Supporting expatriate children's schooling: a before-and-after timeline

This article is for HR staff who handle overseas postings and field families' questions about schooling. Children's education falls into three stages: before the posting, just after arrival, and the return home. Each stage has different places to check. After reading, you will be able to sketch a one-page flow of the questions to prepare for each stage.

Once the posting is set: what happens to the Korean school record

The first question before departure is usually about the child's current school record. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's 2026 plan for returning students (in force 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027), primary and middle-school pupils on recognised study abroad are exempted from compulsory schooling after reporting their departure and stay. For unrecognised study abroad, absences count as unauthorised, and after absence of a third or more of school days the record may be kept off-roll under school rules. High-school students withdraw in either case.

The same document says that when the whole family leaves (overseas work, posting and so on), the duty to attend compulsory schooling may be exempted, while strict conditions apply if only one parent goes. For example, a family with one middle-school child and one high-school child may find each child is handled differently. Details can differ by region, so please point families to their own local education office.

Choosing schools and timing applications

A 2015 article in the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) journal advises overseas-posted families as follows. International schools set their own admissions policies, so contact each one directly and complete its application. If the move is off-cycle with the school calendar, online or home-school programmes with rolling starts exist. Some high-school students consider boarding for continuity. This is one organisation's advice, useful for reference but not a rule.

Rules differ by country. According to the UK Department for Education guidance (updated 28 March 2024), state-funded schools in England must consider applications from overseas and cannot reject them just because the family does not yet live in the area. Evidence of an intended move can include an agreement or an employer letter with a transfer date. Without a UK address, priority may be lower. So it helps if HR decides in advance whether the company can issue such a letter. Parents must check the child's right to study before applying.

GOV.UK (as of 30 October 2026) tells families to ask their local council about state-funded schools and to contact private schools directly. Hampshire County Council's 2025/26 in-year scheme says applications can be made at any time, but procedures differ by council, so check with the local one.

Keeping records so grades and credits stay on track

The same 2015 AFSA article says that keeping school records and lists of textbooks and syllabi at every move helps the new school place the child and award credit. It also suggests checking IB and AP offerings and the order of maths courses, noting that integrated maths can complicate transfers. For a child who needs learning support, ask whether it is offered, whether there is space and whether it will continue.

AFSA's 2022 supplement covers moves into US public schools. It sees it as the family's job to ask the overseas school to make course titles and descriptions match standard grade-level courses, and it reports districts that read IB transcripts unfavourably and placed students below the expected grade. That is a US case, but it is a good reason to tell families to collect records from the start.

After arrival: entry rules differ by country

Shanghai's International Service Portal (updated 23 July 2026) says children holding foreign passports whose parents work legally with a Foreigner's Work Permit and Residence Permit apply directly to the school they want. Children of Chinese citizens who return while the family holds foreign permanent residency, and who attended school there for at least two consecutive years, must first obtain a certificate from the Municipal Education Commission, submitting employment proof and family documents in original and copy. The English page is for reference; the Chinese version prevails. Even in one city, the path depends on the family's circumstances, so individual judgments belong to the official authority.

For everyday life, the Overseas Koreans Agency's 'Overseas Koreans 2025' (as of 31 December 2024) gives a rough gauge. For example, it estimates 118,884 overseas Koreans in the area of the Consulate General in Houston. But that covers a mission's whole area, not a single neighbourhood or school. Check things like Korean grocers and weekend Korean schools with the local mission and Korean association.

On return: re-entry and documents

The Seoul plan says that on return, the grade is set by mapping the foreign school years and transcripts onto Korea's 12-year system. Without regular schooling abroad or with under six months of study, placement by the completion assessment is not possible. A pupil returning mid-term must apply within one month of the last day at the foreign school. Once the return date is known, please tell families about this one-month window.

For schools on the Ministry of Education's simplified-procedure list (as of 14 November 2025), documents need no apostille or consular confirmation. The list does not vouch for school quality and does not apply to university admissions.

High-school children: university dates vary

The Korean Council for University Education's 2028 plan summary (April 2026) classes overseas-Korean and foreign-national admissions as tracks whose dates each university sets, separate from the general early round (September 2027) and regular round (January 2028). Check each university's guide and dates early in the year. As one example, Korea University's 2027 special admissions (Seoul campus) took applications on 6-8 July 2026 and excluded predicted scores from certified results. That is one university in one year and changes over time.

Overseas universities work differently too. The National University of Singapore (NUS) says May 2027 IB candidates apply with school-attested predicted results. Which documents and timing apply depends on the country of the target university, so it helps to ask high-school families early about their goals.

Sam's one-line tip

On the day the posting is announced, hand the family a one-page schedule that lists each child's grade and the re-entry deadline for the return.

Checklist

• Identify each child's school stage (primary, middle, high) and whether the whole family is going
• Point families to their local education office about departure reporting and school records
• Confirm each target school's application steps, deadlines and in-year entry
• Decide whether the company can issue a letter usable as proof of the move
• Tell families to keep transcripts, course descriptions, syllabi and textbook lists
• Check whether continued learning support is available for children who need it
• Share the re-entry deadline for the return (one month for mid-term returns)
• Ask high-school students to check target universities' guide dates

Confirm with the owner

• What are the company's education allowance conditions, and which schools and costs do they cover?
• Can the company issue an employer letter with a transfer date as proof of the move?
• What options can be shared with families when the posting is off-cycle with the school calendar?
• Who inside the company handles schooling questions, and how are outside experts reached?
• When and how will families be told about a return posting?

Your next step

For each child, write one page with four items: Korean record handling, deadlines at the school abroad, record-keeping, and re-entry deadline on return. Then decide the first questions to put to the local education office and the school abroad.

Always confirm your own situation with the official authority or an immigration professional.