If you’re a gyopo who sneered at more melanin deficient English teachers during the hubbub over strengthened visa regulations, you’re about to get yours.
Maybe.
According the the Hanguk Gyeongje, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is considering a plan that would force overseas Koreans entering the Fatherland on F-4 visas to submit criminal background checks and health exams to The Man.
A ministry official said it would soon enter discussions on the matter with the Justice Ministry and Immigration.
The government is targeting even gyopo now due to criticism that the authorities lacked the mechanisms to filter out the criminal and druggie element from the gyopo teaching English in Korea.
Mentioned by name was the case of Mr. Nam, who fled to Korea in 1999 after he murdered an ex-cop in Philly during a home invasion. He was arrested in March and extradited.
(Marmot’s Note: How nice! Now gyopo have your very own Christopher Paul Neil!)
The Hanguk Gyeongje reports that should these strengthened measures go into effect, the hagwon industry could go into a state of emergency, since many of the overseas Koreans that come over on F-4 visas teach English in hagwon. One hagwon official said finding teachers was difficult enough thanks to the strengthened E-2 visa regulations; strengthening gyopo screenings, however, would make things even worse.
Corporations that hire local gyopo in the United States, Canada and Australia might also have trouble, as they’d run into difficulties bringing their gyopo staff to Korea.
Marmot’s Note: As I’ve said before, if you’re going to mandate criminal and drug checks “to protect the children,” you’ve got to do the same to the gyopo applying for teaching positions.
Mandating that ALL gyopo submit background checks, however, would make more sense if they were forcing ALL foreigners to do so. Which they don’t — I’ve never been asked to submit a criminal background check, for instance (which should disturb me, considering how for all Immigration knows, I could be an axe-murdering drug-dealing pedophile). Since it’s the Ministry of Education pushing this, I’d be surprised if the strengthened regulations — in their final form — include non-teaching gyopo. In fact, one wonders if perhaps the Hanguk Gyeongje has simply misreported/over-inferred the nature of the changes.
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it’s about time.
i’m glad there’s finally someone who thinks like me working in the blue house.
You mean I HAVE to submit to a background check?
Damn… there goes my backup plan…
Mandating that ALL gyopo submit background checks, however, would make more sense if they were forcing ALL foreigners to do so.
There’s no way this can be 100% fair because gyopo and spouses of ROK citizens have different privileges than E2 visa people have. With more privileges come more responsibilities.
I think the move is a good idea. Since language teaching is such a common profession it is reasonable to think that overseas Koreans and foreigners with spousal visas might teach also. Safety for children is more important than inconvenience for “permanent residents” and teachers.
It’s true that not all F4 and ROK citizen spouses will teach but they do obtain essentially “permanent” residential status so why not get criminal background checks?
But the government should work on some way to make the process of obtaining them easier. And they shouldn’t automatically block all people with criminal records from getting F visas. If someone’s crime was minor or was from many years back then I think they should be given a pass. Just make the process simple and transparent to prevent abuse.
Sorry, but this is silly. It’s one more ham-fisted overreaction from the Korean government that will just make them look like jackasses in the end.
I don’t think criminal backgrounds for people who plan to reside long term or permanently is ham-handed. Other countries already do this. Maybe this is not an overreaction but in the past Korea has had an underreaction.
Unfortunately the reason they can’t apply it to just those on F-4s teaching at hakwons is because the F-4 allows you to work anywhere. If they started demanding that those on F-4s file for permission to work at specific places they could enforce it however, but then the F-4 would cease to lose any value as its own unique visa. (By the way as I learned recently even those on D-2 visas need to apply for permission and have background checks and AIDS tests to teach.)
The MoE can put any restrictions they want on hagwon teachers. They are the ones who allow hagwons to be open in the first place. If they want to be hard-nosed about it, they can just revoke the license of any school that does not get their teachers (e-2, gyopo, or Korean) checked out. If public schools have to get their teachers checked out (gyopos already have to submit CBCs for public school as do Koreans), why are hagwons so special. It’s “for the children”, right?
If this is all about “protecting the children” this SHOULD be a MoE policy, not an Immigration one. (I don’t work with children, discounting the momma’s boys in my classes).
Wow, this is pretty much the dumbest move from immigration in awhile. Having gyoppos get a background check and medical in order to receive the F4.
I do agree that background checks and medical checks should be required for teaching jobs and they are required. It doesn’t matter if you are a foreigner, gyoppo or a Korean, if you want to legally teach at a school you have to submit a background check, a copy of your degree and get a medical checkup. This applies to public schools and hagwons as well. They are submitted to the local board of education.
Requiring it for the Visa makes no sense since many of the Visa holders don’t teach. I don’t teach, my parents don’t teach but we are all F4 Visa holders.
If F4s are required the checks then it should apply to F2s and F5 visas as well which is pretty idiotic too. Imagine marrying a Korean but being unable to live in Korea due to a preexisting medical condition. I’ve seen E2s get rejected for some pretty silly medical conditions including: high blood pressure and water intoxication (they saw intoxication and felt it was drug related).
Dang, this is harsh.
While I don’t disagree that teachers of all flavors should be subjected to drug tests, extending this to F-4s is going to far. I’ve lived here pretty much since graduating and consider my American citizenship a mere product of circumstance, and I work hard and like to enjoy my success. I don’t know what I’d do if I was booted out for failing a drug test, as any subsequent attempt to ditch my US passport for a Korean one would probably be denied as a result of the test results (presuming I failed).
Now I’m no junkie, I just enjoy a bit of pot at home to relax, and while I know its illegal, I definitely DO NOT sell to anybody nor share it and keep my ‘habit’ as quiet as possible (apart from mentioning it anonymously on an internet blog).
I can’t see this rule making the grade, but in the off chance, do these drug tests work? Is there any way around them? Is it a blood test or urine?
“Requiring it for the Visa makes no sense since many of the Visa holders don’t teach.”
Yes, putting hurdles in the way of potential investors at a time when the economy is suffering probably isn’t the wisest decision ever taken.
“Is there any way around them?”
Yes…wait until the government comes to its senses before lighting up.
PS. I find it quite ironic that, in a country where so many people believe in herbal medicine, using one of the few plants that have real medicinal properties will get you thrown in jail. Tobacco and alcohol kill more Koreans than marijuana ever will.
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