New E-2 Visa Regulations for Teaching in Korea

If you haven't heard already, the application process for teaching English in Korea has just gotten a bit more complicated (before, it was just too easy). Anyways, the Korean government is now requiring all candidates to:

• submit a medical health check,
• submit a criminal background check,
  
• and have an interview at the nearest Korean consulate (near your hometown)
  

On top of that, the ever popular visa runs to Japan will no longer be a possibility. These changes are a result of the recent problems that have plagued the education sector (note, the apparent pedophile that taught in Korea), such as fake degrees by so called "graduates". This is more common than you think, as we had one teacher from our campus fired because he lied about having a degree...way to go, buddy!

Anyways, I was surprised myself at how easy the application process was to teach in Korea. All we did was send in our resumes, a picture, and original copies of our degrees. Foreign teachers in Korea who have stayed in the country for years will have to do some traveling to renew their visas now. Who knows what will hold for the future of teaching English in Korea!

For more reading, check out Lao Ocean Girl's post and the report from Teaching Kimchi. Will these new visa rules affect you? Thought I'd post about this to hear how those teaching in Korea are going to deal with this. Let me know!