It’s an excellent choice for a country where you can experience a lot of traditional delights and immerse yourself in a vibrant and modern culture. However, the visa process can be confusing and overwhelming. I hope I can help you.
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Getting a visa is confusing, stressful, and expensive. I decided to share our experience as a guide that shows that if you’re currently navigating this process, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The euphoric feeling when all your documents are out of your hands and on the way to your dream destination is worth it all. So, read on to find out how to get an E2 teaching visa for South Korea. (Helpful links are provided at the bottom.)
For starters, I had an offer of employment. So, I applied for an E2 working visa. This visa can cost between £20-£100. Depending on whether you opt for single or multiple entries. We were advised to opt for a single entry visa and then change it (to multiple entry) once in Korea.
My Visa is only valid for the duration of my employment and is specifically for teaching English as a foreign language. To apply for this type of visa, you need an offer of employment. To be a citizen of a country where English is the primary language, you must have been a resident in that country for at least ten years and hold a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university.
If all the above are applicable, your ready to start tackling this list…
- 4 photos / 35*45mm size
- Resume (CV)
- Scanned copy of passport (photo side)
- Health statement (This is a downloadable form)
- Employment contract (signed)
- Diploma / with apostille
- Criminal check / with apostille
Most of the items above are easy to come by. You can find photo booths in most supermarkets or post offices in the UK, so dropping a fiver on some photos means you can check the first item on your list. While you’re in the post office (assuming you don’t own a scanner), you can probably make a quick copy of your passport simultaneously, killing two birds with one stone. I downloaded an app called CamScanner. I took a photo of my passport that looks like a scan, then printed it. Was it easier this way? Probably not. But now we’ve ticked two items off our list!
If you’ve had an offer of employment, the chances are you’ve already dusted the cobwebs off your CV. So print that off, too, along with your employment contract…now you’ve completed 4/7. That wasn’t so painful, was it? My advice would be to get these simple bits checked off as early as possible, so you’re not scrambling around with printer ink on the day you’ve told your employer you’ll be fedx’ing all your documentation.
A health statement is a form you download- print, and fill out. It’s important to be as honest as possible on this form, as a lot of countries require you to do a health check once you arrive in the country anyway. (including a drug test, just fyi) So, if your health check shows something you failed to make known, it could cause you issues down the line.
This is where things got tricky for us…Getting an apostille
The next two items are the ones that caused us the biggest headache. After starting this process, I spent some time frantically googling “What is an apostille and how do I get one?”.
An apostille is simply a way to legalise a document. For an important person to agree that your document is real and authentic, then you can send it to the government, and so they can say, “Ahh, yes, this ‘important person’, a.k.a your solicitor, said it’s real, so it must be real”. Then will return it to you with an apostille attached. (To clarify, a solicitor cannot give you an apostille; they can only confirm your document is real – the government can issue you an apostille. ) It took us quite some time to understand the process of what was actually required in order to obtain an apostille.
This is needed for your Diploma and your criminal check. In short, a solicitor must sign off and say your documents are real. You can then send them to the government, which will issue an apostille. Now, when you send these documents to another country, they can easily see they are authentic. Authentic documents are needed to get an E2 Teaching Visa for South Korea!
Getting a Criminal Check
I applied for my police check through ACRO. It cost around £60 but arrived pretty quickly. If you’re looking for a cheaper option, for only £25, you could apply for a Basic Disclosure and Criminal record check from mygov.scot.
After that, we made an appointment with a solicitor. They hold the power to authenticate your document. Initially, our apostilles were denied, as the solicitor stamped in the wrong place! So after a second visit- an amended stamp placement we were able to send off our documents to a branch of the English government called The Legalisation Office. The cost of legalising is £30 plus £5.50 postage if you’re in the UK.
Almost there…You’re almost ready to get an E2 Teaching Visa for South Korea!
If your documents are good to go, they will be returned to you with an apostille attached. Now you’re ready to go! Pop everything in a sturdy envelope and enjoy a sigh of relief. Your employer, armed with your documents, will now apply for the working visa on your behalf. Once our visas were ready, we travelled to London to pick them up at the Korean Embassy. This process was speedy and pretty painless, and if you’re not from London like us, you can enjoy taking in some of the sights at the same time. :)