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Korean immigration law has changed recently (since 1st Sept. 2010) and you need to read it carefully before you prepare your visa documents.
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Here we give you the list of documents you need to prepare, and also try to include "some cases" that may help you what documents to prepare or how to prepare.
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We will explain "what documents to prepare" and " what documents to send to Korea" differently. Please read it carefully.
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We explain the document preparation for CANADIANS separately. Please find & check.
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Documents to prepare for visa process
1. University diploma photocopy with apostille 2. One set of officially sealed transcripts (you may/may not need this) 3. Photocopy of your passport information page
4. The school employment contract letter signed by you 5. 7 passport sized photos 6. Your resume
7. Self Medical Form - the applicant¡¯s self written medical
form 8. Criminal Record Check with an apostille certificate
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Additional info for those items
1. University diploma photocopy with apostille
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Korean immigration is NO LONGER accept the ORIGINAL diploma from E2 visa applicant (since Sept. 1st 2010). You must get your university diploma apostilled.
We heard a few times from ESL applicants from America, that their State do not provide apostille service for their university diploma. You must find the way to get the apostille, otherwise you can't apply for the E2 visa for Korea. We would like to advise you to talk to local lawyer and see if they will put a notary on the photocopy of your diploma, or your university can provide you notary stamp along with the diploma photocopy. Then the apostille office should authenticate (apostille) the notary. We have seen teachers get the apostille certificate on the original diploma. We would like to advise you to send the original and one photocopy of your diploma to the notary public and have the notary stamp on the photocopy of your diploma and then send this "photocopy of your diploma with a notary stamp" to your state apostille office and have them put the apostille on it. Please contact your state apostile office and find more details. |
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2. One set of officially Sealed Transcripts
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You may need this, or may not need this.
You do not need to send officially sealed transcripts to Korea anymore.
(the new immigration law since 1st Sept. 2010).
While you are doing the E-2 visa process, you need to deal with Korean Consulate later on, and your Korean Consulate may require you to provide one officially sealed transcripts.
The envelope that contains the transcripts MUST have the official university signature and/or seal on it and be stamped or pressed by the university over the crease of the envelope. (See the pictures below. Those are the acceptable form of the transcript envelope examples)
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(example 1)
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(example 2)
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(example 3)
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(example 4)
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Item 3 ~ item 6 3. Photocopy of your passport information page
4. The school employment contract letter signed by you 5. 7 passport sized photos 6. Your resume
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3. Copy of Passport - Photocopy of your passport information page
4. A signed copy of employment contract - After you choose which school you would like to work at, and the school also offer you the job, you need to print out the school contract letter and sign it. (your passport signature and the contract signature must be the same)
5. 7 passport sized photos - 7 recent passport-size color photos. (Prepare four (7) passport photos; send three (6) photos to Korea and keep one photo for later visa process)
6. Your resume - Your resume with your permanent address and phone number of your country, your university name and major course all written in it
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The applicant¡¯s self written medical
form
Self Medical Form - the applicant¡¯s self written medical form required (click and see the form).
The Medical check will be filling the medical form by teacher at the application stage but when the teacher comes to Korea after obtaining the visa, he/she needs to take medical examination and submit a medical check issued from a qualified medical center in Korea (excluding a private hospital) to Korean immigration.
The medical check is is going to include: TBPE test, Cannabinoid test,HIV test
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8. Criminal Record Check (CRC) with an apostille
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To prevent applicants with convictions for drug offences or sexual offences from entering the country, a criminal background check must be submitted. In real, Korean immigration try to avoid any candidate who has any minor criminal history, so if you have any minor history, you may refuse to obtain E-2 visa from Korean immigration.
HOW TO GET IT:
(1) Please order your criminal record check and provide clean criminal record for your visa process. Nation-wide criminal record check is sufficient from 1st Jan. 2011. You can provide a state-wide criminal record check until the end of this year.
For Americans, normally state - wide criminal record check is taking 1~2 weeks, nation - wide criminal record check is taking 3 weeks to 3 months. For UK, Aus, NZ national, nation wide criminal record check may take 3~ 6 weeks.
(2) Go to notary public or registered local lawyer and get your criminal record check notarized.
Sometimes, your criminal record check comes with notary public notarization. This case, there is no need to do it as it has been notarized already.
(3) Go with (or mail) your notary public notarized criminal record check to apostille place and get it apostillized. If your criminal record check does not have notary stamp, the apostille office won't apostilize your criminal record check and will just send your criminal record check back to you. Please check and make sure your criminal record check has notary stamp on it.
We often have teachers ask us what to say on purpose of the criminal record check. Whether they mention visa purpose, employment purpose and etc. You could simply order it for personal use. Then you can avoid any proof of letter or the employers detail in the criminal record check application form. We also often receive question whether they should apply for finger print search or name search. It doesn't matter as long as your CRC says search result by finger print search or search result by name search. CRC that may issued by private company, agency will not be accepted. |
- Please click and find out WHERE you can get the apostillization in your country.
¡ß The countries that do not have an apostille agreement with Korea, (like Canada and China), will have to submit the criminal background check for verification at the applicants closest Korean consulate/ embassy.
.- The criminal background check is only valid within 180 days/ 6 months of the E2 visa application.
- Any applicant who has any kind of criminal record may not be issued an E2 visa. Criminal history record such as driving under influence (DUI) may not accepted by Korean immigration, and as it is not always be guaranteed to obtain E2 visa, recruiters and schools may not accept your application if you have any (even a minor offense).
What is an Apostille?
An Apostille or apostil is a seal applied by the Department of State to authenticate a document in a foreign country in order to assess the authenticity of an official signature. The Apostille is recognized as form of an international notary seal. An Apostille can be used if both countries (the country issuing the document and the country in which the document will be used) are part of the international The "Hague Apostille Convention".
For more information on Apostille, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille
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Documents to prepare for visa process for Canadians
1. University diploma photocopy with Korean Consulate notarization 2. Two sets of officially sealed transcripts 3. Photocopy of your passport information page
4. The school employment contract letter signed by you 5. 7 passport sized photos 6. Your resume
7. Self Medical Form - the applicant¡¯s self written medical
form 8. Criminal Record Check with Korean Consulate notarization
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1. University diploma notarization with Korean Consulate
You need to prepare original diploma, notarized diploma (notarization from notary public or registered local lawyer), photocopy and an original of the photo ID ( Driver's License or Passport), one officially sealed transcript (Consulate will open and keep the transcript for verification purpose), service fee of $4.40 per document (Cash or Money Order only, personal cheque is not acceptable).
2. Two sets of officially sealed transcripts
One officially sealed transcript is needed for your university diploma verification with Korean Consulate. The other set is needed for the later visa process with Korean Consulate too.
* We had a few teachers only prepared one set of officially sealed transcripts. This case, when you deal with Korean Consulate for later visa process, you need to mention to the Consulate people that they already have one set of officially sealed transcripts of yours (for university diploma verification purpose) and if they could kindly look for that transcripts. This is possible. But of course, it would be better to provide one set of officially sealed transcripts again to save times, hessle and confusion this may cause.
Item 3~ item 7. Same above. please check the general document preparation mentioned on the top of this page.
8. Criminal Record Check (CRC) with Korean Consulate notarization
Your CRC must be at least provincial one. Korean immigration will only accepts nation - wide CRC from 1st Jan. 2011 according to the new immigration law.
You need to prepare original criminal records search certificate, photocopy and an original of the photo ID ( Driver's License or Passport ), service fee of $4.40 per document (Cash or Money Order only, personal cheque is not acceptable).
Vulnerable sector screening or RCMP is not required.
As long as it says either result of finger print search or result of name search, and it says provincial or nation wide, it is good for E-2 visa for Korea.
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