Documents Required to Apply for General Training Visa (D-4) for Malaysian

For Malaysian who wants to study Korean at university-run language school, they have two options for the visa.

(1) Study for one semester (less than 90 days) – no visa is required; as Malaysian can go to Korean without one if we stay less than 90 days.

(2) Study for two semester and more (more than 90days) – need to apply for General Training Visa (D-4) 

I sent an email to Korean Embassy in Malaysia for the checklist and received the checklist below:

MALAYSIAN NATIONALS - STUDENT VISA

For Malaysians, documents required for student visa application are:

1) Completed application form, 5 pages printed double-sided (attached)

2) One recent passport-sized color photo on white background

3) Original passport and its photocopy (main page only)

4) Admission documents from Korean university, including Certificate of Admission (original and photocopy)

5) Most recent graduation / school-leaving certificate (original and photocopy) OR Letter from home university to verify current student status if going for exchange program (original)

6) Certificate of Scholarship (original and photocopy) OR Personal bank statements for the latest 3 months, duly certified by bank in Malaysia, with balance not less than RM40,000 or the amount stated in the Certificate of Admission, whichever is higher

- if using parents' bank statements, please include copy of parents' IC and copy of student's birth certificate

7) Flight itinerary

8) Application fee, max. RM387, payable in cash

Additional documents may be requested upon assessment.

Application must be submitted over the counter at the Embassy between 8:30-11:30am Monday-Friday (except public holidays).

Processing takes at least 3 working days. No express service.

If applicant is unable to come personally, the representative should bring a copy of his/her own IC and an authorization letter from the applicant.

(Just for your easy reference, please refer to Korean Embassy for the latest documents and fees) 

P.s. I checked many website and other embassy website. Those websites stated that student need to provide 5,000 USD financial prove and 9,000 USD if study more than 6 months. However, I called to check with Korean Embassy in Malaysia, they said "the requirement of 10,000 USD has been there since FOREVER in Malaysia". I quoting what they say here word by word. 

The staff that I spoke with through the phone just reminded me why I hate to deal with Malaysia government staff :) 

How to Check Domestic & International Shipping Status When Buying from Gmarket

Firstly, to check how your order status, you need to click "My Gmarket" on the header of Gmarket page. It will bring you to the page where you can see all your orders and their status. 

To check domestic shipping status 

Domestic shipping refers to the shipping process from the seller to Gmarket warehouse. 

To check the domestic shipping status, you can click the "Tracking" button on the status column. 

In the Gmarket global version, there are basically three status for domestic shipping.

Preparing for shipment, Shipped to Warehouse, Arrival at Warehouse

If you are like me like to track and trace where is your parcel, even at the domestic delivery stage. You can check it on the Korean language page. Simple click on "Korean" on the header to change your Gmarket to Korean webpage. 

After you reach the Korean, you need to click "나의쇼핑" or the little human icon there to access your Gmarket account. 

As you can see, it basically same as the English page but if you click "배송추적", you can get the details for domestic shipping. 

This window will pop up and it shows you where your parcel go from seller to warehouse. 

However, what if you cannot understand Korean? No worries, if you use Google translate, it will direct translate the Korean words to English. 

Tracking for International Shipping - EMS 

If your parcel(s) has reach Gmarket warehouse, finish packaging and shipped out from warehouse, you can see the tracking number down there. For example, my shipping number was - EG165446355KR

I tried to use the tracking details button, but it will bring you to this page where they need you to install something, just click "cancel". There will another pop up, click "cancel" again. 

 

It will bring you to the EMS tracking page and you can see the shipment status.


Alternately, you can go to http://www.track-trace.com/post
Key in your EMS number, it will show the same result.
(but you do not need to log in to Gmarket every time to check the status)

You can also check from http://www.pos.com.my/ for your parcel status after your parcel reach Malaysia. As the shipping in Malaysia will be handle by POS Malaysia. 

PROMOTION 

Now, Gmarket is having shipping promotion for Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam. 

So if you are from these three country and you buy something from them within the promotion period (16th Mar - 30th Apr), you will be charged 5,000won ONLY. That is around RM 17. 

For those who have no idea how expensive is EMS. I brought some books just before the promotion. 

It was 2.38 kg and it cost me 21,990won, that is around RM 80!
I can save RM 63 if I buy it now... Imagine if I buy something heavier, how much more I can save.

Now, no matter how heavy is your parcel, they will charge you only 5,000won. 

So, go buy now! Especially if you want to buy something heavy (aka Korean books ;)), this is the time :) 

46th TOPIK in Malaysia

The 46th TOPIK will be held at 17th April 2016 and the application information is already up at Korea UKM blog. Go check it out if you are thinking of taking TOPIK too. The registration will start from 1st Feb until 17th Feb. 

Korea UKM blog - http://blog.naver.com/koreaukm 

Good luck to everyone! I hope that we can all obtain the grade that we want ^^ 

[KOREAN STUDY] Fun Korean Language Trip (FKLT) - Study in Korea for a Week! (Part 2)

This is part two for the Fun Korean Language Trip (FKLT). If you have not read part one, you can read it here. As mentioned earlier, we study Korean by K-pop and K-drama at Kyung Hee University. Kyung Hee University has three campuses, Seoul, Suwon, and Gwangneung. We studied at the Seoul campus in Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu,. 

The bus stop inside the campus. The green bus is shuttle bus to the Hoegi Station. Students usually take bus/subway to Heogi and take the shuttle bus to the campus. If you want to save some fare or do some walking exercise, you can walk from the station to the university too. It is around 15 minutes walk.

The famous building in Kyung Hee University. This is where ceremonies held. This is a building even the student study there would not go usually. I mean look at the slope. 

The building where the FKLT students study. 

The library. You need student ID to get into the library, which will be given by Kyung Hee University. 

We did "Yang Meori", literally translate as sheep head, a hat made of towel. This is what Koreans wear when they are in Jjimjilbang.

We met Lee Sun-ho and was given the chance to talk to him directly. All of us got signatures from him and took picture with him.

Free gift from FKLT. You can choose to take Korea Pass Card or cooking class. 

I chose to take the cooking class and we learnt to make Hobaktteok (호박떡) Pumpkin Rice Cake.

If you choose Korea Pass Card, they will give you a card with credit in it. You can use the card like a debit card. to buy things :) You can use the card as a transportation card too, but remember to reload it first before using, as the credit for purchasing and transportation is separate. 

Korean buddies - each of us was pair with a Korean buddy. The Korean buddies brought us to a campus tour and lunch :) Our friends even went for field trip with their buddies!

Closing ceremony - the ceremony held on Friday (last day of the class).After we finish the class, we gathered at the auditorium. We received our certificates and took a lot of pictures. 

Overall, this is a fun and interesting programme. I get to experience how is it to study in Korea, living with Korean family, met friends from different countries and improve my Korean. If you has been thinking to study abroad or Korean but could much commit much time or money, I think this is a really good short progranmme, where you get to experience studying Korean in Korea but does not need fork out a huge amount of money or take a long break from you are doing now. 

[KOREAN STUDY] Fun Korean Language Trip (FKLT) - Study in Korea for a Week! (Part 1)

Are you studying Korean now and looking for opportunity to study in Korean but afraid to commit long term because uncertain on how is it studying Korea? 
Are you interested in Kpop and wish to study Korean in Korea?
Are you interested to study Korean in Korea but could not commit too much time due to current study or work? 

If you are saying yes for either one question above, Fun Korean Language Trip is one of the options you can take to study Korean in Korea!   

I found out about this programme through KTO (Korea Tourism Organisation) Malaysia that we can go to Korea to study Korean for one week and I took the chance to experience this programme last summer. 

Organise by Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and Kyung Hee University Institute of International Education (IIE), this is a 7 days and 6 nights programme, where participant will be staying at Korea Stay arranged by agent, learn Korean through K-pop & K-drama at Kyung Hee University. Korea Stay is a KTO-certified accommodation homestay designed for people who would to experience real Korean life with the Korean homestay host. 

I checked in on Saturday, went for class from Monday to Friday and checked out on Sunday. You can choose to reach Korea earlier or stay longer for your own trip. 3 weeks before the programme, I received an email from the Alex, the agent who arrange for the homestay, with the details of the homestay owner and study plan (tables below). 

Host Info.
Address
Meal type
House Mate
For more information

Day 1		Arrival and check in Homestay	Homestay
Day 2	09:00-10:30	Orientation & placement interview
	10:30-11:00	Opening ceremony
	11:10-13:00	Korean language class Classroom
	14:00-16:00	Meeting with Korean language helper	Classroom
Day 3	09:00-10:50	Korean language class	Classroom
	11:10-13:00	Korean language thru drama
Day 4	09:00-10:50	Korean language class	Classroom
	11:10-13:00	Korean language thru drama
Day 5	09:00-10:50	Korean language class	Classroom
	11:10-13:00	Korean language thru drama
Day 6	09:00-10:50	Korean language class	Classroom
	11:10-13:00	Korean language thru drama
	13:00~13:30	Closing Ceremony
Day 7		Check out and departure

I contacted my homestay owner by email to arrange for check in time and meet up location.
When you are contacting with your homestay owner, make sure he/she gives you the sufficient information - correct full address, directions, when to meet up, do they provide shampoo/adapter, etc.

All you need to do next is to buy the flight ticket to Korea, pack you luggage and go to Korea. Next post, I will be sharing about my experience studying in Korea!