E2 is Prejudiced: Foreign Envoys Criticize

The Korea Times recently reported an outcry by foreign ambassadors that Korea’s E2 teaching visa discriminated against other English speaking countries. The term “native” speaker was the word of contention that caused ambassadors from Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, and even India to request changes be made to the visa regulation which would allow teachers from non-native countries, but with a high proficiency in English language, to seek employment in Korea’s strong ESL market. For further details go to:

Korea only accepts foreign English teachers from Canada, America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The large majority of these teachers also happen to be Caucasian, although this is a prejudice that exists only in hiring practices and not as a stipulation in the Visa itself. In an independent report published online last year, Caucasians has a higher success rate of employment that any other racial group.
(http://korean-school.blogspot.com/2007/03/study-five-skin-color-popularity.html)
In many ways, this policy is discriminatory since the E2 Visa is based upon nationality rather than a teaching qualification, unlike most other Asian countries that offer teaching visas.

The new visa regulations that came into effect on December 15th have discouraged many potential teachers from applying because of the long process involved in getting a criminal background check and paper work processed. The new regulations have also discouraged many experienced teachers from reapplying to Korean schools, choosing to find employment elsewhere. This has begun putting pressure on many private institutions, as well as public schools to continue guaranteeing the prestigious presence of a native speaker in their classrooms. In the Korea Times article of January 20th, 2008, the envoys were reported as suggesting the “ ‘narrow-minded’ visa policy prevents Koreans from developing English proficiency in a more efficient and cheaper way.”

Although no official announcement has been made in response to the ambassadors requests for a change in the policy, if one is made it could not only benefit the Asian teachers, but the Korean school system as well. The suggestion that hiring other non-native English proficient teachers would be a cheaper and more effective way to develop English language ability would definitely help many of Korea’s private language academies which are financially stretched offering foreigners generous salaries in order to entice them to suffer the long, arduous task of applying to the new E2.

By Spencer McCall