Job Discussion Forums

[nighthawk]

I�m an American working in South Korea. I�ve got some problems with my employer, and I�m thinking about going elsewhere. I just want to understand my options. In South Korea you get a work visa that lasts 1 year. One of the things that really irks me about South Korea is that if you want to quit your job and get another in SK, then you have to get a letter of release from your 1st employer in order to work legally or you have to leave the country and wait until your 1-year work visa expires before you can reenter. Well, as I�m sure you can imagine, there are a lot of employers that don�t provide these letters of releases like they should, so the teacher either has to put up with his employer�s b.s., try to fight the system legally, which is often futile, or pack his bags and leave the country. Is a letter of release required to change jobs in Germany? Can a teacher just quit a bad employer and start working for a better one? Do you have to leave the country? Basically what I'm asking is what happens if you find out that your employer is a scumbag and you want out? What are your options then?

Also, how common is it to work in Germany illegally? How much do you get fined if you get caught working illegally? How long do they prohibit you from reentering the country if you get caught working illegally? Thanks in advance for the help.

[longtimeteach]

Nighthawk,

If you read a few of the threads in the Germany forum, you'll see that there can be BIG problems working illegally in this country. Additionally, you'll be unlikely to find any work as an American.

Not impossible but unlikely because of the economic situation here and because you need special permission to work here if you don't have EU citizenship.

If you, as an American, come here to work, chances are that your permission to stay here would be tied to the company for which you work. You CAN get out of this but it requires a ton of explaining and mountains of paperwork.

My suggestion is for you to read through some of the threads dealing with employment in Germany - here in this forum - and then if you've questions that weren't answered, post those.