A Ugandan who applied for a visa to work as an English teacher in Seoul was turned down based on his nationality. According to the South Korean Immigration Control Act, only people from eight designated English-speaking countries are allowed to work as English teachers in the country.
However, an appeal has been launched on the back of this judgement by Migrants Center Friend, an immigrant rights group, on the basis that it discriminates against people due to their nationality, rather than on their ability to teach English. The Ugandan, whose identity has been withheld, had earned a TESOL certificate while studying in South Korea.
“The problem is that [the Ugandan] was denied an opportunity to work as an English teacher not because of language skills, but because of the Ugandan nationality,” Lee Ye-ji, an attorney for the immigrants’ group, told the Yonhap news agency.
