You signed the contract, you got the apostilled documents through, you have the E-2 visa stamp in your passport, and now you’re staring at the boarding pass wondering what actually happens after you land. The recruiter said “we’ll take care of it.” Sometimes that’s true. Often it means the bus from Incheon and a key to your apartment, and the rest, the SIM and the bank and the ARC and the apartment Wi-Fi and the T-money card, is on you.
Korvia Consulting has been placing English teachers in Korea since 2006, and the team behind Kimchi Mobile has been selling foreigner SIMs since 2018. The checklist below is what we hand to teachers who walk into our Suwon shop in their first week. It’s ordered the way Korea actually makes you do it. Skipping a step or doing them in the wrong order is the most common reason teachers spend their first month frustrated.
What does a typical first week in Korea actually look like for an E-2 teacher?
If you arrived on a Saturday, your week roughly looks like this:
- Day 1 (Saturday): Land at Incheon. Pickup or bus to your placement city. Apartment key. Sleep.
- Day 2 (Sunday): Orientation half-day if EPIK, free day if hagwon. Convenience store run for shampoo, towel, slippers.
- Day 3 (Monday): First day at the school. Health check appointment scheduled at a designated hospital.
- Day 4-5: Health check (urine, blood, chest X-ray, height, weight, vision). Results take 3-5 business days.
- Day 6-10: Submit ARC application at the local immigration office once the health check passes. Open a bank account. Get a SIM card with your name on it.
- Day 11-20: ARC issued, pickup in person. Sign your real postpaid contract if you want one. Set up KakaoTalk, Naver, Toss, and the food delivery apps.
The early bottleneck is the health check → ARC → bank → phone loop. Each step unlocks the next, and almost all of them require the Korean phone number, which is why your phone needs to be the first thing you sort.
What should you sort out BEFORE you fly to Korea?
You can save yourself a frantic first 48 hours by doing five things at home:
- Bring printed copies of every document, even ones you’ve emailed. Apostilled criminal background check, apostilled degree, signed contract, sealed transcripts, FBI fingerprint result if US. Korean offices still ask for paper. A photocopy shop near your school will be your first errand if you don’t have copies.
- Unlock your phone with your home carrier. Verizon postpaid phones unlock automatically after 60 days. AT&T and T-Mobile both have their own waiting periods (usually 60 days, sometimes longer for prepaid). The exact rule depends on your plan, so check before you fly. A locked iPhone will accept a Korean physical SIM in some cases but won’t activate a Korean eSIM cleanly.
- Order a Korean eSIM or prepaid SIM that lands the day you do. Not a tourist roaming plan. A real Korean number you can give to your school, the bank, and immigration on day 1. We’ll come back to this.
- Set up a backup payment method. A Wise account, a Charles Schwab debit card (no foreign ATM fee), or PayPal with a USD balance. Your home bank card will work in Korea ATMs but the fees stack fast.
- Download the apps you’ll need on day 1: KakaoTalk, Naver Map, Papago, Kakao T (taxi), Coupang Eats or Baemin (food delivery). KakaoTalk in particular asks for a Korean number to register, which is the next problem.
If your recruiter sent you a “do not bring” list (some appliances, certain medications), follow it.
What happens on arrival day at Incheon Airport?
The flight is 12-14 hours from the US East Coast, 10-11 from the West Coast. You’ll land tired. Two things matter at Incheon:
- Immigration. Have your E-2 visa stamp, contract, and the school’s address ready. The officer will sometimes ask “what city” and “which school”. Don’t say tourism.
- Connectivity. You’ll be walking out of the arrival hall to either a school pickup or a bus ticket counter. Both want to text or call you. If your phone has no Korean number, you’ll be on the airport free Wi-Fi tethering off KakaoTalk, which works but is fragile.
The lowest-friction setup is to have a Korean eSIM activated before customs, so your phone has Korean data by the time you reach the arrival hall. Our Welcome SIM range covers exactly this case: prepaid Korean number, ARC-upgradable later, activated before you land.
If your phone is eSIM-incompatible (older Android, locked US iPhone, eSIM-disabled in firmware), the alternative is a physical SIM pickup at the Incheon Airport pickup desk. You can also wait and buy one in your city the next morning, but you’ll spend the first night without a Korean number.
Why does your phone number have to come first, and how do you do it right?
Here’s what most new teachers don’t know: in Korea, your phone number is your identity online. It’s how you log into bank apps, how Naver and KakaoTalk recognize you, how the bank sends one-time passwords, how the ARC office texts you the pickup date, and how the food delivery driver tells you he’s outside.
A passport-only prepaid SIM is fine for week one, but it won’t pass the SMS check for opening a Toss account, signing a real postpaid contract, or registering for PCCC (the customs code you need for Amazon or iHerb deliveries). Once your ARC is issued, you have to update your SIM line to be in your own name.
The cleanest pattern is:
- Land with a prepaid SIM in your passport name (Welcome SIM or similar).
- Get your ARC in week two or three.
- Convert the SIM to be registered under your ARC, either by visiting our shop with the ARC, or by upgrading to a postpaid plan.
Skip step 3 and you’ll keep hitting “verification failed” walls on every Korean app for the rest of your contract.
A note for EPIK teachers: many of you will be told at orientation “your phone will be handled.” What that usually means is a group deal where the school provides a SIM, sometimes registered to a coordinator. Verify whose name the line is in. If it’s not yours, you’re going to hit the same verification wall in three weeks. See our EPIK SIM deal for an ARC-registered alternative.
How do you actually open a Korean bank account in your first week?
You can open a basic account at Woori, KB Kookmin, Hana, or NongHyup with only a passport in the first weeks before ARC, but the account is restricted. Restricted means: no online banking, no debit card you can use for international purchases, low transfer limits, no easy way to receive your salary.
The unrestricted account requires:
- Your ARC (or at least the receipt that proves your ARC application is in process)
- Your Korean phone number, registered to you
- Your address (your school dorm or your own apartment)
- Your employment contract
Practical sequence that works:
- Week 1: Open a passport-only account at a branch near your school. You can deposit your sign-on payment and pay your first month of bills.
- Week 2-3: ARC application submitted. The branch will not yet upgrade you.
- Week 4 or so: ARC issued. Walk back into the same branch with the ARC, request the upgrade, get a full debit card and online banking access.
- Same week: Open a Toss account. Toss is the de facto fintech app for foreigners in Korea. It needs your ARC-registered phone number to pass the verification SMS, which is again why the SIM line under your own name matters.
If your school is in a smaller city, NongHyup (NH) and Woori are the safest bets for English service. KB has the best English app. Hana is the most foreigner-friendly historically but has shrunk its English support.
When do you apply for your ARC, and what changes once you have it?
Your school’s manager (the 부장 or HR coordinator) will usually drive you to the immigration office between week 2 and week 4 for the ARC application. You’ll need:
- Passport with E-2 visa stamp
- Health check result (from the designated hospital)
- One passport photo (3.5×4.5cm, white background)
- ARC application fee (₩30,000)
- Apostilled criminal background check from your home country (FBI for US, ACIC for AU, DBS for UK, etc.). Often kept by the immigration officer at submission.
- Proof of address in Korea (a letter from your school’s HR usually works)
Processing takes 2-4 weeks. The card itself is picked up in person. The 13-digit ARC number, however, becomes useful immediately because immigration emails you a confirmation.
What the ARC unlocks, in rough order:
- Full bank account
- Postpaid mobile contract in your name
- PCCC for international shopping (read our PCCC guide)
- National Health Insurance enrollment (automatic, usually deducted from salary)
- Toss, Naver Pay, Kakao Pay
- Long-term housing lease as the primary tenant
Lose the physical card, and you’ll spend ₩30,000 and 2 weeks getting a replacement. Photograph both sides and store it in a password manager the day you receive it.
What costs hit in month one that nobody warns you about?
EPIK and most hagwons cover housing and round-trip airfare on contract completion. They almost never cover these:
| Cost | Typical ₩ |
|---|---|
| Health check at designated hospital | 60,000-100,000 (reimbursed by some hagwons, not EPIK) |
| ARC application fee | 30,000 |
| First-month utilities (electricity, water, gas, internet) | 80,000-150,000 |
| Initial groceries and apartment setup (towels, bedding, kitchen basics) | 200,000-400,000 |
| T-money card and first top-up | 4,000 + 50,000 |
| First month of Korean mobile plan | 30,000-50,000 |
| KakaoTalk emoticons your students will judge you on | optional but real |
| Total cushion to bring: | ~$700-1,200 USD |
Your first paycheck typically lands at the end of month one or middle of month two, depending on contract. EPIK pays at the end of the month of work. Many hagwons pay on the 5th-15th of the following month. Plan for 5-7 weeks of float on your own funds.
Quick FAQ
Do I need a Korean SIM before I land in Incheon?
You don’t strictly need one, but you should. Without a Korean number you can’t be reached by your school pickup, the ARC office, or the bank. A Korean eSIM activated before you land is the lowest-friction option.
Can I open a Korean bank account with just my passport?
Yes, but the account is restricted (no online banking, no functional debit card). You’ll need your ARC for a full account.
Which carrier is best for foreign teachers?
The big three (KT, SKT, LG U+) all work for postpaid once you have your ARC. For the prepaid month before ARC, a foreigner-focused MVNO is faster and cheaper. Our MVNO foreigner guide covers the differences.
How long does the ARC actually take?
2-4 weeks from application to pickup. The ARC number is confirmed by email earlier than the physical card.
Will my school help me with all of this?
Usually with some of it, almost never with all of it. EPIK orientation covers the basics. Hagwon support varies wildly by school. Either way, do not rely on the school to know what a 2026 PCCC requires or which MVNO is best for foreigners.
Get the phone right first, the bank account second, and the ARC will pull everything else into place. Most of the frustration first-year teachers describe on r/teachinkorea comes from doing those three in the wrong order.
If you’d rather hand the SIM step off, our Welcome SIM range is set up for exactly this case: prepaid Korean number on day one, transfers to your ARC the week your card arrives, no contract pressure.
Internal links worth keeping bookmarked: