work problems
My current work visa expires tomorrow and I don't have a replacement ready despite signing a new contract with my hagwon. Or rather, the academy director hasn't gotten me a new work visa yet - perhaps a distinction worth making since the E-2 visa required to teach English in Korea is issued to employers and not to employees.
Everything I've read on the subject suggests that a criminal background check is necessary to get a new visa, and a health check is also required within three months of receiving one's visa - information confirmed by a long-serving academy director that my 원장님 knows. However, when we went to the local immigration office together last Thursday we were told that my criminal background check - notarized and apostilled by the Washington Secretary of State - was not enough, and that I would need a health check before I could get a visa. With some time before classes started that afternoon we decided to visit the main hospital in Uijeongbu to see about getting a health check done.
However, there are multiple types of health check available, and no one at the hospital had any idea which was required for visa applicants. In the end we settled on the most extensive (and expensive) from the batch in the hope that it would cover anything that might be required by the immigration office. Cue one x-ray, one blood test, and one urine sample. They told us the results would be available within a week and sent us on our way.
Now, the problem with this is that, unless they have everything ready ahead of time - and this seems unlikely given that Friday was a national holiday - my results won't be available until Thursday, while my visa expires on Tuesday. I guess this means that I'll be working illegally on Wednesday? And this is assuming that Immigration accepts the health check and doesn't bring up any other requirements before they grant me another visa or an extension to my current sojourn. I reminded the academy director about my expiring visa a couple weeks ago but it was only last Wednesday when he drew up a new contract for me to sign. Since so much of the blame lies on his end for putting everything off until the last minute, maybe I should bring up the possibility of not working in two days' time. After all, I wouldn't want to do anything illegal during my time in Korea.
And here I never would have thought I'd be an illegal migrant worker at any point in my life. Funny how things can change.