Ross’s visa, the whole story.

Now is the time to finally discuss all that happened with Ross’s Korean visa, with all the frustration, confusion, anger and finally relief.

Let me start by saying we ended up going to the consulate 7 times. A few of those times were unsuccessful because I forgot transcripts twice. That was my fault. I read the wrong page on the Toronto consulate’s website, and did not bring what was needed. Twice. Lesson learned there. The other times were because of the stupidity of the situation and the miscommunication between the consulate and Korean immigration.

After we submitted our visas, we were told it would be 5-10 business days before our visas would be issued. This was the first problem, because we were booked to fly out in 6 business days. We told her our predicament, and she said she would process them as soon as she could. This was nice to know that she was going to work hard on them. 3 business days later, Wednesday, Ross gets a call from the woman, saying that when she went to process his visa, the computer said that he would have to go to his home country of America in order for everything to work.

Now, this I could understand if this was his first visa. When you get your first Korean visa, you are supposed to get it from your home country so you can have an interview. After that, you should be able to get any subsequent visas from any country, as most people who get a second visa don’t end up going home but travel to Japan on a visa run. So this shouldn’t have been a problem.

We asked her what could be done about the situation, she said she didn’t know, but we should get the school to call immigration in Korea and have them change it in their computer system. I emailed our recruiter, Dylan, who by the way was WONDERFUL through all of this, and told him of the problem. He called the school, who called immigration, and we were told that it had all been fixed. The next day we called the consulate, but the result was the same – the computer still said that Ross had to go to America. Once again, an email was sent to Dylan, and the school called immigration, and by Friday we were beyond frustrated. We called the consulate again, and the woman was out of ideas. She said she didn’t know what was wrong, that he should be able to get his visa in Canada, but because of what the computer said she couldn’t process it or else she would lose her job if someone caught her. She said she needed a document from immigration in Korea that said it would be okay. Ross suggested she email immigration. She replied “I guess I could do that”. I mean, come on! She could have done that days ago! We were so angry, we went to the consulate that afternoon to pick up my passport with my newly pressed visa in it, and to question her in person. We were successful in getting my passport back, but unsuccessful in getting a solid answer out of her regarding what she was going to do.

I called Dylan and explained the conversation we had with her. He said he would talk to the school, and see what could be done. The problem was, was that it was already Saturday in Korea, and we were running out of time. On Monday, our director ended up physically going to immigration in Masan and making sure that the consulate and immigration were communicating via email. She was able to obtain a copy of the communication, which Dylan sent to us on Sunday night. (Yes, I know I just went back in time, gotta love the time difference.)

Monday in Toronto the consulate was closed for Family Day, so we were pressed for time because we were supposed to fly out Tuesday night. SO, Tuesday morning we got Robyn, who was our saving grace, to drive us downtown for our 6th trip to the consulate. We brought along a copy of the email Dylan sent us, and she said she would FINALLY be able to process the visa because of that piece of paper. I don’t know why she didn’t have a copy of her own, but oh well. Everything was going to work out. Except that we had to go back down for 4pm. Even though our flight was leaving 5 hours later, and we wanted to spend as much time at home as possible. *sigh* So back down to the consulate we went, getting there at 3:30, and was told to come back AT FOUR. Oops. A quick last visit with Ricky (who just so happens to live right down the street), and at 4:15pm Tuesday night, after almost a week of frustration, Ross had his visa in hand. THANK GOODNESS.

Now here comes the editorial. I am not say that the Toronto consulate was wrong, because the woman who issues the visas was just doing her job. I am also not saying that immigration was wrong, because in their system he was fine to get his visa in Toronto. I AM saying that there needs to be better communication between the two. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t have just emailed them in the first place, and I don’t know why there had to be a glitch in the system. I think that the time difference was working against us, because if we had been in even remotely a closer time difference the two might have been open at the same time and a phone call could have simply been made. On the other hand, the time difference was for us, because if the consulate had not been a day behind immigration, we might not have been able to get the copy of the email in time.

I just hope that the consulate and immigration could learn from this horrible mix-up, and end up  communicating better with each other next time.

I would like to thank the following people for their help in the process: Dylan, for all his back and forth between us and the school, and for all the phone calls he had to make to Canada, Robyn for driving us down there on Tuesday morning, Ricky for keeping us company while we were in the city, our director who had to make all those calls and the trip to immigration, and my mom and dad for keeping me level headed while all this was happening. Without them, we would not be in Korea. Thank you.

New city, new blog title, new adventures.

Well, it’s now February, and we’ve been in Ontario for exactly one month. It’s been so good to see everyone back in Ontario, my family (especially the baby!) and our friends. We’ve been able to eat some good food, we’re going to Montreal this weekend, and we’re just glad to be on vacation. Ross even got to experience a Swedish sauna! (For those of you who don’t know, it’s when you heat up in a really hot pool of water or hot tub, then roll around in snow, then get back in. It burns!)

But oddly enough, both Ross and I are anxious to get back to Korea! We’ve been talking extensively the past couple days with the two people we’re replacing (hi Vicki and Paul!) and we’re getting really excited about our school and our apartment. Everything about both of them sound far better then where we were. Not to say that Swaton did us wrong, or that our apartment wasn’t good, but this is like an upgrade. Swaton was a great school, and our apartment (for our area) was amazing, but I think we’re moving on to bigger and better things.

So, the countdown begins. All our paperwork for our visa is in Korea, we’re just waiting on our visa confirmation numbers. We’re expecting those around the 14th, then once we have those we’re back to the Korean consulate. By the time we finally get our visas, we’ll have visited them 4 times, and spent about $300 on the whole process (consulate fees, UPS shipping fee, transportation to and from the city). It’s all worth it, though, because there’s so much for us in Korea, and hardly anything for us in Ontario. Even North America, for that matter. We should arrive in Korea between the 22nd and the 25th.

Korea, get ready for us! We’re comin’ back!

xo nicole

PS: I’ve started another blog, just for fun. It’s called Teacher, pinishee! and it’s all about the crazy stuff we hear and read when it comes to our students. Check it out!

Delayed a week

Update on arrival – our principal has asked us to arrive one week later, so we will not be in Daejeon until November 24th. Sad, yes, but at least we have one extra week to pack, get organized, and get Ross’s Canadian paperwork (SIN, OHIP, Drivers Licence) in order.

On another note, ever since we have told people we were going to Korea to teach, almost everyone we’ve spoken to has said ‘I know someone who went over there/who’s there right now and has really loved it.’ For me, at least, it is so positive to hear, because I know that if so many people have come out of it with a good experience, then quite possibly so will we. We have received lots of tips, advice, and general shared knowledge, and I think we will be okay.

Our adventure has (sort of) begun…

The first of many posts! The road to South Korea has been an interesting one so far, that’s for sure! Here is a timeline of how we got to this point, going all the way back to the beginning:

• Half-way through a horrendous summer, stuck at a job I (Nicole) hated, I was talking to my friends Shand and Ola about how I needed a change. It was Ola who said about going to South Korea to teach English. I had thought about it before, but never really thought it was a possibility. She convinced me that it was totally possible, and she was right. I called Ross right then, and we decided to proceed.
• We researched it a bit, and came across a reputable recruiter in Footprints Recruiting, and applied. Then we had an interview, and got accepted into their ‘roster’ of teachers.
• They found us a school in Daejeon, which is almost smack in the middle of South Korea, that was looking for a married couple. They submitted our info, and we got an interview (which happened to be at 1am our time!)
• Then they offered us the job!

So, now we have until November 16th to get to Korea. We are waiting on Footprints to book our flight, and we are in the middle of getting our E2 visas.

It all sounds like we had it easy, and had a clear path, right? Well, not so much. Ross and I have never had things easy – from the start of our relationship, to when I moved to Canada and left Ross behind, to getting Ross’ permanent residence (PR) for Canada, to EVERYTHING – and getting to this point in our Korean process has been no exception. While we’ve been doing the Korean process, we have been in the final stages of Ross’ permanent residence, and having Linda and Jim (Ross’ parents) come to Canada for our wedding reception.

We waited and waited on our Korean visa numbers, and it took FOREVER. While we were waiting for the numbers, we got word from Canadian Immigration, saying Ross’ PR went through, but he had to send his passport down to LA (where the paperwork is being processed) to finalize it. Problem was, was that he has to go to New York to get his Korean visa, and we didn’t know when we would get his passport back.

We freaked when we heard that his passport would have to go. When would we get to get his visa? How long would they keep it? We panicked and had to get in tough with Immigration to see how long it would take. They said to send it with a cover letter saying that it was urgent we get it back, and provide a next day return envelope. Literally 10 minutes before we sent off his passport, we got our visa numbers! We had to make the quick decision- put off sending his passport to LA and go get the Korean visa, making it so Ross would have to go through immigration twice, or risk sending off the passport and not getting it back on time.

We sent it off, thought the risk was worth not going through immigration twice. Needless to say, I guess we were in immigration’s good graces, because we got the passport back today! OMG! Who knew immigration could go so fast!! So now we have to make the decision on when to go to New York to get his visa, and coordinate it so that we can process the final step of his PR at the same time.

For those of you who know Ross and I well, this actually means we’re fully on the road to the start of our life together! It has been a long, arduous road, filled with twists and turns, but the fact that everything is on track is amazing!

Now our adventure truly begins. We will start packing, making sure everything is taken care of before we leave, and be on our way! This blog will be all about what we see, do, and what we experience when we’re over there. Hope you like it!

- Nicole