Immigration Q & A

A Q & A session held recently at Woosong University in Daejon and lifted from Lao Ocean Girl’s Blog (thank you!):

Q: For people RENEWING their visas, what do they need?
A: Same as before, plus criminal check and medical check (and letter of release if necessary)

Q: What kind of criminal check? National, provincial, or local?
A: I don’t know. Right now there is no set specified regulation, so anything is acceptable for now.

Q: Many countries’ criminal checks require 4-5 months to receive back. What happens to our renewal in February?
A: We will accept your visa on a provisional basis and you can submit the check when you get it.

Q: How often do we have to submit this criminal check? EVERY time we apply for a new visa?
A: No. Once you submit it once, that’s all you do. After that we check your Korean record. We are Immigration, so it is our responsibility to keep track of your criminal record of Korea. That’s our job, but we have no access to your home country, so you just have to give it to us once.

Q: Do we have to leave Korea to renew our visas?
A: No. Even if you are getting a new visa with a new school, we will not require you to leave Korea IF (a) you have the criminal/medicals checks and (b) you have completed at least 80% of your contract. If you have 80% minimum completed, then we will just transfer your visa to your new school, and you don’t have to leave Korea (ie. no visa run)

* I specifically asked why these points had changed, and she said because the regulations are so tough now, they are afraid that it will be very difficult for the necessary teachers to stay here. They don’t want to have a teacher crisis, so they are making it more flexible for teachers already here.

Q: Do we still need to submit sealed transcripts?
A: You only need to submit them once. After that, you don’t need to submit them again.

Q: What kinds of documents must be notarized/apostilled?
A: I don’t know the regulation. Email me and I will get you that answer.

Q: For the medical check, can we have it done in Korea, or do we have to go back home to get it done?
A: You can have it done in Korea. You don’t have to go back home. As long as you go to a government-run hospital for the check, you will be okay.

Q: What must we have checked by the doctor?
A: drugs and HIV.