I've spilled enough ink on that topic, but Ms. Parker sent an email to the Canadian Embassy and posted her reply as a comment to my last post.
The Embassy is aware of the problem and has been working with the MoJ to resolve the situation.
The Korean authorities are still requiring the submission of a VS check as a condition of E-2 visa issuance.
As per the Canadian Criminal Records Act, approved use of a VS check is very limited and restricted.
VS checks are not approved for use by foreign authorities. Korean authorities have been made aware of this fact.
Canada police authorities may not legally conduct a VS check for the purposes of teaching English in Korea.
The Korean MoJ has recently granted Canadian citizens a three month grace period to obtain their VS check.
Canadian citizens may lodge complaints to the MoJ at:
Border Control Team
Korean Immigration Service
Ministry of Justice
Government Complex Gwacheon
427-705, Republic of Korea
Fax: 82-2-500-9127
Canadian citizens may lodge complaints to their elected Member of National Assembly. You may find your elected Member of National Assembly at:
http://korea.na.go.kr/index.jsp
The Embassy continues to work towards a resolution of this problem
Hope it proves helpful.
Thank you.
Consular Services / Services Consulaires
Embassy of Canada, Seoul / Ambassade du Canada, Séoul
I'm still confused, then, as to why Korean immigration is requiring this if Canada does not permit them to be used for overseas jobs. And I'm also wondering why people aren't making a bigger stink about this. You'll remember last year Korean immigration implemented all kinds of regulations without checking with the embassies first, and it turned out that embassies, including the American one, weren't willing or able to comply. According to an email sent out by the US Embassy in December, Korean immigration was spreading misinformation regarding the services available through the embassy, hence creating confusion among American citizens trying to comply. Not surprisingly, a few elements of the regulations ended up being scrapped, and the online background check for Americans, for example, is no longer valid.
As just about anybody foreign teacher will tell you, we're not against criminal background checks for teaching jobs. We just don't like the seemingly random way they've been applied---required for some visas, not required for others, having ethnic Koreans exempt, and so on---the implication that we're dangerous and dirty and drugged-up, and the redundancy of the various degree verifications. With the shitty economy, the misuse of native speakers in the classroom, the on-again/off-again discrimination, and the endless battery of increasingly expensive visa regulations, one really doesn't have to ask rhetorically anymore if they're trying to keep foreigners away. I've always been amused that the US Embassy website devotes a pretty lengthy page to the pitfalls of teaching English in South Korea, and that you're SOL if you get cheated or manhandled. They're more than welcome to link here if they'd like to lengthen that piece.
3 comments:
I sometimes think Koreans like having Canadians around because we are easier to bully? Anyway I processed my VSS request through the Winnipeg Police Department who seem willing to contravene Canadian laws for the sake of those of us who do attempt to comply with local regulations by hook or by crook? Or has no one bothered to inform them that helping us keep our visas is a worthy cause? These documentary cartwheels are nothing compared to Arabian teaching contracts by the way. I have to agree however the powers that be are treating us like charnel hogs at the moment.
Thank you Brian, for helping to get the word out.
What seems to have happened is that Korean Immigration changed the rules but *didn't tell anyone*. Our people in Gwangju only found out about this a few days ago.
I know a South African, who comes from a country with far more crime and HIV cases than Canada, and who was required to undergo more stringent checks when he worked in the UK because of this, and who wonders when Korea is going to ask him for an Aids test or a criminal check....
Virginia I've written this up for the KT and it will be in there next Wednesday, which will have a bigger readership than this site. The problem isn't that it's inconvenient or costly . . . well, okay, those are actually pretty big problems. But the main thing is you've got immigration basically just making shit up and applying it according to the alignment of the planets, then expecting foreign embassies and government to just go along with it. Then, when it's revealed that they can't---this has happened a few times before since the CPN-laws have been enacted---the laws get changed and all that effort was for naught anyway.
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