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Seoul searching for 2010 visas
Korean nationals hoping to take in some of the winter games in 2010 are furious that the Canadian embassy in Seoul has delayed announcing who among the applicants are eligible for visas.
The mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo reported that the Canadian Embassy delayed the announcement twice already, incurring lots of grumblings from the local Korean applicants for working holiday visas in Canada.
The embassy has been in the process of evaluating the eligibility of applicants' visas since Jan. 7, 2008.
It was supposed to announce the result of the visa eligibility on Jan. 23, 2008.
The daily continued to report that a growing number of Canadian visa applicants are leaving letters of complaint on the bulletin board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's website.
One letter says that a lot of Koreans lost faith in Canada as it failed to deliver its promise. Many are demanding an official apology from the embassy.
For some applicants, their life schedule is being damaged because of the Canadian Embassy's “dillydallying” attitude.
"How could the embassy damage my life like this, I even quit my job because of this working holiday opportunity," says another letter.
They are clamoring for the Korean government to be involved in this problem.
Working holiday programs in Canada are very popular among the local people who want to seize the two goals of both practicing English and making some money at the same time.
Last year, there were 2,300 applicants for the working holiday programs in Canada, and only 800 were turned out to be successful ones.
More than 28,000 young Koreans are working and enjoying holidays in Australia, making Korea the second largest holder of the working holiday visa after the United Kingdom for the country.
Between July 2006 and June 2007, 28,562 working holiday visas were issued to Koreans, and since then the number has steadily grown.
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