Tefl in South Korea

conbob

Hi. I'm a little lost. What is the document we need from the Gardai? I'm pretty sure it's not Garda vetting, as this takes months, and it doesn't have to be sent down to Templemore. I've also heard of a certificate of character. Saw on here it is called a clearance certificate?

SpatialPlanning

conbob wrote: »

Hi. I'm a little lost. What is the document we need from the Gardai? I'm pretty sure it's not Garda vetting, as this takes months, and it doesn't have to be sent down to Templemore. I've also heard of a certificate of character. Saw on here it is called a clearance certificate?

On the top of mine it says Police Clearance Certificate.

Just go to the local Garda station and tell them you need a background check done for a job in South Korea. Make sure to tell them that you don't need the one that says you're OK to work with children (ironically enough). This one is from Thurles, takes months, and costs money.

Tell them you need the free one that takes about a week to get.

SpatialPlanning

squeakyduck wrote: »

Hi,
I was just looking at EPIK applications for Fall 2011. For the application it says you need 2 letters of recommendation from a professor/supervisor/director. Could I use an area manager from my last job for this? I plan on using my thesis supervisor as well.

Has anyone applied through EPIK recently? I'd love to chat with someone about it, as it just seems vague to me at the moment!

Hey, I came out here with EPIK about 4/5 months ago (working in Busan now). PM me with any questions you have about it.

SpatialPlanning

Aramicon wrote: »

Ooh, I'm aiming for Busan too and have seen a good few jobs in Saha, but I'm trying to stay further east as I have connections there. It is tough going, I did one interview for an SLP school but then found some awful reviews and the sample contract looked a bit much. This looks interesting http://koreabridge.net/jobs/busan-global-village-looking-fun-teachers-miju-lee-1 but again, it does not seem to have a good reputation! Any Busan-based-body on this here super thread know anything about the place? How much weight should be put on 'blacklistings' anyhow- there seems to be a lot of them, and scant positive alternatives.

I haven't heard of the school before. Busanjin is pretty central. It's only about 10mins away from Seomyeon, which is basically downtown Busan.

I can't tell you anything about the school or contract, but from what it says in that job posting it looks like a public school schedule. 9-5, airfare reimbursed, 15holidays (public is usually 18-21, hagwons are usually 10), medical and pension both included... I can't really comment any more without seeing a contract... With blacklists it's hard to know because they could be old, or written by bitter/deluded people... The only way you will know is by applying for the job and speaking to a current teacher there!

Undercover Brother

I had my interview at the embassy yesterday, well it wasn't an interview, just 4 or 5 of us in a room filling in forms, so I should have my passport back by early next week, and will hopefully be flying out on Wednesday or Thursday. I was just wondering, whats the best way to get money changed to won? Should I try and do it here or is it easier to do it at the airport in Korea? Thanks

virmilitaris

Undercover Brother wrote: »

I had my interview at the embassy yesterday, well it wasn't an interview, just 4 or 5 of us in a room filling in forms, so I should have my passport back by early next week, and will hopefully be flying out on Wednesday or Thursday. I was just wondering, whats the best way to get money changed to won? Should I try and do it here or is it easier to do it at the airport in Korea? Thanks

Airport here is what I did. Its probably easier for carrying purposes. When you change that over you're going to have a big wad of won.

kraggy

Me again,

Got offered contracts and confused about the bit in bold below...


Article 14 (Paid Leave) ① The Employee shall be entitled to a vacation period of a total of eighteen (18) working days during the Term of the Employment set forth under Article 5 hereof. If the Employees works in a school, the Employee shall have vacation for eight (8) working days during the summer recess and ten (10) working days during the winter recess respectively; If the Employee works in a training center, the Employee shall have their vacation outside the normal training session times. If the requested vacation period interferes with the smooth operation of the programming of the school or institute, the Employer and the Employee shall negotiate an alternate vacation date(s).

② The Employee shall apply for and obtain the Employer's consent to take any paid leave a minimum of fifteen (15) calendar days in advance of the requested date of leave.③

The Employee shall note the difference between school vacation and Paid Vacation days; the Employee is expected to fulfill normal working duties during the school vacation period unless the Employee has received prior approval for Paid Vacation or Unpaid Leave during the school vacation period.

④ During the school semester, the Employer may allow the Employee to not come to work on the day(s) when the school is closed for in-semester school holiday(s), school anniversary day(s), etc., and these days will not be considered part of the Paid Leave set forth in the forgoing clause.



Can anyone figure this out? Is it something to do with desk-warming? As in, applying to have some of those days off away from the school or something?

cloneslad

kraggy wrote: »

Me again,

Got offered contracts and confused about the bit in bold below...


Article 14 (Paid Leave) ① The Employee shall be entitled to a vacation period of a total of eighteen (18) working days during the Term of the Employment set forth under Article 5 hereof. If the Employees works in a school, the Employee shall have vacation for eight (8) working days during the summer recess and ten (10) working days during the winter recess respectively; If the Employee works in a training center, the Employee shall have their vacation outside the normal training session times. If the requested vacation period interferes with the smooth operation of the programming of the school or institute, the Employer and the Employee shall negotiate an alternate vacation date(s).

② The Employee shall apply for and obtain the Employer's consent to take any paid leave a minimum of fifteen (15) calendar days in advance of the requested date of leave.③

The Employee shall note the difference between school vacation and Paid Vacation days; the Employee is expected to fulfill normal working duties during the school vacation period unless the Employee has received prior approval for Paid Vacation or Unpaid Leave during the school vacation period.

④ During the school semester, the Employer may allow the Employee to not come to work on the day(s) when the school is closed for in-semester school holiday(s), school anniversary day(s), etc., and these days will not be considered part of the Paid Leave set forth in the forgoing clause.



Can anyone figure this out? Is it something to do with desk-warming? As in, applying to have some of those days off away from the school or something?

you must get permission to take your holidays.

If you wanted to take holidays on march 20th, you would need to seek permission to do so 15 days before that date (march 5th).

I would be giving them more than 15 days notice if I was you though. Flights out of korea are expensive and it's best to book at least 2-3 months in advance so ask permission for these dates before making any reservations. You might also need to get the permission in writing in case your boss decides to have a change of heart (or conveniently forgets that he gave permission).

You willl usually not be given holidays when school is in session as it means there will be no one to teach the kids. Your holidays will have to be taken during the summer or winter vacation time when the kids have no school.

The parts about your principal not requiring you to come in on certain public holidays etc just means that he might not ask you to deck warm certain days and that public holidays (seolnal / chuseok / buddha's birthday etc) don't count towards your annual holidays i.e these are extra holidays you recieve on top of your paid leave.

P.S Sorry for not replying to your pms sooner, it's not easy when travelling around.

cavanmaniac

Undercover Brother wrote: »

I had my interview at the embassy yesterday, well it wasn't an interview, just 4 or 5 of us in a room filling in forms, so I should have my passport back by early next week, and will hopefully be flying out on Wednesday or Thursday. I was just wondering, whats the best way to get money changed to won? Should I try and do it here or is it easier to do it at the airport in Korea? Thanks

My bank card was a visa debit card so when I flew into Incheon I just took out a chunk of Won, you'll have hassle finding won in Ireland and when you don't really need it until you're on Korean soil, it makes more sense to just wait and get it at the airport I think. Provided your bank card works internationally of course...

Undercover Brother

cavanmaniac wrote: »

My bank card was a visa debit card so when I flew into Incheon I just took out a chunk of Won, you'll have hassle finding won in Ireland and when you don't really need it until you're on Korean soil, it makes more sense to just wait and get it at the airport I think. Provided your bank card works internationally of course...

My bank card is visa debit as well, so it will work ok in Korea? I'd heard that it was hard to find bank machines that would accept them. I think I'll take over bout 400 (sterling) in cash, get that changed at the airport and if I need any more before I get paid hopefully I'll be able to find a friendly bank machine near me

ARGINITE

Shop sign in Itaewon. I miss Korea!

cavanmaniac

Undercover Brother wrote: »

My bank card is visa debit as well, so it will work ok in Korea? I'd heard that it was hard to find bank machines that would accept them. I think I'll take over bout 400 (sterling) in cash, get that changed at the airport and if I need any more before I get paid hopefully I'll be able to find a friendly bank machine near me

What I did was have a look around the visa website itself which assured me the card would work in the international banking ATM at Incheon. When I got there it was as good as its word, so unless something has changed I reckon you'd be safe enough. But it's always best to check for yourself before deciding. I think visa debit cards work pretty much everywhere thanks to its global status, other bank cards probably wouldn't...

virmilitaris

Paddys day celebrations (on Saturday 19th) schedule.

Insandong

11.30-11.45 Video showing Irish dance and sports performances
11.45-12.15 US 8th Army Musical Performance
12.15-12.30 Festival opens – Introductory Speech by Irish Ambassador, Dr. Eamonn McKree
12.30-1.00 Traditional Irish Music by Banú (pronounced ban-ooh)
1.00-1.15 Irish folk dancing display
1.15-1.45 Irish folk dancing – participation by the audience
1.45-2.00 Intermission performance
2.00-2.30 Deafening Street – U2 covers band
2.30-2.45 Intermission performance
2.45-3.15 Traditional Irish music by Bard
3.15-3.30 Irish folk dancing display
3.30-3.45 Irish folk dancing – participation by the audience
3.45-4.15 Fotla – Irish rock-music group
4.15-4.30 Intermission performance
4.30-5.00 Finale – all musicians gather on stage and people dancing
5.00 End.

Schedule for Hooley
All tickets available at door

Itaewon
Venue: JR Bar
6.30 Doors open
7.00-8.30 Traditional Irish music by Banú
8.45-10.00 Traditional Irish music by Exiles
10.15-11.30 Irish contemporary and folk by Erik Custer
11.45-01.00 Irish folk rock by Fotla

Gangnam
Venue: Dublin Terrace
50,000 Won for all drinks especially Guinness (50,000 Won = free Guinness / Cass / Hite all night.)
*for parties of ten or more, a discount of 10,000 Won per person shall be applied.30,000 Won for two Guinness and another drink
Free food for all customers
7.00 Doors open
7.30-9.00 Irish folk rock by Fotla
9.15-11.00 Modern rock by Dead End Friends
11.15-01.00 To be announced

dsane1

Im living in Hongseong, hoping to go to Seoul for Patricks weekend. Anyone recommend a good place to stay?

HenryChinaski

You'll have to go home first. I was living in Perth when I decided to come out here. I found out that for your first time getting a visa it has to be done from your home country as a consulate interview is required. I went home and got lazy then for a good 6 months. Eventually I got sorted and am loving it here, it's a great old gig. I'd advise you not to buy into the whole hagwons are hell bit. There are plenty of good ones around you just need to be selective. If you do any bit of research you'll know what to look for and you'll be fine.

ekevosu

HenryChinaski wrote: »

You'll have to go home first. I was living in Perth when I decided to come out here. I found out that for your first time getting a visa it has to be done from your home country as a consulate interview is required. I went home and got lazy then for a good 6 months. Eventually I got sorted and am loving it here, it's a great old gig. I'd advise you not to buy into the whole hagwons are hell bit. There are plenty of good ones around you just need to be selective. If you do any bit of research you'll know what to look for and you'll be fine.

I did get told by immigration that if you get hired by a public school directly and not through a recruiter you do not have to even leave the country even on a first e1. Now I got several answers that said no not in any case, but this person in immigration was certain about it. Hagwon and any other job on a first e1 definitely have to go home. If you get a job with a public school you can get a letter of appointment and avoid any interview but you still have to go home unless it's directly with the school.

HenryChinaski

I'm not sure, that may be the case but I can't see how anyone would be able to negotiate directly with any school let alone a public as the level of English is generally very poor amongst administrative staff. Also how are you going to find each other in the first place? I've never seen a job ad that was placed directly by a school, they're always for multiple jobs with different schools and usually across several cities which means it's a recruiter. Another point is that public schools always go through EPIK or MOE's, hiring for the beginning of Spring/Fall term. So the only case I can think of where a school would be hiring outside of these dates is when a teacher leaves mid-contract in which case alarm bells should be ringing 'cause most people aren't going pass up their bonus and skip out unless there's something bad about the job. Obviously you have other cases where extenuating circumstances will force someone to go home but this is going to be so rare that it isn't really relevant. Therefore even if what your saying there is the case, a lot of things would have to be happening at the exact time you go looking and what are the chances?

In the end of the day the great thing about Korea is that if you've got a good recruiter (I came with Tiger English) you'll get a job where the school pre-pay for your flight so it at least takes half the sting out of having to pay to go home.

Also I just want to rant on here for a bit and say that I reckon hagwons aren't generally the nightmares people make them out to be and more to the point I wouldn't be too pushed about going to work for public schools at all. I've met lots of hagwon teachers here and some have great gigs, some have comparatively bad enough ones but I've not met anyone that is miserable by any means. On the other hand I've met a nice share of EPIK teachers who are stuck out in the sticks in jobs where they're very isolated and have to travel an hour each way anytime they want to go out. So with public schools it's hard to know where you're going to land. Also the classes are way bigger and thus more stressful. Plus with classes like that you'd have to be doing lesson plans and all that malarky. And all that deskworming they do too sounds boring as hell. Also EPIK is teeming with fresh out the gate, north American college graduates who think they know it all when in fact they know very little. From my experience EPIK heads can get fairly overbearing when you're stuck with a group of them and I wouldn't see many Irish people buying into it.

I like my nice reliable hagwon where we've 3 Irish teachers, a Yank and a South African, I gander in about 2.30pm, correct homework for an hour and then I'm into it; no lesson planning, never more than 12-15 kids and often much less, I just stroll in, seven or eight 35 minute classes, one or two breaks, I'm out of there before I know it, time absolutely flies and it's great. I'm out then and the night is mine because I don't have to be up for work at 8.30am, go for food, play pool, screen golf, whatever, it's awesome. Do your research, speak to teachers, get a good idea of what you're in for, find a good hagwon in a nice city and it's as good as you'll get. The one and only neg is no holidays but sure you'd be sitting at home on the dole, surrounded by misery, and you'd be crying out to work, and you sure as hell wouldn't be going on holidays. And really teaching ESL in Korea, technically is a bit of a holiday, you're in a big, bright, neon lit, 24 hour, Asian city where if you've got a good crew of people around you, you'll never be bored. You get good money and nice hours in a generally stress free environment. What more can you ask for?

livinginkorea

dsane1 wrote: »

Im living in Hongseong, hoping to go to Seoul for Patricks weekend. Anyone recommend a good place to stay?

There will be loads of cheap motels around. They look a little seedy but really cheap. Make sure you check the room first before paying.

dapto1

Great post HenryChinaski. How did you find Tiger English? I've heard mixed things.

virmilitaris

HenryChinaski wrote: »

I'm not sure, that may be the case but I can't see how anyone would be able to negotiate directly with any school let alone a public as the level of English is generally very poor amongst administrative staff.

Indeed, but they have to have Korean English teachers on staff who would aid in any discussions.

Also how are you going to find each other in the first place? I've never seen a job ad that was placed directly by a school, they're always for multiple jobs with different schools and usually across several cities which means it's a recruiter.

Yes but you don't make an agreement with a recruiter anyways. Your agreement is always with the school itself. The recruiter usually gets a commission from the school. The recruiter and the school have an agreement. You are never under contract from a recruiter, or at least I've never heard of it.

Another point is that public schools always go through EPIK or MOE's, hiring for the beginning of Spring/Fall term.

Not always but usually yes.

In the end of the day the great thing about Korea is that if you've got a good recruiter (I came with Tiger English) you'll get a job where the school pre-pay for your flight so it at least takes half the sting out of having to pay to go home.

You get that regardless of whether you go with a recruiter or not. Any jobs that don't offer that are usually looking for part-time or temp teachers who already have a residents visa of some description.

Also I just want to rant on here for a bit and say that I reckon hagwons aren't generally the nightmares people make them out to be and more to the point I wouldn't be too pushed about going to work for public schools at all.

+1

Also EPIK is teeming with fresh out the gate, north American college graduates who think they know it all when in fact they know very little. From my experience EPIK heads can get fairly overbearing when you're stuck with a group of them and I wouldn't see many Irish people buying into it.

+1 but I'd add that it's not confined to the North American continent. There are many Irish, British, Aussies etc who are just as overbearing.

Cole

Just a quick question about the Garda Cert.

When you were listing your previous addresses in Ireland, did you include absolutely every single one (even if you only lived there for a couple of months) and did you list the dates at which you lived at these addressess?

squeakyduck

Cole wrote: »

Just a quick question about the Garda Cert.

When you were listing your previous addresses in Ireland, did you include absolutely every single one (even if you only lived there for a couple of months) and did you list the dates at which you lived at these addressess?

Is that the f20 form? Can that be used as the garda check for teaching english in korea.

Cole

squeakyduck wrote: »

Is that the f20 form? Can that be used as the garda check for teaching english in korea.

No. The Police Certificate is different.

It seems to be required for applications to many different countries in order to obtain work permits/visas.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/law_enforcement/police_certificate.html

In the UK they have a Subject Access Report, which seems to be akin to the F20 form. I think this is used as their equivalent to our Police Cert? I'm open to correction on this.

squeakyduck

Can someone please outline what I need to get this criminal record check. My head is fried as I was talking to so many people today about what to get and I have had about 3 forms that I've been told to get.

I'm so annoyed. It confuses me even more. God.

EPIK ask for a "criminal record check" what form do I fill out? Where do I get it? I don't want any more rtards giving me any more totally irrelevant info.

Cool Running

squeakyduck wrote: »

Can someone please outline what I need to get this criminal record check. My head is fried as I was talking to so many people today about what to get and I have had about 3 forms that I've been told to get.

I'm so annoyed. It confuses me even more. God.

EPIK ask for a "criminal record check" what form do I fill out? Where do I get it? I don't want any more rtards giving me any more totally irrelevant info.

Ok what you need to do is send a letter to your local Garda superintendent asking for a Police Certificate of Character letter. Include all your previous addresses, what country you need it for(very important) and also a photocopy of identification such as a driving licence. You should receive the cert back in around a week and then go get it apostilled at the dept of foreign affairs.

You will have understand that during this process you will hear a lot of conflicting information from a lot of sources. It's all part and parcel of the process and happens to nearly everyone who goes through it. I wasted 40euro after the Korean embassy in Dublin gave me wrong information, I was sure the embassy would know what to do but no. But hey its all the start of an adventure:)

gluck

ekevosu

Whatever addresses you list as having lived in will be checked by the guards. They will send a letter to the Garda stations closest to those addresses and ask them to check and get back to them. It could well take longer than a week but is usually quick enough. Mine took about two or three weeks and a good few phonecalls to the various stations.

SpatialPlanning

HenryChinaski wrote: »

Another point is that public schools always go through EPIK or MOE's, hiring for the beginning of Spring/Fall term. So the only case I can think of where a school would be hiring outside of these dates is when a teacher leaves mid-contract in which case alarm bells should be ringing 'cause most people aren't going pass up their bonus and skip out unless there's something bad about the job.

Some of what you say rings true but I am going to disagree with a lot of it... You have met too many gloating EPIKers by the sounds of things.

I should also probably preface this by saying that...

I am an EPIKer

:cool:

This first point is only partly true. The majority of hiring is aimed at the beginning of the Spring/Fall term but EPIK actually run 5/6 orientations per year at various times. I was hired outside of the main period and there were still over 150 people at the orientation, at least 80 of whom were fresh off the plane. A teacher leaving mid-contract might be a sign of a bad school. It might also be a sign that that person really doesn't like living in Korea. Perfectly understandable really. Korea definitely isn't for everyone and sometimes the culture shock is too much. A person not enjoying their lifestyle/experience here is just as likely to leave as a person with less than favourable working conditions.Also, because all contracts don't begin with the start of the new semester, contracts wont all end at the same time.

In the end of the day the great thing about Korea is that if you've got a good recruiter (I came with Tiger English) you'll get a job where the school pre-pay for your flight so it at least takes half the sting out of having to pay to go home.

Public schools don't pay for your flights out here (unless in some rare cases I haven't heard about??) but perhaps you were talking about hagwons? Most hagwons will. As for Tiger English - I have talked about them before so no need to revisit that!;)

Also I just want to rant on here for a bit and say that I reckon hagwons aren't generally the nightmares people make them out to be

Agreed! :pac:

I've met lots of hagwon teachers here and some have great gigs, some have comparatively bad enough ones but I've not met anyone that is miserable by any means. On the other hand I've met a nice share of EPIK teachers who are stuck out in the sticks in jobs where they're very isolated and have to travel an hour each way anytime they want to go out.

Generalising like that doesn't serve to help potential new teachers reading this. Yes, some Hagwon teachers have great gigs. Yes, some EPIK teachers have poor gigs. Personally, I have met far more Public School teachers who have better jobs. This could be because I know more people working in Public Schools (although, that is changing as time goes by).

Being stuck out in the sticks is a danger when applying. You can list your preferences in any area but you will not be sure of where you will be until you get here. I am in Busan but I am living out on the very edge of it. Bit of a pain in the arse travelling around at weekends but I'm used to it now and my area is actually pretty cool.

If you do your research you should have a fair idea of the type of place you could end up living in. Look up the province and try to talk to teachers who have lived there, or in similar areas. Find out about the biggest towns and the more rural areas. If you don't like what you see then don't apply. Apply for Seoul or Busan instead!!

So with public schools it's hard to know where you're going to land. Also the classes are way bigger and thus more stressful.

If you happen to get landed in a smaller area then you will probably have smaller classes. I live in Busan but I teach 68 Kids in total (that's the size of the school). I know other Public School teachers who teach less!! Then again, I know teachers who are in schools of over 1200 in areas where I would prefer to be living. It's a bit of a trade off I guess.

Plus with classes like that you'd have to be doing lesson plans and all that malarky.

You mean actual teaching?

And all that deskworming they do too sounds boring as hell.

Haha, very true. Gives me more time for Boards.ie!!

Also EPIK is teeming with fresh out the gate, north American college graduates who think they know it all when in fact they know very little.

Haha!!! I wouldn't necessarily narrow this down to EPIK. I've met some really cool people in EPIK and some people who are.... less cool...

From my experience EPIK heads can get fairly overbearing when you're stuck with a group of them and I wouldn't see many Irish people buying into it.

Ouch!! Come on, tell the truth - EPIK rejected you??

correct homework

That must suck!

...then I'm into it; no lesson planning

Into what? Reading from a book? Or is it just pronunciation??

seven or eight 35 minute classes, one or two breaks

I'll take my 3-6 x 40 minute classes thanks.:D

I'm out of there before I know it, time absolutely flies and it's great. I'm out then and the night is mine because I don't have to be up for work at 8.30am, go for food, play pool, screen golf, whatever, it's awesome.

But you get out and it's night time. I get out and I really do have the day to myself!! Getting up at 7am takes some getting used to and can stop you going out druing the week (now and again...;)). Then again, I can go to the gym after school and go and watch a Soccer/Baseball/Basketball game mid-week at 7pm when all the hagwon teachers are still working.

Do your research, speak to teachers, get a good idea of what you're in for, find a good hagwon in a nice city and it's as good as you'll get.

Yes! I agree here again!

The one and only neg is no holidays

21 days in Public School (I had 2 weeks at X-Mas and 2 weeks at the end of Jan to Early Feb. This is one of the best benefits of working here!!

but sure you'd be sitting at home on the dole, surrounded by misery, and you'd be crying out to work, and you sure as hell wouldn't be going on holidays. And really teaching ESL in Korea, technically is a bit of a holiday, you're in a big, bright, neon lit, 24 hour, Asian city where if you've got a good crew of people around you, you'll never be bored. You get good money and nice hours in a generally stress free environment. What more can you ask for?

I can finish on a positive and agree with you 100% on this one!!



Basically, the above isn't to argue with HenryChinaski, it's just to show everyone that you can get good Hagwons just as you can get bad Public Schools. Do your research, be a little flexible and above all...
....

work for EPIK

.....

virmilitaris

Lads,

Due to the terrible situation in Japan and the unlikely but still possible dangers it may pose to Korea, the Ambassador has sent an email asking that all Irish here register with the embassy.

Heres the website; http://www.irelandhouse-korea.com/home/index.aspx?id=44447

HenryChinaski

Cool Running wrote: »

Ok what you need to do is send a letter to your local Garda superintendent asking for a Police Certificate of Character letter. Include all your previous addresses, what country you need it for(very important) and also a photocopy of identification such as a driving licence. You should receive the cert back in around a week and then go get it apostilled at the dept of foreign affairs.

No you don't this is not what you need. What you need to do is go into any decent sized Garda Station and ask them for the Criminal Record Clearance form. Tell them it is for consular purposes. If the form does not have a box on it where you are to state the name of the country are you are getting it for, it's the wrong for. When filling it out don't put every address you've ever lived at because it'll take longer to liaise with all the different Garda districts thus making it more likely to get lost in the process. We all know that the Irish Gardai wouldn't rate too highly for that kind of thing. Make it simple and just put down any permanent home addresses that you have lived in with your family and leave out any rented addresses. Preferably keep them all in the one city. Bear in mind that if you put in rented addresses any incidents that may have occurred there relating to other tenants will slow up the process because they'll have to clarifying it wasn't you. Then you run the risk of some Guard taking one look at it and throwing it in a drawer. Make it easy for them and yourself and keep it to one or two addresses.

I went in to my local station. Spent 2-3 minutes filling it out there and then, I watched the Garda stamp it and put it in the tray to go the Superintendents office and I got the certificate in the post within a week. It's easy out, do this and don't be confused by anything else you read and I promise you'll be happy.

livinginkorea

virmilitaris wrote: »

Lads,

Due to the terrible situation in Japan and the unlikely but still possible dangers it may pose to Korea, the Ambassador has sent an email asking that all Irish here register with the embassy.

Heres the website; http://www.irelandhouse-korea.com/home/index.aspx?id=44447

The link was very slow to open but I guess it is the same message as I got emailed earlier today:

In the wake of the tragic events unfolding in Japan, the Embassy has been discussing the likely impact (if any) with consular officials in other EU missions. The shared view (including by EU experts here) is that the advice being offered by the Korean Institute for Nuclear Safety (KINS) is accurate i.e. that radiation levels here remain normal and that the chances of an increase are low. However, the situation obviously needs to be monitored continuously given the developments at the Fukushima nuclear power station. KINS has increased its monitoring from every 15 minutes to every 5. While a minor earthquake (2.6) was registered near Incheon, the Korea peninsula is not seismically active. We will keep you apprised of developments.

This prompts me to remind you to register with the Embassy and to ensure that we have all the information we need to contact you in case of emergency. If you know of anyone who is not registered, please advise him/her to do so. Registration should include land-line numbers which proved to be very useful to our colleagues at the Embassy in Cairo during the events surrounding Tahir Square recently and of course for our colleagues in Tokyo trying to trace and confirm the safety of Irish people living there (thankfully no reports of any Irish killed or injured so far).

The Department of Foreign Affairs is advising against all travel to Japan. Any Irish in Japan or intending for whatever reason travelling there should register with the Department.

The Department is monitoring the situation carefully at nuclear facilities in Japan, in cooperation with the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) and Met Éireann. The International Atomic Energy Agency (www.iaea.com) has excellent news and updates on the situation.

Our Embassy in Tokyo is offering the following advice:

Aftershock and tsunami alerts remain in place for Japan and the Department of Foreign Affairs is advising against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and the North-East coast.

Local authorities have established English language help lines to provide advice to concerned foreign nationals. For Sendai, this is the Sendai Emergency English Lifeline:

+81 2-2-265-2471

+81 2-2-224-1919

Irish nationals who may be considering travel to Japan should be aware that there is still significant disruption to infrastructure and Tokyo/the eastern seaboard of Japan is on alert for widespread power-cuts and disruption to water supplies.

Best wishes,

Eamonn McKee

Ambassador