Keeping it in the Bank: Waiting out the Dollar's Downward Tumble

The U.S. economy has been center-stage in discussions with my staff over this past week, as the tumbling stock market and the fallout of large companies going bust have ranked on the front-page headlines in Korea's major newspaper. The almighty U.S. dollar has a strong global impact, as I am learning first-hand from my humble post in this small-ish, export-driven Asian country.

A conversation with my dad several days ago clued me in that several big-name U.S. corporations were floundering -- and going bankrupt, all of which only perpetuates the state of fear and economic concern that propels recession and market instability. It is extremely disconcerting to learn that high-profile companies who have been around for decades have suddenly vaporized with the most recent of market tumbles. When such disaster looms for the "big guys," you start to worry about how its effects are going to trickle down to you. Because sooner or later, they will. Even if you're living across the pond in Korea.

Before coming to Korea this past summer, I studied conversion tables, trying to get a handle on the rate of exchange between the U.S. dollar and the Korean Won. The dollar was worth roughly 1,000 won, give or take, although during the early part of 2008, it was a very favorable 970K - 980K won to the dollar.

During the past three months that I've been living overseas, the value of the dollar has declined noticeably, enough that I've decided to hold off on money transfers back to the States in hopes that it will pick back up again. Certainly money wasn't the only reason I chose to come to Korea, but the opportunity to save a healthy chunk of change was definitely a big factor in the equation that led me here.

Last week's U.S. stock market nosedive resulted in a sizeable devaluation of the dollar here as well. I've suddenly found my salary and savings slashed by a whopping 20%. There's no other way to say it -- OUCH! My only solace is to keep in mind that in time, the market always evens itself out. But how long will it take to recover from recent downward trends? Will the dollar continue to plunge for months to come? How much farther will it fall? Are we heading towards a severe economic depression, as many financial analysts are forecasting? Or is this just a painful hiccup that will go away on its own without much more financial crisis?

For the time being, at least, I'll be keeping my earnings right here in Korea. And I'm lucky, in that regard, that I have a fairly long stretch to wait out a possible recovery. For those expats who don't have the same flexibility, particularly TEFL teachers who are ending contracts and returning home within the next month or two, their earnings can't help but be painfully squeezed. I'll be keeping an eye on the economy, to be sure. And in the meantime, I'll be hopeful that Americans won't lose their confidence in the economy. A further market collapse is one self-fulfilling prophecy this world doesn't need.

My Battle with Bureacracy

Living in Korea Lesson #1: Never underestimate the amount of bureaucracy involved in getting your E2 visa!!
This process that I started literally 3 months ago is still not yet finished, despite the fact that I am actually here in Korea! After a quite lengthy, somewhat confusing, an often nerve-wracking paper shuffle, and a little good karma, I managed to get the green light to step onto Korean soil. Here is my E-2 visa two-step, in a nutshell (written especially for all of you who I know are secretly thinking, I want to teaching in Korea!! But... where do I start??):
The early part of the process involved applying for a new passport (my passport from my Round-the-World trip in 2006 was "seriously mutilated," according to the postal worker taking my application), which meant ordering a new birth certificate and getting my picture snapped. Then I had to arrange for fingerprinting at my local police station and forward them to the FBI with a request for my criminal report. Being that I was in Utah and my diploma was buried somewhere in a box in my parents' house in Pennsylvania, I next had to contact my university for a new diploma and multiple sealed transcripts. And then I waited... and waited... and waited.
The first to arrive was my new passport, which was utterly amazing. Without expediting my order, I received it in a week's time (when are government agencies EVER ahead of schedule?? I was amazed.). I was impressed with he new passport layout -- pages watermarked with symbols of American pride and heritage, and encoded with a microchip, plus biometric scanning capability of my passport photo. Most exciting was that they had returned my mutilated passport to me (I was told I wouldn't get it back)... so all of the stamps I acquired from stomping around Europe and Morocco) are mine to keep!! Then the diploma and transcripts arrived. And finally, the FBI report. As it turns out, they took me off the "Most Wanted" list. OK, kidding, I'm still on it. You would think that a report from the FBI would be "proof enough" for Korean Immigration. But no, they require a special seal to be affixed to your report, which is called an apostille. I'd never heard of one before, but apparently, after some such Hague Convention a few years back, a system was agreed upon for authenticating documents for international recognition. Quite a few countries now required that documents be authenticated with an apostille. As this is a fairly new requirement, I got quite a bit of run-around from the US Authentications Office (in Wash. D.C.) and the office of Utah's Secretary of State. No one wanted to take responsibility for helping me out. In the end, Utah came through. I had my documents notarized by a local notary, and then forwarded them to Mr. Sec'y of State for the official apostille. And you guessed it, waiting again to get them back in hand.
The next step was to FedEx my documents to Korea. OK, I way underestimated the cost of this! Copies of my passport, check. 3½ x 4½ cm photos, check. Diploma and transcripts, check. Resume, check. Employment contract, check. Criminal report, check. And last but not least, Korea's Medical Self-Evaluation Form, check. Sending this tidy little stack of papers over the Pacific set me back a handsome $78. And for that princely sum, it still took 4 days to be received!
Are we done yet? Oh, not even close :) So, Korean Immigration processed my documents and sent me a Visa Issuance Number. The next step was to forward another set of documents to the closest Korean Embassy within the U.S. (which happened to be San Francisco), along with this Visa Issuance Number, visa application, my actual passport, and of course, more money... followed by more waiting.
Normally, the embassy requires that you visit in person for an interview with a Consul (this is an official requirement for your E-2 work visa). Because I was living in Utah at the time, the embassy waived this requirement and allowed me to conduct my interview via telephone. (One word of warning: please CALL the embassy to make sure they received and are processing your visa... mine was lost in a paper shuffle in their office for almost a week while precious time ticked by. When I called, they told me they hadn't yet received it, and only later after I had confirmed delivery with USPS, did they find it!)
After completing my interview, the Embassy finished processing my visa, and then shipped my passport + visa back to me. I received it on Saturday, June 7th, just a few days before leaving the country. The whole process took about 2.5 months. (Note: If you're serious about teaching in Korea, go ahead and order your FBI report and university transcripts, dig out your diploma (or order a new one), and make sure your passport is valid. Having these in your back pocket makes you a much more attractive candidate and saves you quite a bit of time waiting, once you find your "dream job.")
That's it for this installment. Stay tuned for Part II, getting your Foreign Residency Card :)