A reference page for people finishing a language assistant year in Spain with Meddeas or ConversaSpain. What carries over, what Korea asks for on top, what the contract pays and when you would have to apply. Written by Korvia Consulting, a Seoul recruiter and EPIK's exclusive international recruiting partner since 2008. Our support is free to teachers.
2006
Korvia founded in Seoul
10,000+
Teachers placed in Korea
2008
Official EPIK partner since
₩0
Fee to teachers
Quick Answer
Published . Figures are checked against EPIK's published schedule and Korvia's placement records each intake; the full requirements are on Korvia's EPIK eligibility page, and the E-2 visa itself is explained in the E-2 visa guide.
Five things change: your status, your pay, the length of the contract, what the school provides and your role in the classroom.
EPIK is the government program: you can apply directly through its office, through the MOU/MOA organizations it lists, or through its recruiting-agency route, which is contracted to a consortium led by Korvia (listed on epik.go.kr as Korvia Consulting and Korean Horizons). Hagwons are private academies that hire year-round. Province-by-province pay is on the EPIK salary levels page, city-by-city hagwon pay on hagwon salary by city, and the two routes are compared line by line in the EPIK vs hagwon table below.
A completed placement abroad, whichever program ran it, is a record Korvia can put in front of a Korean school — and Meddeas notes that only one in three of its applicants is selected (Meddeas brochure).
An assistantship runs 15 to 24 teaching hours a week depending on your program and region. EPIK caps classroom teaching at 22 hours inside a 40-hour week (EPIK contract terms), so the teaching load itself will feel familiar. The hours around it will not: Korea expects you at the school for the whole working day.
Both programs put you beside a main teacher rather than in front of your own class. The primary duty of an EPIK teacher is co-teaching English with a Korean English teacher, so the pairing carries over. What changes is authorship: in Korea you plan the lesson and you own the outcome.
EPIK hires at Level 2 and above, and a 100-hour TEFL-type certificate is what puts you there unless your degree or teaching license is already in an education field. What you hold depends on which program you were on, so check your program below before you assume you are covered.
You have already handled a foreign healthcare system, housing in a language you were still learning and, if you needed one, a visa. Schools ask whether a first-time applicant will finish the contract; a completed placement abroad answers that. Korea's first-month steps are on the arrival checklist.
The route into Korea is the same whichever program you were on. What differs is the certificate you finish with, and whether your passport clears Korea's visa rule at all. Find yours below.
Language Assistant
Meddeas places Language Assistants in Spanish schools on a 6, 8 or 9-month placement, with a host family or independent housing, and funds an ESL Graduate Course at a Spanish university while you teach.
20–24 teaching hours a week
€409–€1,267 a month, set by your hours, group size and housing choice
6, 8 or 9 months
Primary and secondary schools
The course is funded by the program and issued by a Spanish university: 360 hours, or 225 if you started in January. EPIK wants 100 hours or more of TEFL-type training unless you hold a teaching license or a degree in Education, Teaching, TESOL or Second Language Studies, and it classifies certificates case by case. Send Korvia the certificate with the hours and the issuing university printed on it and we will get you EPIK's answer before you submit anything. TEFL certificate guide
EPIK asks for schooling from grade 7 and a degree from one of the seven E-2 countries. Meddeas recruits native English, French and German speakers, so its alumni hold a wide range of passports and some studied in Spain. If either your passport or your university sits outside those seven countries, ask Korvia to check before you spend a euro on apostilles.
Auxiliar de Conversación
ConversaSpain places Auxiliares de Conversación in public schools in two regions, four days a week. The Regional Education Authority sets the hours, the stipend and the term, so Madrid and Murcia differ.
16 teaching hours a week, over 4 days
€1,000 a month, tax-free
8 months, November to June
Nursery, primary and secondary schools
15 teaching hours a week, over 4 days
€857 a month, tax-free
7 months, November to May
Primary and secondary schools
Every participant gets a Certificate of Completion issued by the school. That is a reference, not a teaching qualification, and EPIK will not count it toward the 100-hour requirement. The 140-hour TEFL course is a paid add-on to the ConversaSpain package: if you took it, you clear EPIK's bar. If you skipped it, budget four to eight weeks for an accredited 100-hour course before you apply. TEFL options
ConversaSpain takes applicants from Fiji, Malta, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, and from a list of European countries plus Singapore on a C2 English certificate. Korea's E-2 visa is limited to the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and no English certificate substitutes for the passport. ConversaSpain also accepts students in their second year; Korea requires the degree finished and in hand. If either of those describes you, settle it with Korvia before you spend money on anything else.
Hours, stipends and term lengths are published by Meddeas and by ConversaSpain (destinations · the role), and are set by the regional education authority in ConversaSpain's case. They change each academic year. Third-party summaries of these programs are often a year out of date, so check the operator's own page for your intake.
Both are legal E-2 positions, and most contracts include housing, as an apartment or an allowance toward one. The same items are listed for each so you can compare like with like.
Government program run by Korea's Ministry of Education
Private language academies; Korvia places at vetted ones
Swipe sideways to see both columns.
| Item | EPIK (public schools) | Hagwon (private academies) |
|---|---|---|
| Employer | A provincial or metropolitan office of education, placed through EPIK (Ministry of Education) | A private academy; you contract with the academy directly |
| Base salary | ₩2.2M to ₩2.8M a month for the levels being hired (Level 2 and up), by level and province; top grades in Seoul and Chungbuk reach ₩3.0M | ₩2.1M to ₩3.0M a month by school type and experience |
| Typical first-year pay | Level 2 with a 100-hour TEFL: ₩2.2M to ₩2.35M by province. Level 2+ needs a year of full-time teaching experience or an education-field master's on top (whether a Language Assistant year counts is EPIK's call) | After-school academies ₩2.1M to ₩2.5M; English kindergartens ₩2.2M to ₩2.8M; adult and test-prep academies ₩2.3M to ₩3.0M |
| Housing | Furnished single apartment, rent-free; you pay utilities (about ₩80K to ₩150K a month). Where an office cannot supply one it pays a monthly stipend (SMOE in Seoul: about ₩500K) | Furnished apartment, or a ₩300K to ₩500K monthly housing allowance |
| Airfare | An entrance allowance of ₩1.3M to ₩1.8M instead of a ticket, paid after your first contract month (after six months in Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Jeju and Chungbuk) and repayable if the contract ends within six months | Round-trip airfare is often included, paid on arrival or at completion; confirm it in the contract |
| Settlement and completion money | ₩300K settlement allowance on arrival; ₩1.3M to ₩1.8M completion bonus at the end of the contract. Seoul, Gyeonggi and Jeju pay a ₩1.3M exit allowance at the end of the final contract instead; SMOE and GEPIK release it as a flight-home reimbursement after you leave Korea | Not standard; anything beyond salary, housing, airfare and severance is contract-specific |
| Severance | About one month's salary after a completed 12-month contract, as Korean labor law requires | About one month's salary after a completed 12-month contract, as Korean labor law requires |
| Health insurance and pension | National Health Insurance and National Pension, with the employer paying half of each | The same statutory enrollment; the contract should list both (missing enrollment is a red flag) |
| Working hours | Monday to Friday, 8:40 AM to 4:40 PM; up to 22 teaching hours a week | Usually 25 to 30 teaching hours a week. After-school academies run about 2 PM to 9 PM on weekdays; English kindergartens about 9 AM to 2 PM |
| Paid vacation | 26 days in most offices of education (Seoul/SMOE 21) plus Korean national holidays | Typically 10 to 11 days plus Korean national holidays |
| Classroom | Co-teaching with a Korean English teacher in a public elementary, middle or high school | Usually your own classes, often small groups, by age band or test focus |
| Where you live | You state preferences; the office of education assigns the school and city | You choose the city and apply to academies there |
| Hiring calendar | Two intakes a year: Spring (arrive late February; apply August to January) and Fall (arrive late August; apply February to July) | Year-round; about 6 to 12 weeks from application to arrival |
| Orientation | Mandatory EPIK orientation before the contract starts; lodging and meals provided, the days themselves unpaid | Varies by academy; larger chains run in-house training |
| Contract | 12 months, renewable with the same office (renewal bonuses vary by province) | 12 months, terms negotiable before signing |
| Better fit for | Alumni who want a national program with set terms, an orientation and a predictable school-day schedule | Alumni who finish in Spain in June and want to start before September, or who want to choose their city |
Sources: EPIK pay scale and benefits on epik.go.kr (updated 4 May 2026 for the Fall 2026 intake), with province and contract details on Korvia's EPIK salary levels, EPIK benefits and EPIK contract pages. Hagwon figures are Korvia's placement ranges from the hagwon jobs and hagwon hiring timeline pages. Both sides revise their terms each year; the contract you sign is what applies.
Spanish terms end in May or June: Murcia in May, Madrid in June, Meddeas in May or mid-June. Korea's public-school window for the August intake is open through July, so it overlaps your last months in the classroom. That overlap is the whole game — apply from Spain and you can go straight across; apply from home and you are waiting for the following February.
EPIK Spring 2027 intake
Fits alumni who finish in June: summer at home, documents gathered, application in by early fall.
EPIK Fall 2027 intake
For alumni finishing in June 2027. It only works if you apply during your final term in Spain, so request your criminal record check early.
Hagwon
The shorter lead time of the two, and the route where you choose the city.
EPIK publishes the opening dates and the intakes: applications open 1 August for the Spring term and 1 February for the Fall term, with main intakes in late February and late August and late intakes in March and April, or September and October (epik.go.kr). EPIK does not publish a closing date. The end months above are Korvia's guidance from placing teachers each intake, and they stretch later if you are willing to take a late intake. The EPIK application timeline page and the hagwon hiring timeline are updated when the dates change.
Five steps, about 12 to 16 weeks from the first form to your classroom. Korvia checks your documents before they go to EPIK.
Start with the short pre-application form. Name Meddeas or ConversaSpain so your file goes to the coordinator who handles alumni placements, and so we know which certificate to check first.
Open the pre-application form →A Korvia coordinator checks your passport country, degree, criminal record check and certificates against EPIK's published requirements, then sends a document checklist. Apostille lead times differ by country, so this happens early.
EPIK's six eligibility requirements →For EPIK, Korvia checks your application and submits it to the program. For hagwons, Korvia matches you with vetted academies and shares the contract before you commit.
EPIK vs hagwon for a first Korea job →EPIK interviews are held online, so you can complete them from Spain or from home. Hagwon interviews are a video call with the school director.
EPIK application timeline →Korvia guides the visa application; the Korean consulate makes the decision. EPIK teachers attend the mandatory orientation before the contract starts; hagwon teachers are met by the school.
E-2 visa guide →Related reading: applying to EPIK directly vs through Korvia · how Korvia is paid · teacher testimonials
The criminal record check and apostilles come from your home country and set the pace of the whole application. EPIK asks for some documents with the initial application and the rest after the interview.
Passport
From the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, valid well beyond your contract.
Bachelor's degree After the EPIK interview
Any field, 3 or 4 years, and finished. EPIK's eligibility page also requires your schooling from grade 7 and your university to be in one of the seven countries; if you studied elsewhere, a Spanish university for example, ask Korvia to check before you apply. The original or a notarized copy must be apostilled. Diploma guide · Apostille guide
National criminal record check After the EPIK interview
Issued by your country of citizenship and apostilled. Start this first: Ireland's Garda certificate alone takes 4 to 6 weeks, and the apostille comes after. Criminal record check guide
Sealed university transcripts After the EPIK interview
Requested from your university; EPIK requires them sealed. Transcripts guide
Letter from your Spanish school Ask for it before you leave
This is the one document your Spanish school can write and nobody else can, and it gets much harder to chase once the school year is over and you have flown home. EPIK calls it a Proof of Full-Time Teaching Experience letter, and it has to carry all of it: the subjects you taught and the grades or ages of your students, your teaching hours per week, the exact start and end dates, your status, your full legal name, the typed issuance date, school letterhead, the writer's ink signature and typed name, and contact details. It has to come from a supervisor: your director, head teacher or the administrative office. Item 12 on the EPIK document checklist
Be realistic about what it buys you. EPIK counts full-time teaching for salary leveling, and an assistantship at 15 to 24 hours a week is usually not classified that way. Ask Korvia to look at the letter before you spend weeks on it — it still helps a hagwon director read your year correctly even when it does not move your EPIK level.
Proof of English-medium schooling If applicable
South African citizens and Canadian citizens from Quebec: schooling in English from grade 7 through university. Korean citizens with legal residency in one of the seven countries: the same. Applicants who emigrated to one of the seven countries: English-language schooling from grade 7 onward. EPIK eligibility details
TEFL / TESOL / CELTA certificate
100 hours or more; it sets your pay level, and without one EPIK classifies you as Level 3, which no office of education is hiring. Exempt: a teaching license, a B.Ed. or M.Ed., or a major in Teaching, TESOL, Second Language Studies or another Education field. What Spain gave you differs by program — check yours. TEFL options
Passport photos Initial application
Recent, 3.5 × 4.5 cm, plain background. Photo guide
Two letters of recommendation Initial application
Scanned copies are fine for the initial application; the original ink-signed letters go with your final documents after the EPIK interview. A reference from your placement school, your co-teacher or your program advisor fits. Recommendation letter guide
Sample lesson plan and personal essay Initial application
Written by you, not by AI. Korvia reviews both before submission. Application document checklist · Final documents
EPIK places teachers across all 17 provinces and metropolitan cities. You state preferences; the office of education assigns. Seoul and the top provincial grades pay the most, and some provinces add a ₩100K monthly allowance for rural schools. Hagwon placements work the other way round: you choose the city first, and Korvia finds the academy.
Yes, if your passport is from one of the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa and you hold a finished bachelor's degree. Citizenship and the degree are Korean immigration's conditions for the E-2 teaching visa, alongside an apostilled clean criminal record and a health check. EPIK adds its own rules: a 100-hour TEFL-type certificate unless you hold a teaching license or an Education, Teaching, TESOL or Second Language Studies degree, and an upper age limit in line with Korea's retirement age, which EPIK does not publish as a fixed number, so ask Korvia for the current cutoff. Neither Meddeas nor ConversaSpain changes the citizenship rule, and both accept nationalities that Korea does not. Schooling can still matter: South African citizens and Canadian citizens from Quebec need schooling in English from grade 7 through university, and the same proof is asked of Korean citizens with legal residency in one of those countries and of applicants who emigrated to one of the seven countries.
Only if that EU passport is Irish. Korean immigration issues E-2 English-instruction visas to citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa; Ireland is the one EU member state on that list, so Irish alumni apply exactly like UK or US alumni. Any other EU citizenship does not qualify for an E-2 visa whatever your English level, and a C2 certificate does not substitute for the passport even though it may have qualified you for your Spanish placement. Korvia cannot place you in EPIK or hagwon English-teaching roles. We would rather tell you that now than after you have gathered documents.
Often not, and it is worth knowing before you chase paperwork. EPIK levels teaching experience on full-time classroom teaching, evidenced by a letter that states your status as full-time. A language assistant post at 15 to 24 teaching hours a week over part of an academic year is usually not classified that way. What moves your level reliably is the qualification: a 100-hour TEFL-type certificate, a teaching license, or a degree in an education field. Get the letter from your Spanish school anyway — it costs you one conversation before you leave, it is the sort of thing a hagwon director reads closely, and Korvia can put the question to EPIK on your behalf.
It depends which one you hold. Meddeas funds an ESL Graduate Course issued by a Spanish university, 360 hours or 225 for a January start, and that is a real candidate — EPIK classifies certificates case by case, so send Korvia the certificate with the hours and issuing university on it and we will get an answer before you submit. ConversaSpain's standard Certificate of Completion is issued by your school as a reference and will not count; its 140-hour TEFL course is a paid add-on, and if you took it you clear EPIK's 100-hour bar. If neither applies, an accredited online 100-hour course usually fits inside the application window; EPIK lets you apply before the certificate is finalized as long as it is issued at least six weeks before your arrival date.
It depends on whether you apply during your final term or after it. EPIK's main intakes arrive in late February and late August, and applications for the August one open on 1 February — which is exactly when you are still teaching in Spain. EPIK does not publish a closing date; in Korvia's experience the practical cut-off for that intake falls around July, later if you will take a September or October late intake. Terms end in May in Murcia, June in Madrid, and May or mid-June with Meddeas. Apply while you are still there and an August start is tight but real. Wait until you are home and the next opening is 1 August, for a late-February arrival: about eight months after your Spanish contract ends. Hagwons are the exception. They hire year-round, six to twelve weeks out, so a summer start is possible either way. The full calendar is on the EPIK application timeline page.
No. Korvia is paid by the schools and programs that hire you, never by teachers: no deposit, no placement fee and no charge for document review or interview preparation. You can also apply to EPIK directly through epik.go.kr at no cost. The difference with Korvia is document review, interview preparation and a named coordinator, not price.
Partly. The UK, Australian and New Zealand checks are online applications you can start from Spain, but each still needs a home-country address: the UK Basic DBS requires a current UK delivery address, some Australian providers require an Australian postal address, and the New Zealand certificate is posted to you. Ireland's Garda Police Certificate takes 4 to 6 weeks and is then apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs; South African alumni use the SAPS police clearance certificate. It is the slowest of the seven: about 8 to 10 weeks with a DIRCO walk-in or 14 to 20 weeks by post, plus 4 to 6 weeks for the DIRCO apostille, so start it before anything else. The US FBI check is fastest through an FBI-approved channeler, though channelers cannot always process applications filed from outside the US, so many applicants roll their prints on a trip home. Canada's RCMP check needs fingerprints taken at an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting company, a Commissionaires office or a police service. The apostille comes after the certificate is issued. Korvia's country guides list the current route for each.
Yes. The pre-application, document review and EPIK interview are all online. The documents that need a physical process, the criminal record check and apostilles, are issued by your home country, so plan to request them before you leave Spain or ask family to help. The E-2 visa itself is issued by a Korean consulate, normally in your home country.
No. EPIK and hagwon positions are English-only teaching roles, and Korean co-teachers or academy staff handle communication with parents and administration. Many teachers pick up conversational Korean during their first year, the way you picked up Spanish.
Korvia is the Korea side of it. Meddeas introduced Korvia Consulting to its alumni as its trusted partner organization in South Korea for those who want to continue teaching abroad, in its 2026 alumni newsletter and program flyer. With ConversaSpain, Korvia produces a co-branded information sheet for alumni weighing a move to Korea. Korvia has been EPIK's exclusive international recruiting partner since 2008, as the lead of the consortium that holds EPIK's recruiting-agency contract (Korean Horizons is the consortium's other member), and has placed more than 10,000 teachers in Korea since 2006. Whichever program you were on, your file is handled by Korvia — neither Spanish program processes Korea applications, and neither charges you for this.
More answers on the Korvia FAQ and the Korvia alumni page.
Fill in Korvia's short pre-application form and name your program. A coordinator will check your eligibility, tell you which route and intake fit your dates, and send your document list. No fee at any stage.
Meddeas (meddeas.com) and ConversaSpain (conversaspain.com) are trademarks of their operators; logos are used to identify the programs this page is written for. Spanish program figures are taken from each operator's own published material and change every academic year — confirm yours with the program. This page is general information about EPIK and hagwon hiring, not immigration or legal advice. Salary, allowance and intake figures are set by EPIK, provincial offices of education and individual academies and change every year; confirm your own case with EPIK or Korea Immigration (HiKorea) before you commit, and Korvia confirms current terms with you before you sign anything. Reviewed by the Korvia Editorial Team. Published .