Step by Step
We thought it would be nice to give a brief explanation to how one goes about doing this whole adventure. This is mostly focused on how things work for South Korea, but I tried to broaden it a little to apply to other countries as well. Research is your friend! If you have any additional questions, please feel free to comment below or message either Sam or I to find out more.
Here we go!
1. Decide that this is the adventure for you.
This step may seem obvious, but there are many pros and cons to teaching abroad. You will want to do your research to make sure this is something you really want to do.
2. Obtain a set of fingerprints and get your FBI background check underway.
This step is important to get started early. Going through the FBI's website and services is the cheapest way to do this step ($18/check), but it is also the slowest. Processing time seems to vary throughout the year but when Sam and I did this in January, the website told us it could take 12-16 weeks. Once issued, background checks are valid for up to 6 months.
Find out more here: FBI National Background Check
There are also FBI-approved channelers whose services may be used to expedite the process but at a higher cost. Some people recommend getting two background checks, an extra one for "just in case." Especially because this step takes the longest. It is up to you.
3. Decide where you would like to teach.
There are English language schools and programs all over the world, but each country has its own pros and cons. Countries vary in degree requirement, contract length, peak hiring times, vacation, interview procedures, types of students, cost of living, salary, start-up costs, housing, and airfare reimbursement.
The reason why South Korea is so appealing to many foreign English teachers is because housing is free, (rent is paid by the employer), many schools offer round-trip airfare, and cost of living is fairly low. Other benefits to South Korea include national pension and one-month's salary as severance pay upon completion of a 12-month contract.
4a. (optional) Enroll in a TEFL/TESOL course.
Sam and I decided to take a course for two reasons. (1) to make ourselves more competitive in the already saturated market and (2) to learn some of the techniques that people use to teach English.
If you have no experience teaching, this is definitely an important step. If you have experience teaching I would still recommend this step because teaching English has its own challenges and tricks to it that are beneficial to learn.
We had a hard time deciding how to do this. There are a great number of random courses online, making it difficult to know what are legit/etc. South Korea requires the course to be at least 100 hours of coursework in order to be credible. We went with the International TEFL Academy (ITA). Their course was 150 hours with an additional 30 hours of optional modules (business English and teaching young learners). It also required 20 hours of ESL teaching experience and took around 12 weeks to complete.
For more information: International TEFL Academy
4b. (optional) Volunteer at a local ESL center in your community.
If you have the time, this can be really great for building your confidence as an ESL teacher and give you a ton of ideas for things to do in your future ESL classroom. Sam and I fulfilled our TEFL course's requirement for 20 hours of ESL teaching experience at a local ESL center for refugees. This experience was eye-opening, incredibly rewarding, and provided a lot of great opportunity to practice teaching English.
4c. (optional) Enroll in a language course.
This was recommended to us by another ESL teacher. The idea here is that if you put yourself in the shoes of your future ESL students, you will develop both the empathy for their struggle in learning English, as well as ideas/techniques for teaching language.
5. Collect the rest of the required visa documents.
Every country is different. The requirements for South Korea included getting a copy of our bachelor's/master's degrees, getting our degrees notarized and apostilled (state-level apostille, $10 per document), and obtaining a set of sealed transcripts. We also needed photocopies of our passports and 2 passport-sized photos.
6. Once you receive your national background check from the FBI, get it apostilled.
As if getting the background check wasn't enough, you then have to get it apostilled by the US department of state (federal-level apostille, $8 per document) which can take an additional 2-3 weeks.
For more information: US Department of State: Authentications
7. Create an international resume and cover letter. (Intro video optional)
This is another important step because an international resume will include information on it that you would never find on a US resume, like marital status, age, Skype ID, international extension for your phone number, and a recent photo. Do your research on what requirements your country of interest has for resumes. There were a couple of recruiters who asked us to provide an introduction video as well, although we thought this was a little excessive and opted out of using these recruiters.
8. Reach out to recruiters.
It was advised to us that we work with at least three different recruiting companies. There are many out there with varying reputations, connections, and so on. The ITA recommended a few to us, and we also went out and found our own.
Recruiters are your gateway between you and the school. You never pay recruiters, as they are paid by the schools themselves. That being said, they work for the school--not for you. Take everything a recruiter tells you with a grain of salt. Don't let a recruiter pressure you into taking a position, ask questions, and do your research.
9. Interview with schools.
In just the few weeks we worked with recruiters, we were having interviews multiple times a week with different schools. Getting contracts is surprisingly the easiest part of this whole process.
I thought it was really beneficial to have multiple interviews because it allows you to gain a good amount of perspective on the options out there. And there really are a lot of options when it comes to South Korean Hagwons (cram schools, as opposed to public schools.) If the school is primarily kindergarten and pre-k, the hours are more in the morning. If the school works with older students it will be more into the evening. Our school's working hours are 2pm-9pm and we will work with kindergarten through middle.
10. Review the contracts.
Every school I interview with (Every. School.) offered me/Sam a contract. I don't know if this is the norm, but one of the schools we interviewed with, the interview started with them asking, ".... do you have any questions?" ...it was a really weird interview where they didn't ask us anything about ourselves. Even they offered us a contract.
Contracts seem to be a mixed bag. Definitely check for red flags, know your labor rights (like medical insurance or national pension), do your research about the school, post your contract details to a forum to ask for advice, you can ask the recruiter questions and clarification.. but negotiation isn't really a thing in South Korea for English teaching contracts. If you don't like something about the contract, just decline it. There are literally thousands of schools in Korea and there will be a better contract.
11. Sign the contract, send your visa documents.
(: Sam and I sent our documents via FedEx. These documents included 2 passport-sized photos, our apostilled FBI docs, apostilled bachelor's and master's degrees, our visa applications, and scanned photocopies of our passports. In total it cost almost $90 to send our packet of documents to South Korea. We were told it would take around two weeks to get our visa application approved. For us it took around two and a half.
12. Obtain your visa issuance number, fill out remaining visa documents
When your documents are approved, your recruiter or the recruiting company will give you your visa issuance number. With this number you can fill out the actual visa form needed to obtain your visa. These visa forms can be found on the consulate's website, under their visas section.
Since there are many reasons people need visas, make sure you find the correct forms for your visa purpose. For example, there is a specific visa called and E-2 visa specifically for those traveling to South Korea to teach English. We had to fill out the forms for the E-2 visa, and they were easily found on the Korean consulate's website. There was also a $45 flat fee for the visa.
13. Send (or take in) your visa forms/payment to the nearest consulate
We were pretty fortunate in that there is a South Korean consulate about five blocks from where we worked this summer in San Francisco, so we were able to just walk in and give our forms/payment. We also had to leave our passports there (which was a little scary..) A week later we had our visas! It kind of looks like a fancy sticker with all of our info, stuck right into our passports.
If the consulate is not nearby, you do have the option to mail everything in (including your passport), along with a pre-paid return envelope. This can take a little bit longer with shipping.
14. Get your plane tickets
Since our school is providing airfare to the country for us, we didn't have to do anything for this step. Woo!
15. Packing/tying up loose ends
We are still on this step! I've been reading a lot about things we need to pack, things we should leave behind, etc. And there is more random stuff we need to do like filling out tax forms, getting our phones unlocked in preparation for using Korean SIM cards, and the list goes on...
So there you have it, the whole process in just a handful of steps. Some of the steps can be done in tandem, depending on your timeline. When we first started the process we were told we could be in South Korea in as little as 3 months. It is up to you on how motivated you are to get started! (:
Here we go!
1. Decide that this is the adventure for you.
This step may seem obvious, but there are many pros and cons to teaching abroad. You will want to do your research to make sure this is something you really want to do.
2. Obtain a set of fingerprints and get your FBI background check underway.
This step is important to get started early. Going through the FBI's website and services is the cheapest way to do this step ($18/check), but it is also the slowest. Processing time seems to vary throughout the year but when Sam and I did this in January, the website told us it could take 12-16 weeks. Once issued, background checks are valid for up to 6 months.
Find out more here: FBI National Background Check
There are also FBI-approved channelers whose services may be used to expedite the process but at a higher cost. Some people recommend getting two background checks, an extra one for "just in case." Especially because this step takes the longest. It is up to you.
3. Decide where you would like to teach.
There are English language schools and programs all over the world, but each country has its own pros and cons. Countries vary in degree requirement, contract length, peak hiring times, vacation, interview procedures, types of students, cost of living, salary, start-up costs, housing, and airfare reimbursement.
The reason why South Korea is so appealing to many foreign English teachers is because housing is free, (rent is paid by the employer), many schools offer round-trip airfare, and cost of living is fairly low. Other benefits to South Korea include national pension and one-month's salary as severance pay upon completion of a 12-month contract.
4a. (optional) Enroll in a TEFL/TESOL course.
Sam and I decided to take a course for two reasons. (1) to make ourselves more competitive in the already saturated market and (2) to learn some of the techniques that people use to teach English.
If you have no experience teaching, this is definitely an important step. If you have experience teaching I would still recommend this step because teaching English has its own challenges and tricks to it that are beneficial to learn.
We had a hard time deciding how to do this. There are a great number of random courses online, making it difficult to know what are legit/etc. South Korea requires the course to be at least 100 hours of coursework in order to be credible. We went with the International TEFL Academy (ITA). Their course was 150 hours with an additional 30 hours of optional modules (business English and teaching young learners). It also required 20 hours of ESL teaching experience and took around 12 weeks to complete.
For more information: International TEFL Academy
4b. (optional) Volunteer at a local ESL center in your community.
If you have the time, this can be really great for building your confidence as an ESL teacher and give you a ton of ideas for things to do in your future ESL classroom. Sam and I fulfilled our TEFL course's requirement for 20 hours of ESL teaching experience at a local ESL center for refugees. This experience was eye-opening, incredibly rewarding, and provided a lot of great opportunity to practice teaching English.
4c. (optional) Enroll in a language course.
This was recommended to us by another ESL teacher. The idea here is that if you put yourself in the shoes of your future ESL students, you will develop both the empathy for their struggle in learning English, as well as ideas/techniques for teaching language.
5. Collect the rest of the required visa documents.
Every country is different. The requirements for South Korea included getting a copy of our bachelor's/master's degrees, getting our degrees notarized and apostilled (state-level apostille, $10 per document), and obtaining a set of sealed transcripts. We also needed photocopies of our passports and 2 passport-sized photos.
6. Once you receive your national background check from the FBI, get it apostilled.
As if getting the background check wasn't enough, you then have to get it apostilled by the US department of state (federal-level apostille, $8 per document) which can take an additional 2-3 weeks.
For more information: US Department of State: Authentications
7. Create an international resume and cover letter. (Intro video optional)
This is another important step because an international resume will include information on it that you would never find on a US resume, like marital status, age, Skype ID, international extension for your phone number, and a recent photo. Do your research on what requirements your country of interest has for resumes. There were a couple of recruiters who asked us to provide an introduction video as well, although we thought this was a little excessive and opted out of using these recruiters.
8. Reach out to recruiters.
It was advised to us that we work with at least three different recruiting companies. There are many out there with varying reputations, connections, and so on. The ITA recommended a few to us, and we also went out and found our own.
Recruiters are your gateway between you and the school. You never pay recruiters, as they are paid by the schools themselves. That being said, they work for the school--not for you. Take everything a recruiter tells you with a grain of salt. Don't let a recruiter pressure you into taking a position, ask questions, and do your research.
9. Interview with schools.
In just the few weeks we worked with recruiters, we were having interviews multiple times a week with different schools. Getting contracts is surprisingly the easiest part of this whole process.
I thought it was really beneficial to have multiple interviews because it allows you to gain a good amount of perspective on the options out there. And there really are a lot of options when it comes to South Korean Hagwons (cram schools, as opposed to public schools.) If the school is primarily kindergarten and pre-k, the hours are more in the morning. If the school works with older students it will be more into the evening. Our school's working hours are 2pm-9pm and we will work with kindergarten through middle.
10. Review the contracts.
Every school I interview with (Every. School.) offered me/Sam a contract. I don't know if this is the norm, but one of the schools we interviewed with, the interview started with them asking, ".... do you have any questions?" ...it was a really weird interview where they didn't ask us anything about ourselves. Even they offered us a contract.
Contracts seem to be a mixed bag. Definitely check for red flags, know your labor rights (like medical insurance or national pension), do your research about the school, post your contract details to a forum to ask for advice, you can ask the recruiter questions and clarification.. but negotiation isn't really a thing in South Korea for English teaching contracts. If you don't like something about the contract, just decline it. There are literally thousands of schools in Korea and there will be a better contract.
11. Sign the contract, send your visa documents.
(: Sam and I sent our documents via FedEx. These documents included 2 passport-sized photos, our apostilled FBI docs, apostilled bachelor's and master's degrees, our visa applications, and scanned photocopies of our passports. In total it cost almost $90 to send our packet of documents to South Korea. We were told it would take around two weeks to get our visa application approved. For us it took around two and a half.
12. Obtain your visa issuance number, fill out remaining visa documents
When your documents are approved, your recruiter or the recruiting company will give you your visa issuance number. With this number you can fill out the actual visa form needed to obtain your visa. These visa forms can be found on the consulate's website, under their visas section.
Since there are many reasons people need visas, make sure you find the correct forms for your visa purpose. For example, there is a specific visa called and E-2 visa specifically for those traveling to South Korea to teach English. We had to fill out the forms for the E-2 visa, and they were easily found on the Korean consulate's website. There was also a $45 flat fee for the visa.
13. Send (or take in) your visa forms/payment to the nearest consulate
We were pretty fortunate in that there is a South Korean consulate about five blocks from where we worked this summer in San Francisco, so we were able to just walk in and give our forms/payment. We also had to leave our passports there (which was a little scary..) A week later we had our visas! It kind of looks like a fancy sticker with all of our info, stuck right into our passports.
If the consulate is not nearby, you do have the option to mail everything in (including your passport), along with a pre-paid return envelope. This can take a little bit longer with shipping.
14. Get your plane tickets
Since our school is providing airfare to the country for us, we didn't have to do anything for this step. Woo!
15. Packing/tying up loose ends
We are still on this step! I've been reading a lot about things we need to pack, things we should leave behind, etc. And there is more random stuff we need to do like filling out tax forms, getting our phones unlocked in preparation for using Korean SIM cards, and the list goes on...
So there you have it, the whole process in just a handful of steps. Some of the steps can be done in tandem, depending on your timeline. When we first started the process we were told we could be in South Korea in as little as 3 months. It is up to you on how motivated you are to get started! (:
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