[susan53]

Crminal checks are standard in quite a lot of countries for getting documents as well as jobs. In the UK if you want to work with children or "vulnerable adults" you'll need a check, and in Italy you need a "nulla osta" ( = no impediment) for a thousand and one documents - from getting a job to opening a company to getting married to getting a pilot's licence - and it's the same for Italians, not just for foreigners. So perhaps Korea is just catching up with the rest of the bureaucratic world, though in the case of the criminal check, I have to say I have a sneaking sympathy. As for the rest, is it actually any more difficult than a non-European trying to get work in Europe, or anyone trying to get a green card for the States? If you're an American trying to get documents to work in Italy, think at least a year. 18 weeks is nothing ....