I am finally set to go to South Korea and, legally, teach and work abroad. I received my visa about a week ago and almost cried. I was thinking about the last 5 months of this process and realizing two things: 1. this is an expensive process and 2. I am crazy for sticking it out and a miracle that it all came together.
The process started in September when the serious decision was made to pursue this endeavor. I believe the specific trigger sentence was “You can do anything for a year” that set it off. And oh, what a simple sentence has created. I wanted to go abroad again. I wanted to live and work abroad and this time in my life seemed like the time to do it.
I did my research on almost every country available. I started with South America being at the top of my list. After enough research to make me never want to research again and the countries starting to mush all into the same I decided on South Korea. The money, the culture and the opportunities made it the right decision for me. I wanted culture shock and dammit…I am going to get culture shock! So the process began….
1. Renew passport– Mine was lost so I had to get a new one. $140
2.While that is being renewed sent in my background check. This included being fingerprinted at a police station. I took a number, sat for an hour, went into a room with a stern , heavy set woman who man handled my fingers and sent me out with a lovely set of fingerprints ($6).
3. Sent in paperwork for a background check ($18 per copy, I ordered 2 so $36). Wait…wait…wait…4 weeks later I received mine!
4. Now I had to get it verified by the govt proving that it is real by having the background check receive an apostille (authentication)($16 for both.) You send this to the federal government and they stamp it and send it back. This took less then two weeks to get back.
5. Now you have your background check done! This is probably the most time consuming and I started it even before I had even been hired or decided if I really was going. $58 for the process and another $20 for shipping costs= $78 just for the apostilled background check.
6. While I was awaiting the Epik application to be released I also started the process of proving that I actually graduated from a university with a 4-year degree. I filled out more paperwork, attached it to a notarized copy of my degree ($3) and sent it off to the Arizona Secretary of State to have my degree apostilled ($10). This whole process took about 2 weeks.
6. Finding a job was next. I applied to Epik (Korean government sponsored teaching program) right when the application became available in September. I spent hours on the application. Fine tuning everything and creating a lesson plan. A week after submission I received a message informing me that I was rejected from the Epik program. WHAT!? To this day I have no idea why. I think that it had something to do with typing everything on OpenOffice and then transferring it to Word on a friends computer…but who knows, maybe they didn’t like my lesson plan, maybe I forgot a part of the application… It could have been anything and I will never know. Fate stepped in at this point and a friend of mine who had been working at a Hagwon(private Korean school) for the past year asked if I would be interested in her position as she is leaving and needs a replacement. &*^$*%&%!!! Yes..please. This happened in November.
7. I had already done the major work so now it was just waiting a bit until they had my contract done. La-la-la…waiting.
8. In mid-December I received my contract! Time to prepare the documents to send to Korea for my pin number. The pin number is a number the government issues that you must have to send to the consulate to get your E-2 visa. I, thankfully, had most of my paperwork done. I just had to send off the documents including:
apostilled degree and background check
photocopy of my passport
three passport sized photos
one official health statement
one copy of my {stellar} resume
one copy of my signed contract
This gets sent off to South Korea ($56). Then we wait again…
9. It took my pin about 4 weeks to process from when I sent it! Now we are at Mid- January and I am ready to send off my request for an E-2 visa!
The visa application included:
Valid Passport,
One Passport Photo,
One Official Health Statement,
Visa Pin Number,
Return Mailing($60 round trip for mailing)
$45 Money Order.
Send to consulate. Check fed-ex religiously. Find out that you wrote the incorrect address…have heart attack…call fed-ex…correct address…consulate receives passport…sends passport with visa back within a week!!!!!! You find fed-ex package on your door step opened but passport with visa still inside. THANK GOD FOR DUMB THIEVES ..vow to NEVER have anything this important delivered to your door again.
10. Celebrate with visa. Fist pump…cry…dance. Whatever your thing is, do it! 5 months and almost $250 in fees and mailing costs, lots of stress and plenty of tears later…you better celebrate.
11. Buy plane ticket. Almost one month to the day I purchased my one way ticket to South Korea.
This was the best feeling ever. Nothing to stop me now! The process was long, stressful and crazy. It was a learning experience and I definitely learned a lot from this and I haven’t even stepped foot on Korean soil yet.
Roaming Rackel 
