After visiting the local police station again Wednesday afternoon, I went out for a 9.5K walk to the river and back. Seen along the way:
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| Jamshil in the distance |
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| the vetch on display |
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| fish in the muddy creek (Yangjae-cheon) |
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| the newly paved resting spot by the Tan-cheon |
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| another clump or cluster of vetch |
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| closer look |
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| same bridge as before, but on the way back to my place |
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| Lotte World Tower in the distance |
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| final footbridge 1 (note the ramps on the far side) |
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| final footbridge 2 |
The upshot of my second visit to the police station is that (1) I need to get my fingerprints done elsewhere, probably a bigger police station like the Gangnam one, and (2) I can't get a single local criminal background check that can be copied to multiple universities, i.e., every time I apply to a university that requires that document, I have to make a separate request. Jesus Christ.
So I'll be visiting the Gangnam District Police Station soon to get myself fingerprinted. I need to tell them to print out my fingerprints on an FD-258 form, which I hope they have. That form must then be mailed to the US FBI or to what's called a "channeler" for faster processing (e.g., Accurate Biometrics or Monument Visa). This is so I can get an FBI criminal background check. Somewhere in there, I can apparently request that the FBI criminal background check be apostilled and then sent to me. That means I have to send my diplomas to be apostilled separately. I'd been hoping to send all three documents together: my undergrad diploma, my grad-school diploma, and my FBI background check. But that's not going to happen.
Processing time for the FBI background check is around 3-8 weeks. How many university-job opportunities will I be missing during that time? This whole thing is starting to feel like a very cumbersome process. It might be easier to just gather up a bunch of private students or try to get a job with KMA again if that's even possible.
More news later.
3-8 weeks if you're lucky, to be honest--the FBI is notoriously not the most efficient organization. But you should still be able to apply for jobs even without the background check. You just won't be able to start a full-time position without it. This actually happened to me, because my background check took forever (you couldn't do it online back then). I taught for a few weeks as a lecturer before the documents arrived, so my actual appointment date does not coincide with the beginning of the semester. I imagine if a university is otherwise willing to hire you, they'll wait for the paperwork to arrive.
ReplyDeleteI agree in principle, but a few job ads that I've seen now say that your application package will be automatically disqualified if all of the paperwork is not in there, and in the proper order. "Proper order" only makes sense when you see the instructions that say "Please send your first-round documents as a single PDF in this particular order."
DeleteFWIW, for the Cheongju University job, the initial asked-for document is "a copy of the FBI background check," not the apostilled original. But later rounds of the hiring process will require apostilled originals. Sigh...