E2 Notice from Immigration

Title: No More Illegal Native English Teacher
- Korean Government will prevent illegal activities by verifying requirements of native English teacher and tighten their non-immigrant status -

○ The Ministry of Justice in South Korea decided to implement strict measure from December 2007 to eradicate illegal activities of native English teachers who are causing social problems such as ineligible lectures, taking drugs and sex crimes.

○ In order to prevent ineligible native English teachers from coming into South Korea, the verification of eligibility of English teachers will be greatly strengthened. For example, when they apply for a visa they will be obliged to submit a certificate of criminal or non-criminal history and medical examination report, and basically they have to apply interview with Korean consul at the Korean consulate in their country.

○ Also, English teachers, who disturb social order during their staying in Korea such as illegal teaching, taking drugs and sex crimes, will be banned from entering South Korea. Also illegal employers will be receive heavier punishment. In the meantime, related authorities will share information about English teachers who breach their orders, and originally block their entering South Korea by inspecting them from the visa application stage with focused management.

□ Strengthening verification of eligibility of English teachers
○ Foreigners who intend to receive a visa (E-2) for English teachers from the South Korean Government should submit a certificate of criminal or non-criminal history issued by the Government of the applicant, and self-physical examination report for taking drugs and infectious diseases. After entering South Korea, they should receive physical examination report from a designated hospital and submit it to Korea Immigration Service.

○-In order to prevent forgery and alteration of application documents such as the certificate of criminal history, the Korean Government will require ‘Apostille’ which verifies whether the official document is really issued in the relevant country by a competent Government authority.

○ Since native speakers who received certificates of issuance of visas at immigration services received E-2 from consulates in China and Japan until now, it has been difficult to verify whether they really have the diploma specified in the document.

However, from now on, the applicants should apply for the visa at Korean consulates located in their home countries. Since the first time applicant shall have to apply for an interview with consul, the investigation for the issuance of visa will be more strict.

○ In order to prevent submission of forged documents such as certificates of diploma at the time of applying for certificate of visa issuance, the Seoul Immigration Office will organize and operate document a identification team to originally block the issuance of visas using forged documents.

□ Supplying native English teachers flexibly

○ The Korean Government will implement measures to utilize English teachers and professional personnel who are staying in South Korea to solve the shortage problems of native English teachers which may occur due to the tightening verification of eligibility of native English teachers.

- Flexibly applying the regulations with regards to activities other than eligibility of stay in South Korea (Article 20) and changes and additions of workplaces specified in the Korean Immigration Law.

□ Strengthen non-immigrant status of English teachers and management on employer

○ In order to prevent illegal English teaching activities and taking drugs and sexual harassment of English teachers, the South Korea Government will continuously and systematically implement joint crackdown on illegal English teaching, and will take action to deport offenders and block the entry of them simultaneously.

○ The punishment on the illegal employers will be heavier and the violators will be reported to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development to implement administrative sanctions on the illegal academies and block the employment of illegal English teachers.

○ In order to prevent native English teachers who disrupt social order with taking drugs, committing sexual harassment and alcohol intoxication, the black list of problematic English teachers shall be shared between related institutions such as the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, and Korea Academy Association to intensively monitor the information of such English teachers and originally block the entry.

□ Expected Effect for the Improvement Measure on English Teacher System

○ It is expected the uneasiness of citizens incurred from ineligible English teachers will be mitigated by blocking illegal activities of disqualified English teachers who entered South Korea with tourist visas, visas obtained through forgery, and prohibiting entry of former convict and the person taking drugs thanks to this measure on the native English teachers by the Ministry of Justice.

○ The Ministry of Justice will continuously monitor the effects of these measures. If such illegal activities of English teachers are not eradicated, it will consider out stronger punishment measures.
【 Reference 】

□ The Status of Disclosed Illegal Foreign Language Instructor (2001 ~As of August 2007)

Country
Year Total USA Canada Australia New Zealand China Philippine UK South Africa Others
Total 1,481 437 540 118 98 71 13 78 38 88
2001 307 108 102 24 25 3 2 16 1 26
2002 317 94 112 32 21 8 4 9 12 25
2003 180 47 63 14 15 12 2 14 3 10
2004 144 37 52 17 10 9 2 7 5 5
2005 290 72 150 12 14 11 2 13 10 6
2006 143 46 38 14 6 18 9 4 8
2007. Aug. 100 33 23 5 7 10 1 10 3 8
※Others : Japan, France, etc

□ Apostille

○ Apostille treaty is multilateral treaty where issuing countries verify the certification of official documents instead of omitting complicated verification procedure between treaty countries.

○ As the Apostille Treaty is effective on July 14, 2007, the official document with ‘Apostille’ attached can be verified in treaty countries without separate notarial acts. The convenience of handling processes of work for students, immigrants and trading business has been much improved.

- Total 92 countries including USA, UK, France and Japan are joining this Apostille Treaty concluded in 1961

- If citizens who wish to send official letter to foreign countries obtain ‘Apostille’ from the civil affairs office in annexed building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade after receiving official document, such official document will be recognized as official document in the competent country.



This was translated for me by a very competent friend. I checked the English as much as could be done, and here it is. The way it reads, the new regulations will apply to new teachers and those changing jobs. (doing a visa run).

There is a presidential decree and some legislative action behind all this, I have a copy of that and am working on getting it translated. I will post it when it is done.