Today, at the Seoul Office, I received the foreign registration cards for the D8 visa and F3 visa (spouse and minor children) that I had previously applied for visa issuance approval.
One of the more challenging and frequently denied professions for the E7 visa is that of a chef. More often than not, the problem lies with the documents submitted by the applicant rather than the requirements of the employing company.
Therefore, today, we will look into the matters to be aware of when inviting a chef with an E7 visa. First, let's look at the basic qualifications for an E7 chef applicant.
Target for E7 Foreign Chef (Head Chef)
◆ Persons who plan cooking in hotels, restaurants, ships, etc., supervise and coordinate the work of chefs and kitchen assistants in restaurants and other facilities (head chefs), and those who prepare various food items and cook directly
○ Eligible occupations
- Western cuisine head chefs and chefs, Chinese cuisine head chefs and chefs, Japanese cuisine head chefs and chefs, head chefs and chefs of other national cuisines
○ Ineligible occupations
- Korean cuisine head chefs and chefs, snack food, coffee, traditional tea chefs, beverage chefs, other chefs
Qualifications for E7 Foreign Chef (Head Chef) Applicants
※ Eligible if meeting one of the following ① ② ③
① Winners of internationally recognized domestic and foreign cooking competitions
- Exempt from certification and experience requirements
※ Winning documents should be submitted with consular verification, but can be omitted if clearly verified through media reports, etc.
② Holders of foreign certifications, education, and experience (after obtaining the relevant certification)
Certification + Education | Experience | |
Intermediate or higher level certification | Exempt from experience requirements | Chinese cuisine 1st or 2nd grade |
Basic level certification | 3 years or more experience | |
6 months or more of education | 5 years or more experience | 5 years or more experience |
Others | 10 years or more experience | Excluding Chinese, Japanese, Western cuisines |
◆ 5 years or more experience
- Submit chef certification, experience certificate, education completion certificate with Apostille or consular verification from the Korean embassy in the host country
※ However, for head chefs or professional chefs directly selected through verification procedures at hotels recognized as five-star, consular verification can be omitted
◆ 10 years or more experience
- Allowed only for local traditional foods where there is no formal course
③ Holders of domestic education + certification, experience
◆ Bachelor's, Master's or higher
- Any major + acquisition of cooking-related technician certification from the Korea Industrial Human Resources Corporation + 2 years experience
(Exempt if domestic education period is 2 years or more)
◆ Associate degree
- Degree in related field + acquisition of cooking-related technician certification from the Korea Industrial Human Resources Corporation + 2 years experience
(Exempt if domestic education period is 2 years or more)
◆ Private institution training
- Related field training (D-4-6) + acquisition of cooking-related technician certification from the Korea Industrial Human Resources Corporation + 2 years experience (However, if one has held a D-4-6 visa in Korea and completed more than 20 months of related field training, experience is exempted)
As examined, education completion certificates, certifications, and experience certificates issued abroad must all be submitted with consular verification or Apostille.
※ Note that for the E7 visa, all documents issued abroad for any occupation must be submitted with consular verification or Apostille.
The problem is that even documents with consular verification or Apostille can often be forged.
※ Especially, many forged documents are found among those issued in Southeast and South Asian countries, and thus immigration seems to investigate more thoroughly in cases of documents issued from these countries.
From an administrative attorney's perspective, it's not possible to definitively determine the authenticity of documents with consular verification or Apostille, as we are not the FBI.
However, in my case, I review the documents from an experiential perspective and if there are any suspicious aspects, I request the applicant to confirm again and then ask for reissuance of the documents. I only proceed with the process using the documents that are reissued to my satisfaction.
However, immigration thoroughly investigates even documents with consular verification or Apostille and often detects forged experience certificates, certifications, and education completion certificates.
Now, let's look at what basic contents should be included in experience certificates, certifications, and education completion certificates according to my personal criteria.
※ These are not absolute requirements. There are no regulations stating what must be included absolutely. However, these are the basics that should logically be included.
Experience Certificate
Workplace, lot number address, phone number, who worked from when to when (exact period with year and month), salary, whether they worked as a Cook or Chef, etc., the position should also be specified.
Education Completion Certificate
Education period: Who received what kind of cooking education from when to when
Education location: Location, lot number, phone number
Certification
Issuing organization, date of issue, category, personal details of the person who acquired the qualification
These are typically included in a cooking certification.