Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Hi, Korea.

Extending Your E2 Visa in Korea.

Please note everyone's situation is different and regulations are changing all the time. Just thought I'd put this stuff up here because there's confusion about it amongst my coworkers and friends that teach here. Hope this can help out a bit.

I got my visa for another year here. Seoul Immigration required a photocopy of my contract with my school, a health check, criminal background check, my passport, W80,000, two types of academy business registration, a reference letter, and my Alien Residence card.

I got the health check done at Saint Mary's. Lots of running around all over the place there but it was much cheaper than the other places I looked into.

I got a state criminal background check but had to go to the US Embassy and have them vouch for me about having no criminal record.

W50,000 was for multiple entry and W30,000 was for the new visa itself. You'll have to go downstairs to buy stamps for it.

Your school should help you along a bit but it's a bit complicated.

Make an appointment at the Seoul Immigration website if you're short for time.

2 comments:

Kim said...

Hi Nate,

Sorry to do this in a comment, but I didn't see an email address for you anywhere on the site. I'm a former native English teacher (lived and worked in Korea for two years) who is now a Master's student at the University of Glasgow. I found your blog through the Korean Blog List and the reason I'm writing to you is I'm hoping that you would be willing to complete a questionnaire that forms part of the research I am conducting for my MSc Information Management & Preservation dissertation.

My dissertation will examine the role of blogs in helping to form and shape a sense of community identity amongst expats living in South Korea. This is being done in order to determine the archival value of these blogs and examine if, and how, they should be preserved.

Basically, I believe that today’s archives are rife with personal diaries and papers which allow us a glimpse into the past. But, what of the archives of the future? How many people today actually keep a pen and paper journal or write letters home? More and more native English teachers living in Korea have replaced diaries and letters home with blogs. Furthermore, due to the nature of the native English teacher community in Korea, much of the information about this community can only be found on the Internet on sites such as blogs (like yours). Therefore, a failure to preserve blogs may create a black hole of information for future generations of archives users.

You can read more about my project as well as fill out my questionnaire by visiting http://2009msc.wordpress.com Some of the issues I'm examining are what happens to blogs when their authors decide to stop writing or leave Korea and if blog authors would be willing to have their blogs digitally preserved, so I'd be interested to hear your views on these matters.I’d really appreciate it if you could find the time to complete the questionnaire.

(And, if any of your readers want to complete the questionnaire that would be great too, since I'd love to hear from them as well.)

Thank you,
Kim.

Learn Korean said...

Hi Nate, great blog! Is there any way to reach you via email? You can contact me at affiliates@koreanclass101.com. Thx!