It Helps to Speak English to Get a Visa…in Korea

By Luis Rumbaut 1/25/08 2:32 PM

That’s right, South Korea, as in northeast Asia.  English teachers are in such high demand there that the Korean Immigration Service (KIS)<a title="Special visa category" target="_blank" href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/01/113_17760.html"> offers</a> a special visa category, E-2, for English-language teachers.

Seoul is now considering expanding the category to include foreigners whose countries adopt English as an official language.

This, after the Pakistani Ambassador to Seoul wrote the Korean Justice Minister urging the Seoul government to grant qualified Pakistanis the English teaching visa, claiming that Korea was in violation of most-favored-nation provisions in its treatment of Pakistani applicants.

The Korea Times interviewed KIS Commissioner Choo Kyu-ho, who, expressing concern over illegal immigrants, said that Korea needs to establish a firmer law-abiding atmosphere.

According to KIS, about 1.1 million foreigners live in Korea but 220,000 are there illegally, yielding a high ratio of illegal immigrants given that immigrant laborers number 600,000.  (Korea’s total population is about 49 million.)

Choo’s concerns sound familiar: “We often hear the Korean government cracks down on immigrant workers and doesn’t pay much attention to their human rights,’’ he said. “In a sense, it means Korea lacks full enforcement of the Immigration Law well. So we need to develop a better system.’‘

Think about that the next time you visit your local Korean mom-and-pop store or dry cleaner’s.

Or the next time you hear someone worry that, back in the USA, immigration is bringing down the dominant status of the English language.

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