Yesterday we got word from our recruiter that the school in South Korea has processed our documents and our visa numbers have been issued. We have an appointment to go to the Korean consulate in Chicago next Tuesday, where they will finish processing everything. Then we will officially have our visas and all we’ll need to do is confirm our flight details for the trip over! (well that and pack for a year, get our immunizations, and a long list of other preparations).
It’s taken almost a year of research and preparation to get everything going. A website called Dave’s ESL Café has really helped us plan. It has some great discussion boards about life in South Korea – even down to specific restaurants to eat at or places to get a haircut! It’s also where we found a list of all the documents we needed to live and teach in South Korea.
The package of documents we sent to the recruiting office, Kim & Joe, included:
• Original copy of Bachelor’s degree
• Official set of college transcripts (signed and sealed)
• A copy of the first page of passport
• A color photo (passport size)
• Criminal background check (notarized and apostilled)
• Health statement form
• Work contract signed and dated
It’s not a terribly long list of things, but it still took us months to get it all together! Neither Bob nor I had passports, so we both had to apply for those back in February. (that in itself is a chore!) In between work we made trips to Lincoln to gather our transcripts from UNL and our criminal background checks from the State Patrol’s Office. Finally, we sent everything to the school in Busan via Fed-Ex. Then the school processed our paperwork at their immigration office and issued our tracking numbers. So here we are!
More to come on our (short) trip to Chicago next week!
***Bob and Lindsey***
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