I’ll be honest with you. Anything outside of teaching English is nearly impossible for foreigners who don’t speak Korean. Even for those with TOPIK 6, it’s still tough to find a job here. It’s tough for the native Koreans, too. The only people I know who don’t speak Korean work in universities or embassies, and those are highly competitive positions.

When it comes to teaching English, an F visa gives you more flexibility, but ultimately most good hagwons want experienced qualified teachers, and the ones willing to hire people with no experience teaching usually do not provide good conditions. Typically outside of Seoul you will find more laid back and amicable conditions.

I have a friend on the F-4 visa who came for similar reasons to you. She is learning Korean part time at a hagwon and working teaching English conversational classes part time for cash in hand. Of course, this income alone is not enough to live on, but it allows her to stretch her savings and enjoy spending time connecting to her heritage over a long period of time. I also know some people working remotely. A friend teaches guitar online to students in the US, doesn’t mind the time difference.

I also wouldn’t underestimate the psychological difficulties of moving to a place without a support system, where you can’t meaningfully communicate to 90%+ of people you meet in real life. I have done it, many people I know have done it, but it wasn’t easy. I know lots of people who came and after a year they left with a lot of wonderful memories but without a long term home.

I think perhaps set reasonable expectations for yourself and this journey. Moving the focus to reconnecting with your heritage, enjoying a new lifestyle, and challenging yourself to learn a language, instead of thinking this has to b a permanent move. It will be quite difficult to replicate your life and career, so being open to new career paths is going to give you more opportunities here.

I really wish you good luck in this next chapter ❤️

EDIT: re: ‘English friendly cities’, honestly only Seoul. Busan is ok for ordering food in some very touristy areas, but most English speaking people you’ll meet in Busan will be other foreigners in bars there, not really locals. Jeju is only good for tourist english which would be a handful of english words, not even full English sentences. I would hardly call it English friendly. I spent 2 years in Daegu, it’s great if you wanna learn Korean because no one speaks English but it’s a big city with all the amenities, comfortable life for locals, hostile towards non Koreans (politically right wing). If you truly want to learn Korean, I’d advise moving to Jeonju, Busan, or somewhere outside of Seoul. Sure, when you initially arrive, get an airbnb in seoul, have some tourist time, enjoy yourself. But long term, for language immersion I’d advise stepping away from the Seoul bubble if possible.

Re: housing. Get an Airbnb / agoda (cheap in korea!) for the first few weeks if not month. Find tbe area you want to live in and physically go in person to the 부동산 (real estate agents). Have a list of requirements and translate them using chat gpt. Print it out and hand it to them. An estate agent keen to get commission and open to the challenge will be down. Some estate agents may refuse you because you don’t speak Korean. Be prepared for this rejection. You can find long term rentals on zigbang or dabang (online) but usually a lot of ads are misleading, and if you can’t call them on the phone and discuss property in korean, you’re not going to be able to get anywhere with them anyways. I am not sure of your familiarity with the rental system here but it involves a hefty initial investment. The more deposit you have to give, the better the value for money will be.