Finding South Korea

In light of COVID, I took the leap and did what I had wanted to for quite a while: I moved to another country.

Now, I say leap, but it was carefully thought out. I spent hours every day reading blogs, watching vlogs, researching, and trying to get to know the place that would soon be my forever home: South Korea.

I chose South Korea because I saw how well they are handling the pandemic, while the U.S. has record death rates springing up across the country. The fact is, most of the pandemic deaths can be traced back to the United States and, as an at risk group, I just didn't want to take that chance.

South Korea not only had a great track record with their COVID response, but most of their jobs for foreigners (teaching English, if you haven't lived/worked there before) provided housing, which was a definite plus over other places like Japan. Not to mention the visa process, which still took forever and much stress, was actually pretty easy compared to other countries.

I have a background in education and figured a year or two teaching while I built up my Korean living/working experience wouldn't be bad. After that, I could transition into something I wanted to do, like teaching at a university or working in editing and publishing. Public schools weren't hiring because of the pandemic; if you wanted to work there, you already had to be established in Korea. International schools definitely pay better and can get you a visa with some leeway, but they are highly sought after jobs. I settled with the fact that I would have to work at a hagwon, or private institution, like a prep school. I knew some of them had pretty crazy hours, so I refused positions with hours I couldn't see myself doing. I also set a firm monthly minimum salary - I do have student loans to repay, after all.

The process of applying for a hagwon was confusing; I knew areas I didn't want to be, but not where I did want to be. The most common and easiest way to find a job is to do so through a recruiter or recruitment agency; while that is helpful, just know that the recruiters are paid to connect educators with institutions - as a general rule, these people don't care if you're matched with a bad school or the contract is sus. There are some that seem to genuinely care, but it isn't the norm, in my experience.

There are horror stories about hagwon across Korea, so I checked the Hagwon Blacklist to make sure none of the places I wanted to go had a bad review (there are a lot, so check at least two, because not all entries are on every site). I interviewed, a lot. I was passed over, a lot. I rejected jobs, a lot. In the end, I signed a contract for a wonderful position in a seemingly perfect school that looked like it had a fun atmosphere and I could not wait to get to Korea. Unfortunately, hagwon are a little sketchy and the job and pay I had signed on for had never been approved by the school, so it ended up being void. But that's a story for another day.

The visa process is a long, arduous process, made even worse by the pandemic. I would greatly recommend that if you are trying to get a job in South Korea that you immediately send off your diplomas to get apostille's attached - send the original and the apostille will be attached directly and can be reused again and again. If you send a copy, it must be notarized to authenticate it, and then the copies will be retained by the school you work at or immigration - you won't get this back. I found that sending the diplomas myself was more cost effective; in my state, Washington, it cost between $5-8 per apostille and, since the diplomas I was getting apostille'd were both from Washington, I could just send both in one packet to the Olympia Authentication Office. Easy peasy. Keep in mind, many recruitment agencies have places for authentication that they will refer you to, because they get kickbacks; the place I was referred to cost over $200 (all inclusive for my diploma apostille, fbi background check apostille, and shipping). Due to issues with the company, they were reported for disseminating sensitive information and withholding documents.

When in doubt, do it yourself. I had three diplomas, but only two were applicable (and in state), so I chose to get those two apostille'd (keep in mind, you have to have at least one bachelor's degree apostille in addition to any other higher education documents, like a Master's). I also had my FBI background check, which I sent off to the Office of Authentication in D.C. Again, this apostille only cost about $5-8. If you're keeping track, for these three documents, it's still only $15-24 for all of my apostille documents, not including shipping. I think that's a lot better than $200.

While I was going through the visa process, there were many hiccups, like the Office of Authentication being closed and then eventually being reopened for shortened hours with a reduced staff of 2. Just this one apostille took about two and a half months, but I never received it because the company I was referred to refused to give it to me. So, to this day, they have my FBI background check. Luckily, I had been in constant contact with the Office of Authentication and they were able to confirm my document was received by the agency handling my documents and simply took a payment by phone, allowed me to e-mail them a copy of the background check, and I had the document in hand the following week.

Now, all of that sounds like a lot, but that's just in order to get all of the documents and authentications out of the way. There's also the visa application form, your contract, a health declaration, and other things that you'll need - if you use a recruiter, they should be giving all of this to you. If you are applying as an individual, the school should help you get these documents or you should be able to find them on the HiKorea website (https://www.hikorea.go.kr/Main.pt?locale=en).

Once you have all of your documents, you have to send the physical copies to the school. That means shipping your docs to South Korea. I think shipping this packet cost me about $98, with expedited shipping. Once the school submits that information to immigration, you should get an immigration confirmation number. Then you have to take all of the same information to your local consulate to finish the application process. Make sure that your photo is exactly in line with what they need - I took my picture on a tan/off white background, but the consulate refused to take it because it wasn't white. I had to walk down to CVS and get my picture taken and pay for new prints.

Once your information is correct and submitted to the consulate, a few weeks later you can check the immigration website (https://www.visa.go.kr/openPage.do?MENU_ID=10301) and put in your info to see if you were approved yet. Print off your visa paper, book your ticket, and you're ready to go.

Remember, research is your friend.