Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Born in Russia, but a Canadian Citizen: Can I still teach English in South Korea?

Here's the question:
Hey expat I was wondering what exactly is a native English speaker? I was born in Moscow, Russia and my parents emigrated when I was 6 years old. They were both English teachers so it was fairly common around the house before I even started school in Canada. I am a Canadian citizen who has lived here since the age of 6 and attended everything from elementary school to university. Are they going to hold it against me if I wasn't born here even though I have spoken English and grew up here since childhood?

Interesting question with a simple answer. A native English speaker is
a person who has a passport from an English-speaking country (US, Canada,
UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ, Scotland or South Africa) and, in most cases, a degree from an English-speaking country. As long as you have a passport (and therefore citizenship) in Canada and your degree, then Korean Immigration would have no reason to question your "qualifications". It appears that you meet the minimum requirements for E2 eligibilty, so you should be ready to start the process

I also talk about non-native speakers here and here.

If anybody has any questions, just send me an email at asktheexpat@yahoo.com or leave a comment.

1 comment:

BuckyHermit said...

I know this is a very old entry, but I just wanted to confirm that you're right on.

I'm ethnically Chinese and was born in Hong Kong, but was raised in Canada and hold Canadian citizenship -- and I'm currently teaching in Seoul.

So birthplace is definitely a non-issue, for the most part.