The US Consulate General in Fukuoka is in the depths of despair trying to assist with the self-inflicted injuries of many of our English teachers. I'd like to remind the teaching community of the following. Please pass it around.

Americans often come to Korea to find teaching jobs, then fly to Fukuoka (or other posts in Japan) to apply for teaching visas at the Korean consulate in that city. Many of these visa applicants presume two things. Both of these presumptions are incorrect and often result in Americans finding themselves broke and stranded in Japan.

First, they presume that they can apply for and receive a visa in one day and be able to return to Korea that evening, so they buy a cheap nonrefundable ticket and bring too few funds to tide them over an extra night or two. While the Korean Consulate in Fukuoka does its best, they can't always process the complex paperwork for these visas as fast as an American teacher might want them to. A one-way ticket from Japan from Korea is expensive. Seriously expensive.

Second, they presume that every applicant will automatically receive a visa. In fact, if the paperwork is incomplete or wrong, or if the applicant does not qualify for the visa, it can't be issued at all. This means the American cannot come back to Korea, period, and, Korea being a sovereign nation with a complete set of immigration laws, the US government can not, does not and will not interfere with these decisions.

We all know that Japan is an expensive place to visit. An American stranded in Japan can run up thousands of dollars worth of basic subsistence bills faster than anyone can imagine. Our consulates in Japan deal with a steady stream of destitute American English teachers who though they'd be working in Korea but instead must either request emergency funds from friends or relatives in the US, or must apply for US government repatriation loans before they can escape Japan.

Please don't let this happen to you or your friends. Or even your enemies. Get realistic and be prepared. Don't assume everything will go they way you want it to, just because you want it that way. Double and triple check your paperwork before you get on that plane for Japan; take extra money (in Japan, $100 is not considered extra money: it's considered pocket change); keep a healthy credit card with you; don't buy a one day special airplane ticket even though it's so much cheaper. And for goodness sake, ask Korean Immigration if there's a Korean consulate in the city you're flying or ferrying to before you leave: many Americans blithely disembark in Japan to find themselves hundreds of miles from the nearest Korean consulate with no way to buy a train ticket to get there. And don't arrive on Friday if you can't afford to spend the weekend.

END OF LECTURE!

(Note: This also happens with Americans who wish to teach in Japan and so come to Korea to apply for their teaching visas, but the problem is relatively less difficult for them as they are used to extremely high costs and tend to bring more money with them.)

Best regards always,
Kathryn Berck
Chief of American Citizen Services
US Embassy, Seoul