Rule & Regulations

As we wind down our first term here we’ve been mapping out our options for the next year or so. It’s hard to know exactly what we should do at the end of our contract since neither of us is entirely sure of what we’d like to do upon our return to the Western hemisphere.

When we decided to work in Korea we were both pretty sure it’d be a two year adventure. After our first month, I think both of us were just hoping to make it through the first year without going crazy. Recently, we’ve been leaning more towards the idea of a year and a half. In a way it’s almost a waste of time to think that far ahead in regards to our plans here as our thoughts can change so much from week to week. I think that comes with living in a completely foreign culture. I remember having similar feelings while living in Japan and I really loved my time there. There are days where the culture just drives you crazy to the point where you’re ready to take the first plane back home. And then there are other days where you think how nice everything is now that you’ve settled into things.

Those of you reading our posts on a regular basis will know that we (Meg in particular) had some troubles verifying our documentation after we’d been working here for awhile. Unfortunately, it seems like the Korean government has decided to put together some more strict rules regarding visa requirements. One would think that we’d be exempt from most of these new regulations as we’ve already got our visas and have been teaching for 4 months. While this is true to a certain extent, it seems quite possible that these new rules might make our decision for us on how long we actually stay.

According to these new rules, if we choose to renew our visas in September we’ll have to travel to the Korean consulates in our home countries to get our new visas. Which might not sound so bad, but for us it’ll cost us about $3,000 in plane tickets, use up a good chunk of our summer vacation time (though we will get to see our families which would be nice) and it’ll mean us going to separate countries. Luckily I can get mine done in Toronto. Meg will have to visit either Boston, Atlanta, or Washington to get hers.

While we’re back home we’ll have to get our criminal records checked again. This time Meg will need to get an FBI check done rather than the routine police station check. I’m not sure what I’ll have to do since apparently Canada hasn’t joined some verification agency on international criminal checks meaning that technically as of March it will be impossible for Canadians to work as English Teachers in Korea (currently Canadians make up about 30% of all Foreign teachers in Korea).

Finally, we’ll both have to have an HIV test and a standard drug test. While I’m not worried in the slightest about the results of either of these tests, it does irritate me that I might need to have them done, especially after I will have already been teaching here for a year.

From the Korean Herald:

As to the items listed in the medical report, there has been some confusion because most hospitals here do not conduct any drug-related tests.

The ministry says they are aware of the problem.

"We contacted several hospitals to see if they conduct such tests. They said they don't without a sufficient demand for such tests. We found, after some research, that the Health Ministry-affiliated Seoul Medical Science Institute does the tests," said a ministry official.

There are 17,000 Foreign English teachers in Korea. . .and possibly only one hospital that will do the test needed to renew our visas. It’s quite brilliant. I’m glad they’re making new regulations prior to checking whether things are actually possible.