First experience with Koreans: Visa Application

And so the adventure begins... We've got jobs, a place to live, our plane tickets and the only thing missing are our work visas. The application process for our visas has had us in Toronto three times already. There are actually 4 steps to the visa process, and here is how it has gone for us:

Step 1: take notarized vulnerable sector search police checks to Korean consulate to have them "verified". This means we drive to Toronto after having them stamped and sealed by a lawyer only to have them stamped again by the consulate stating that they the notarized copy is in fact an original, already notarized copy of a clean police check. This stamp of course is nothing fancy, it looks like a postage stamp and you pay $2.20 for it. You then wait a week before doing anything else because you have to make them think that you have sent off this copy to your employer in Korea so that they can see you are not a criminal and that they can in fact hire you to work for them.

Step 2: After waiting a week, we head back to the consulate with a folder full of documents including a signed contract, original degrees, sealed transcripts, your passport (which they hang onto for a few weeks --eek! a bit nervous about that one) and your application form. You hand it all over along with 55 bucks and they give you a time and date for an "interview".

Step 3: the "interview". We head back to Toronto for what we've been told are interviews for our visas. Keep in mind we've already been hired by a school board in Korea and have signed contracts, so we are not sure what they could be asking us in an interview at the consulate. So Milton and I spend almost two hours in traffic trying to make it to the consulate for our interviews yesterday at 3pm. We had been given a slip of paper the day we applied for our visas that told us to be on time, not to park behind the consulate, and to fill out yet another form for them. Following those orders, we pay for parking on the street a block away, we arrive at least ten minutes early and the only thing missing on our forms is the address of our employer in Korea. So here we are dressed nicely and well prepared with photocopies of every document, we arrive and announce at te reception that we are here for interviews at 3pm. We are directed back to a room where we find 15 other people sitting waiting for their interviews at 3pm too. hmmm... looks like we may be here a while.

The first group of about 8 people go in ( we figure they are calling people in alphabetical order as I've seen then our passports and files were at the bottom of the pile held by the woman running the show). A young guy arrives all dressed up in a suit and tie at 3:02 asking for his interview and we see his expression which must have been what we looked like when he finds he has to sit down on the bench with the rest of us.

Waiting, waiting still, and the the woman asks if anyone has parked behind the consulate? Two people admit that yes they have and she tells them to go move their cars to public lots a few blocks away. These people are worried they will miss their interviews but go and do as they've been told.

Finally, the first few people that were called are coming back with yellow post it notes and calling names for the next people to go be interview. After about a 45 minute wait, my name is called. I'm ahead of Milton so we guess maybe its not in alphabetical order. I grab my folder of documents and head to what i think is the interview room. Oh wait...nope, another waiting room! this one at least has nice sofa's to sit on. There are about 4 other people waiting and a table full of post it notes placed in the order that we are supposed to take them when we leave to call the next Visa candidate. In comes Milton a few minutes later and takes his place in the second waiting room.

The room is divided by thick green curtains. we are in a small part that is sectioned off and like i said, there are couches and a coffee table where we wait. On the other side of the curtain we can see a huge conference table that must seat at least 30 people. At the other side of that room is yet another heavy, green curtain and on the other side of it is the office, the official interview room.
Milton finally gets called (we can't figure out how this works because now he has been called ahead of me although i had been called out of the first waiting room earlier than him) and he sits down for his interview which lasts about 4 minutes. he is asked what his name is, his date of birth, why he has travelled to japan so much (they have our passports and can see our travel history), and then the big question is asked "why do you want to work in South Korea?" He gives his answer and comes out and sends me in.

I step into the room in front of the desk and here is the dialogue of my interview:
Interviewer: Your name is?
me: Ellen Walpole
I: Your sate of birth?
Me: April 1982
I: that man before you, he was your husband?
Me: yes he is.
I: he doesn't say much. (the interviewer and his assistant start to laugh)
Me: Oh...that's not really like him (but I'm sure they don't hear me because by now they are laughing uncontrollably and ridiculously loud)
I: thanks you can go (they're still laughing)

My butt has barely touched the seat by this point and I'm already being escorted out of the room. It literally lasted 10 seconds. I am so confused at this point and have no idea what's going on. I start to walk away and see Milton looking at me from behind the curtain at the other end with the most shocked expression on his face because in a building where there has been no noise whatsoever (you could hear a pin drop in both waiting rooms) he suddenly hears te burst of laughter and can't figure our how his wife, who doesn't have a single funny bone, has somehow made this very serious man behind the big desk laugh out loud so that the whole building shakes in the ten seconds she was beind the curtain.
Well, i can't figure it out either! so I ask Milton what he said in his interview and he of course is asking me the same question. So now we wait to find out if we have earned our visas or not. I'm not sure how they will make a decision based on our interviews, or why they even call them interviews in the first place. At this point we are thinking it was a bit of a test. The guy who was late (arrived at 3:02pm and was asked why he was late) and the people who were told to move there cars after being told not to park there in the first place didn't follow directions and maybe they won't be given visas? We have no idea, but we are keeping our fingers crossed and will keep you updated, but to say the least, it was quite the waste of a day and a very strange experience.