What do recruiters do? Recruiters act as a liaison between you and employers in South Korea. They can help you get job interviews, negotiate your contract and remind you which documents you need for your visa. Why are there so many negative things about recruiters online? Recruiters tend to get a bad rap on forums like Dave’s ESL Cafe. There are a few reasons for this—some good, some b ...

Are you worried about arriving in South Korea without a car? Relax. Depending on where you live in South Korea, there are a ton of efficient ways to get around. Although plenty of Koreans may own cars, this is simply not necessary, especially in the major urban areas of Korea. Here are the best ways to navigate these parts:

If you’ve done any searching for teaching jobs in Korea, you’ve probably seen a lot of postings that say, “No Experience Required!” Sounds too good to be true right? It’s not. The truth is that, while teaching experience is always a valuable asset, most of the time it is not a requirement.

If you choose a full time job teaching English in Korea, your employer will generally cover your housing costs for the year. Great, right? But what, exactly, does an entry-level contract with a hagwon or public school get you in terms of an apartment? The answer is both a lot and, well… not a lot.

Peterson and I are a bit “crunchy” (read: granola eating, nature lovers).  And in South Korea, we were in good company: hiking is practically a national sport. Even if you don’t like hiking, there are still plenty of pictaresque views to take in while living and teaching South Korea. Although we chose to live in Seoul, a concrete jungle in many respects, it certainly DID NOT lim ...

There are two types of acceptable UK criminal background checks: the Subject Access Check issued by your local police headquarters, and the Basic Disclosure from Disclosure Scotland. You do not need the advanced check performed by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). It’s up to you which one you choose, but our advice is to start this step right away!

Get your New Zealand background check done by applying in writing to the Criminal Records Unit of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry website claims that all applications are processed within 20 days, but we have heard reports of it taking considerably longer. So we recommend doing this step first in your visa process. The following may look complicated, but take heart—NZ has the simplest proc ...

To apply for a Korean visa, you need to obtain a National Police Clearance Certificate from the Australian Federal Police in Canberra. You do not need a fingerprint background check for the Korean visa. Lucky you—the estimated turn around for an Australian CBC is only 15 days! Follows these steps to apply for the clearance certificate:

Follow these steps to obtain a Police Clearance Certificate from the South African Police Services 1. Have your fingerprints taken at your local police station. 2. Draft a request letter with thefollowing information: Surname and/or maiden name Given names Date and place of birth South African ID number (if applicable) Last residential address in South Africa Last SA employer’s address & ph ...

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us via Facebook, email and the comments section! It’s great to talk to new teachers who are excited to come to Korea and hear which questions we need to answer on our site. With that in mind, we’re changing the format of Teach Korea Tips from a blog to a more direct Q&A site. With this redesign you’ll be able find the answers to your qu ...