Canadians Getting your E2 Visa to Teach in Korea in Canada

First things first, have you been offered a contract? If not, have you applied to Footprints? If not... why not?

If you have already been offered a contract we need to get this process moving to get your visa to teach in South Korea. Because Canada did not sign the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Documents, the process for Canadians is different to all other countries.

All documents have to be "legalised" by the Korean Consulate or Embassy nearest to you. This is subject to change. If you hear of new requirements or changes please notify us immediately (webmaster@footprintsrecruiting.com). At present here is what you have to do:

Canadians Getting an E2 Teaching Visa in Canada

Please follow these instructions for Canadians to get visas to teach in South Korea.

STEP 1 - Documents Collection, Notarisation and or Apostille Authentication

You can start this process BEFORE you get a job offer.

Original University Degree

degree must be from a 4 year university
degree must be from an accredited university
must be the original degree (not a photocopy)
if you do not wish to send your original degree you can get a notarised copy

make a photocopy
have the copy notarised by a notary public
send or take the notarised copy to the Korean Embassy or Consulate that has jurisdiction (list of Korean Embassies and Consulates found below.

Three Sealed University Transcripts
this means you need to contact your university registrar and ask them to give you your university grades in a SEALED (that's unopened) envelope from your university with a stamp or signature over the seal.

you'll have to order 3 sets of sealed transcripts
2 will be sent to your school in Korea
one will be sent to the Korean Consulate only once your reservation number has been issued - this is explained in Step 2
REMEMBER - do not open them

Vulnerable Sector Police Record Check

order this from your local police department (this can be a local or a provincial search)
*** RCMP searches are not required and take far too long
the record check must be less than six months old
Please ensure that you request a vulnerable sector check as you will be working with children. (A vulnerable Sector check is like a ‘Sex Offender’ check in the US). Sometimes reports do not specify that this check was made in addition to the normal check, but it must be clearly indicated for the consulate to accept it.
have the results sent to YOU or pick them up yourself
if they ask tell them it is for Footprints Recruiting and provide our address: 500-55 Water Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6B 1A1
this report must then be notarised by a local notary public or lawyer
once notarised, send it to the Korean Consulate nearest to you for Consular Notarisation
Send ATTN: Notarisation Department

IN-PERSON DROP OFF please check with the consulate (information below)
MAIL IN
Send by Xpresspost only to Korean Consulates in Canada
Include a return Xpresspost (only) envelope with postage and your address.
Include the fee ($2.20) for the notarization- money order only if not in person.
The Korean consulate will only authenticate documents with a local notary seal on it first.
If you have ANY questions about this, please call us!

Footprints will be conducting its own national database search through an independent agency once you are hired by a school and the results will be attached to your profile which is sent to the school.

Health Statement
this is a simple questionnaire form from the Korean government where you personally answer the questions. Once you arrive in Korea, a full blood test and physical exam will be administered.
the test will include testing for narcotics, TB, HIV, and other communicable diseases. The government suggests that they are not testing for THC or marijuana but please note that smoking marijuana in Korea is a criminal offense and is NOT handled lightly. Foreigners are not exempt and are in fact targeted. DO NOT BRING or DO ANY DRUGS TO KOREA.
if you do not pass the health exam in Korea you will likely have your visa revoked and will not have a job or health insurance
Click here for a PDF of the Health Statement

A Passport Photocopy
no this is not a photocopy of the cover of your passport. We have had that a lot...
photocopy the information page of your passport
make sure you have at least 6 months on your passport before it expires
make sure there is at least 1 completely empty page in your passport

Resume
print a copy of your resume

Signed Copy of the School Contract
the contract will be provided to you by email once you agree to the contract and the school accepts you as their teacher

4 Passport Sized Photos
standard passport photos - the same that you would need for a new passport
photos must not be older than 6 months

We move to STEP 2 assuming you have been offered and have accepted a teaching contract in Korea.

STEP 2 - Send Your Documents to Korea
- Required Documents:
  1. original degree
  2. 2 sets of sealed university transcripts
  3. Vulnerable Sector Background Check and appropriate authentication from notary and Korean consulate
  4. health check statement
  5. photocopy of the information page of your passport
  6. copy of your resume
  7. a signed copy of the contract
  8. 2 passport sized photos
- Please send your documents by FedEx or DHL
- DO NOT SEND BY CANADA POST or PUROLATOR – if you do, your documents CANNOT be tracked in Korea.
- Once you've sent your documents, please retain a copy of your invoice with the tracking number of your package and the address you sent it to and please send Footprints a copy of the tracking number and the website that will allow us to track the documents.
- It is IMPORTANT to spend the extra couple dollars to get the tracking number.
- Once your documents are in Korea, your school will take these documents to the Ministry of Justice and Immigration in Korea to get a Visa Authorization Number for you.
- Within 7-10 working days, the immigration office will issue a Confirmation of Visa Issuance Number also referred to as the Visa Reservation Number or Visa Confirmation Number.
- The number will look something like this: UJBO 08007392 (the first four characters are letters, the remaining characters are numbers)
- The school will then forward this number (by e-mail) to you (or us). You will need this code to put on your teaching visa application for the Korea consulate.

STEP 3 – Apply for your Visa and Interview at the Korean Consulate
- We move to this step assuming that you have received your Visa Confirmation Number. If you don't have it, please check with your Placement Coordinator and they will contact the school to see where things currently stand. Korean immigration usually takes 7 to 10 business days to process applications in Korea.
- Once you have your Visa Issuance Number it is time to send or take your application and application documents to the Korean Consulate or Embassy nearest to you. Check the links below to find out which office has jurisdiction for your state.
- Consuls Checklist: A simple two page document required by the consulate. Click here to download it
- Fee: The cost will be: $55.00 CAD
- Once the consulate receives your application and paperwork, they will contact you to arrange an interview. Some consulates will let you call to book an interview before you have your visa number, others will not. Call them and try them out. Be nice.
- Once you receive your passport back with your E-2 visa, you are all set to begin your journey to Korea! Your Placement Coordinator should have been working with you on arrangements for your flight arrival and your airport pickup. Keep in touch with your Placement Coordinator so they can make sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. Have you read through the Korean Orientation Package? There is LOADS of information that will help you with culture, packing, arrival information and so forth.

Consulate-General	Address	Phone/Fax	Jurisdiction
Ottawa - Korea Embassy	150 Boteler Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 5A6	T:(613) 244-5010	only candidates who live in OTTAWA should process their visas here
Montreal - Korea Consulate	1 Place Ville-Marie Suite 2015, Montreal, Quebec, H3B 2C4	T:(514) 845-2555 F:(514) 845-1999	Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, and Newfoundland
Toronto - Korea Consulate	555 Avenue Rd, Toronto, Ontario, M4V 2J7	T:(416) 920-3809 F:(416) 924-7305	Ontario (except Ottawa) and Manitoba
Vancouver - Korea Consulate	1600-1090 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6E 3V7	T:(604) 681-9581 F:(604 681-4864	Alberta, British Columbia, NWT, Nunavut, Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory