The interview!

At last we were asked to have an interview, arranging this interview was harder than I first thought. There is a large time difference between Korea and the UK often this means interviews take place early/mid morning. When one of you is working full time this is particularly difficult to arrange. I managed to organise my interview in the morning and Jack squeezed his in on his lunch break! The interview seemed to go well, the interviewer was very friendly. I followed some advice I had been given and smiled away to the phone! This took place on a Thursday, Friday came and no news, things weren't looking hopeful, I thought we would never find a job. Finally on Monday after a few hours away from the computer an e-mail was awaiting us saying we had got the job! Woo hoo time for a celebration!

Recruiters: Who and how many?

Recruiters aren't for everybody and there are other options when looking for a job in South Korea such as going straight through a school. As a couple however it is a lot more challenging to find jobs and I found recruiters tend to have more couple jobs. At first we only signed up with one agency following a recommendation from some one who had also taught in South Korea. However, I soon realised that in would be beneficial to sign up with more than one. Don't get despondent if some recruiters don't get back to you, I think I might contacted at least 15 in the end! We had some mixed responses, some we clicked with straight away, others never got back to us and some were really enthusiastic but never sent us a job! My advice to other couples looking for a job would be to maintain contact with those recruiters who get back to you and give them regular updates as to where you are with documents etc. until you have all the documents together they will find it hard to get you a job. They may also want you make a Youtube video so schools can listen to your accent, we did this although it turned out it wasn't really necessary and it won't be something I am posting on this blog! Some companies may encourage you to get a TEFL or other teaching qualification, I am sure this would be helpful but as we didn't have the funds needed to get one we decided to have a go without it. We now have a job so it is possible! Just don't give up!

Paperwork Paperwork!

After making the decision that we definitely wanted to teach English in South Korea, it was time to tackle the paperwork required for the E2 Visa. Most recruiters outline the paperwork required for teaching in South Korea, for example:  http://www.flying-cows.com/index.php/visa_process.html  and http://www.asknow.ca/visa.aspx . I would recommend getting these documents together as soon as you have decided that you want to work in South Korea, as I discovered, the process can often take a lot longer than anticipated.  We experienced some confusion with the following documents:

1. An apostilled/notarized copy of your degree - When I first read this I had no idea what  apostilled or notarized meant when I first read this! After a bit of research I found the website for the Foreign Commonwealth Office http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/what-we-do/services-we-deliver/legal-services/Legalisation/ . This website outlines how to get your documents notarized and you can apply via this website to get your documents apostilled. It's not free! First you need to photocopy your degree and get it certified as a true copy of the original by a solicitor or notary, if you know anyone who is a solicitor they might be able to do you  favour! You can then send this off to be apostilled.

2. An apostilled/notarized criminal record check - At first I thought I was covered when I saw this as I has several CRB checks for various jobs, however, they were all over 6 months old and therefore not valid! As you can't get a CRB check unless it is through a company based in the UK we weren't sure what to do next. I e-mailed a couple of recruitment agencies who told us to get a Disclosure Scotland certificate which you can get through their website http://www.disclosurescotland.co.uk/ .  We acquired these (again you have to pay), I then spoke to a solicitor about getting it notarized, who informed me that because it was an original it did not need to be notarized. We then sent these off to be apostilled only to get them refused because they weren't notarized! Very frustrating! In the end I took the Disclosures to a notary (your local one can be found via the FCO website) who certified the actual document as the original copy. This wasn't cheap so phone around to get an estimate before you get it done! This was then accepted and apostilled, yay!

Hopefully this post will help others who are struggling with their visa documents!

My first post: Why write a blog?!

Having made the exciting but scary decision to go and teach English in South Korea with my boyfriend Jack, I began to research the application process. This was daunting and almost overwhelming at first, trawling through the lists of paperwork required, the hundreds of jobs of various job boards and the many recruitment agencies. It felt at some points that we would never get there! Whilst scouring the internet for hints and tips I found many helpful blogs giving some great advice, many of these seemed to be written by single people often from America or Canada and I  found that being a British couple there were extra hurdles to overcome! So, inspired by other bloggers I decided that to write my own blog documenting our application process and hoping to help other British couples who are also embarking on this adventure. Of course friends and family are more than welcome to follow this blog if they don't find it too boring!