Getting a Criminal Background Check in California

I will preface this message by saying that I live in Southern California, therefore many of the steps to obtain a visa will be different than what you have to do. Also, I have not obtained my Visa yet so this is just my experience thus far.

The Visa that is required to teach English is the E-2 Visa. After quite a bit of research, I've found that this website is the most useful in explaining what is needed in order to get a Visa. A condensed list of what you need:
1) Citizenship from an English speaking country
2) University Degree (yes, must be the original)
3) 2 sets of University Transcripts
4) Passport
5) Criminal Background Check (The hardest part, see below)
6) Health Assessment form
7) Interview with Korean Consulate

The first thing I would suggest working on is the Criminal Background Check. It takes the longest time, most amount of work, and is valid for 6 months after you receive it. We started by calling our local police department and telling them that we needed an appointment to get a Live Scan, which is a state-wide check (County-wide or local checks aren't good enough, and Federal Checks are unnecessary and take much longer to process). We were told to fill out this form, print it out, and come to the station with $42 and the form. We got to the station, they fingerprinted us, and then we waited for the background check to come in the mail. Within two weeks, we both had received them and the next step was to get them notarized, authenticated by a county clerk, and then get an Apostille (pronounced uh-PAW-steel). If you are in Southern California I am going to tell you the EASIEST way to get these steps done. So easy, in fact, you can easily do it in one day with these three steps:

1) Drive to:
12400 E. Imperial Hwy
Norwalk, CA 90650
Get your background check notarized on the 5th floor, room 5214 (Cost = $20).
(562) 462-1878

2) In the same building, go down to the 2nd floor, room 2001 and get the notarization authenticated (Cost = $9).
(562) 462-2060

3) Drive to Ronald Regan Building
300 S. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Proceed to the 12th floor, 12513 to get an Apostille (Cost = $26)
(213) 897-3062

I tried to 'make it easier' for us by trying to get the first two steps done in Van Nuys, since we happened to be in that area at the time. Big mistake, just follow the steps above, trust me. So first I called the County Clerk in Van Nuys and asked if I could get a notary public's signature authenticated there. He said, "Yes, but that the notary public MUST have been sworn in by the Van Nuys office." So I started calling notary publics. No one knew what I was talking about. I finally settled with a lady that seemed like she was sworn in at the Van Nuys office, but looking back I think she was just trying to get money from us. I asked her how much it would be and she said $50 for both documents, which I thought was steep but we wanted this all to be done so we were willing to pay it. Ten minutes later she calls me and says, "I'm sorry, I told you the wrong price, it will be $30 for both documents." Ok... so we show up to her house, get the notary, pay $15 per document and leave to the Van Nuys office. After waiting in line, the county clerk says, I'm sorry this notary public was not sworn in at our office, you need to go to Norwalk." Woo-hoo, waste of time!

But wait, that's not all! I go to the 2nd floor to try to get her signature authenticated and the county clerk in Norwalk says, "I'm sorry, but her signature does not match the way she signed her oath. You can go up to the 5th floor and get another notary." The county clerk also suggested I try to get a refund from the notary public.

This is what it is supposed to look like:

This is what our documents looked like:


To me personally, it looks like the same person's signature, just a lot messier. But I also understand the county clerk not being able to authenticate it. I tried calling Carmen Herrera to get a refund from her, but she wasn't having it. She sent me this exact text message, typos and all: "I did my job who ever told you my signature was not right they dont know what their talking about I sing documents everyday that is my job."

So anyway, after all that I had to start from step one. But then it all worked out fine. As of now, I have the necessary documents, except I am still waiting on my Diploma. For some reason, UCSB waits about four months to send out your diploma. If you plan on doing something like this right after graduating, I suggest putting a rush on your Diploma as soon as possible.

Boring so far, but I'm hoping the closer I get to departure date, the more exciting things I'll have to talk about. And even more exciting stuff once I'm there!