This is the first in a four-part series on the globalization of Korean universities, investigating the widening gap between government-led recruitment targets and the administrative realities international students face in the immigration system. — ED.
Korea’s drive to attract and retain international students is hitting a roadblock at immigration offices, a place many students now view as a source of fear rather than support.
Even as universities expand recruitment and the government pledges to ease visa rules, inconsistent administrative practices and constantly shifting guidelines at immigration offices are emerging as major hurdles to the country’s study-to-settlement pathway for foreign students.
All students interviewed by The Korea Times for this article requested that their names not be used.
One Iraqi student said she nearly lost an internship due to a delayed decision on her part-time work permission.
She received an internship offer from a tech company building apps for foreign communities in Korea and was scheduled to begin work on Jan. 5. She applied for part-time work authorization on Dec. 20 last year, and received a text message six days later stating the application had been “accepted by an appropriate department.”
There was no further notice for about a month, until the immigration office informed her on Jan. 21 that the application had been rejected due to “missing documents,” specifically a Test of Proficiency in Korea (TOPIK) score report.
“When it was rejected, I felt very frustrated, and the company was also put in a difficult position,” she said.
Because she had already started working, the late notice of rejection could have placed her in violation of immigration rules.
The decision was difficult to understand, as she had previously obtained part-time work permission and TOPIK scores are generally accepted even after expiration.
Source: Korea Times News
