Medical Exams

In order to be eligible for an E-2 visa, you must get a state-sanctioned medical exam, specific for foreigners living in Korea.

1. New Teachers

New teachers that attend the EPIK orientation will get a medical exam completed during the orientation and receive a medical exam report. EPIK will provide our office with a copy and the other copy will be for you to keep. Your copy can be used in order to suffice for the school's required TB test (more information about this provided below).

2. Renewing Teachers

Every time you renew, you will have to receive a new medical exam. A medical exam report is required of all renewing teachers regardless of the visa type that you have. We will need you to submit the results prior to the start of your new contract (usually needs to be submitted by the renewal contract meeting). The cost varies from hospital to hospital, but ultimately, the cost must be borne by the NET (typically ranges from 70,000 KRW - 150,000 KRW).

**Please note, that gives you the time between hearing that your contract will be renewed to the time of the renewal meeting (roughly about 2 - 2.5 weeks) to get a medical exam.We suggest not jumping the gun on this, just in case you are asked not to renew.

Medical Exam - You are required to take a general medical exam as well as a test for drugs. You should ask for an 'E-2비자회화강사용 채용신체검사' (medical exam for language instructors with E-2 visa) which should readily include the mandatory test for drugs. The 4 types of drugs to be included in the test are: MA(필로폰), COC(코카인), OPI(아편), 대마(THC). The E-2 medical exam is a general physical exam, meaning it includes basic tests such as blood sample, urine sample, x-ray scan, vision and hearing tests, etc.

You must get your medical exam completed at an accredited hospital listed on the Immigration Office's website. The list is usually updated every two months or so and so it is best to double check to make sure that if you are a renewing teacher that the hospital that you previously visited is still listed. For university hospitals it is mandatory to call and make an appointment. Some non-university hospitals may also let you make an appointment. We highly advise that you call and make sure the hospital is administrating the medical exam that is required for you to take.

Ask your co-teacher for a favor to call and make an appointment if needed. Keep in mind that you will have to fast before any blood tests, so try and have your co-teacher make as early an appointment as possible. You will also need to provide two standard passport size photos (3.5cm x 4.5cm). The results will more than likely take up to 3-4 days to process, at which point you will have to go back to the hospital to pick them up. The document needs to be in a sealed envelope and requires the hospital seal, which is usually stamped over the envelope and your picture on the document. Please do not open your hospital sealed copy of your medical exam reports until it is confirmed by the DMOE.

3. Tuberculosis Test (TB test)

The Ministry of Health and Welfare effective from March 2018 requires all schools to have a tuberculosis test completed by all school staff within the calendar year (January 1 to December 31). Please be sure to keep your copy of the medical exam report and use it to suffice for the current calendar year. During the school year, you will be asked by the school nurse if you have taken an x-ray scan recently for this requirement. Please keep the original medical exam report for your records and submit a copy to your school's nurse. If your school asks for the original medical exam report, please give the original and keep a copy. It is required that you complete a TB test every calendar year while you are employed with the DMOE. This means that if you decide to renew, you should always have the x-ray scan included in your mandatory medical exam for renewing your contract.

You may be asked by your school for the latent TB test. Schools vary on when this test will be required for teachers that haven't taken this test yet. If you are asked for an additional TB test other than x-ray, you will have to get it completed by the date requested. Your school should provide you with a name of a hospital that you can visit to get this test done. You only need to get this Latent TB test done once during your employment with the DMOE. So even if you decide to renew, you do not have to get another test done the following year unless there is a reason that you may need to get another test done. If you get a positive latent TB test result, you will be asked to complete additional tests by the hospital.

4. National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) Mandatory Medical Exam

The mandatory medical exam that your school is asking for you to take is not for our office or the school but for the NHIS. It is mandatory for all teachers Korean and NETs to be enrolled with the NHIS. And since the school enrolls the teachers on their behalf, they are notified by the NHIS when a teacher needs to get a mandatory health examination done. The mandatory NHIS medical examination is usually required every two years. It depends on the teachers' birth date and information on when their health insurance service started in order to determine who needs to take the exam. From our understanding the exam is done in order for the NHIS to determine the cost of how much you should be paying for health insurance. Those with a health condition that visits the hospital often may be required to pay more for health insurance as the plan covers some of their hospital bills.

Upon your arrival at the clinic/hospital (that your school should recommend you), you would say that you're there for the NHIS (건강보험공단) medical exam. The clinic/hospital will then put it on your chart and enter it on the database system with the NHIS (like an electronic report) that you have taken the required medical exam and the result of it. If you decide to stay another two years, and the policy of when we want to take your medical exam stays the same and the NHIS policy of having a medical exam every two years stays the same then in the next two years when you take the medical exam for your renewing contract, you would state that you are also there to take the NHIS (건강보험공단) medical exam. That way you would have both completed and any medical tests for our office that aligns with the NHIS's required medical tests can be applied if there are any.

There is no fee for taking this medical exam that NHIS is requiring, however, if the results of your exam indicates that additional tests needs to be taken, then you will have to pay a fee. Also, if you decide not to take the medical exam for NHIS there will be some sort of fine.