Working holiday and teaching English in Korea

If you're Australian and want to live in Korea for a year, there are two well-worn roads in. One is about freedom. The other is about a steady pay packet and a classroom full of kids who'll call you "Teacher" until you leave.

The short version

Korea's working holiday visa is the H-1, listed by Korea under short-term visits and tourism-related employment [1]. Australia is one of Korea's working holiday partners [2].
Teaching English needs an E-2 visa. Korea's visa system splits it into general conversation instructors, school assistant teachers and an FTA-related category [1].
Australians are on the list of seven nationalities eligible to teach on the public-school EPIK programme, which requires a bachelor's degree [3].
Private academies, called hagwons, usually pay a salary plus airfare and housing, with one month's severance at the end of the contract [4].
Most problems happen at hagwons, not in the classroom. Check the contract and the school before you sign.

Route 1: the H-1 working holiday

What it is

The working holiday is the light-touch option. It's for young people whose main purpose is a holiday, with casual work allowed to fund the trip. Korea classifies the H-1 in its short-term visit group, separate from professional employment visas [1]. Korea lists Australia among its working holiday partners [2], and the two-way traffic is big: in 2019–20, before COVID, Korea was Australia's fifth-largest source of working holidaymakers [5].

Who can apply

The Korean side sets the eligibility rules for Australians, including the age band, length of stay and the documents you need to apply. Australia's Department of Home Affairs says each partner country sets its own criteria and points applicants to that country's embassy in Australia for details [6]. So go to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Canberra or a Korean consulate for the current rules before you plan anything else.

What work you can do

The working holiday is meant for casual and short-term work: cafés, hospitality, tourism, farm stays, events. Some jobs are restricted, and teaching English at a private academy normally requires an E-2 instead. If a school offers to employ you as a teacher on your working holiday visa, that's a red flag, not a shortcut.

Route 2: teaching English on an E-2 visa

The basic requirements

To teach on an E-2, you generally need [3][4]:

Citizenship of one of seven countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States.
A bachelor's degree from an accredited university.
A clean national-level criminal record check.
Evidence of good health.

For Australians, the criminal record check means a national police check, and your degree and police check usually need to be authenticated for use in Korea. Your school or programme will tell you the exact format. Start early: it's the step most likely to slow you down.

Public schools: EPIK and TaLK

EPIK, the English Program in Korea, places native English speakers in public schools. Its rules in 2026 [3]:

Australian citizens are eligible.
You need at least a bachelor's degree.
A TEFL, TESOL or CELTA certificate isn't needed if you hold a teaching licence or a degree in education or TESOL; otherwise check which certificate EPIK expects.
The maximum age is 62.
Applicants with an associate degree or at least two years of university can apply to the separate TaLK programme instead.

EPIK runs recruitment rounds tied to the Korean school year, and its site shows the Fall 2026 application as open [3]. Check the current pay scale and benefits on the EPIK site, as they're set by the programme and updated from time to time.

Private academies: hagwons

Hagwons are private after-school academies, and they hire far more foreign teachers than public schools. A typical one-year hagwon contract includes [4]:

A monthly salary.
Return airfare from your home country.
A rent-free flat or a housing allowance.
One month's severance pay at the end of the contract.
Pension contributions for some nationalities.

Hours are usually afternoons and evenings, because students come after regular school.

EPIK vs hagwon at a glance

	EPIK public school	Hagwon private academy
Employer	Provincial or metropolitan education office	Private business owner
Hours	School day	Afternoons and evenings
Holidays	Set by the public school calendar	Often fewer, set by the academy
Location	Assigned by the programme	You choose the school and city
Typical benefits	Set by programme rules [3]	Salary, airfare, housing, severance [4]
Main risk	Less control over where you're placed	Employer quality varies widely [4]

The traps, and how to avoid them

Most foreign teachers in Korea have no serious problems with their school. But the complaints are consistent enough to plan for. Teachers have reported poor housing, late or missing pay, and being let go in the eleventh month, just before severance kicks in [4].

Before you sign a hagwon contract

Talk to a current or former foreign teacher. Ask the school for an email address. If it won't give you one, that tells you something.
Read every line of the contract. Teaching hours, overtime pay, sick leave, holidays, housing and the deposit, and what happens if either side ends the contract early.
Check who pays the housing deposit. Some schools pay it. Some expect you to.
Ask about pension and health insurance. You should know what's deducted from your pay and why.
Don't rely on online blacklists. They exist, but they aren't reliable [4]. Speak to real people.
Keep copies of everything. Your contract, payslips, and messages from your boss.

Hagwon hours

Since 2009 Seoul has limited how late hagwons can teach, with a 10 pm curfew that Korea's Constitutional Court upheld [4]. If you're asked to keep teaching behind closed shutters after hours, you're being asked to break the rules.

Which route suits you?

If you...	Consider
Want flexibility and travel, and don't have a degree	Working holiday
Have a degree and want to save money	E-2 teaching, EPIK or hagwon
Want a specific city such as Seoul	Hagwon, or apply carefully through EPIK
Want school holidays and a steady routine	EPIK
Have two years of uni but no degree	TaLK [3]

Practical tips before you go

Visa questions go to Korea, not Australia. The Australian Embassy in Seoul says it can't help with visa enquiries [7]. Ask the Korean embassy before you leave, or call 1345 once you're in Korea [1].
Notarial services are available in Seoul. If you need documents witnessed or certified while in Korea, the Australian Embassy offers notarial services by appointment and charges in Australian dollars [7].
Think about tax at home. A year in Korea can change your Australian tax residency. Read up before you go.
Find your people early. Join Cooee South Korea, our Facebook group for Australians in South Korea, and ask which schools people would happily work for again.

Working holiday and teaching English in Korea: two routes, very different rules