Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deshell32]

I am not sure if I will be leaving Korea or not. My contract ends on the last day of May, but my Alien Card expires about 3 or 4 days before. If I decide to leave, what will happen at the airport? What choices do I have (if any) to correct this problem beforehand? Thanks for your responses.

[panthermodern]

When in doubt do the unexpected.

1)

Go to immigration and get a re-entery permit. This will allow you to come and go within one year without question. When you leave put your departure card and alien card together right in the spot where you permit is. Now, it does not mean jack, but it does plainly say that you are allowed
to re-enter korea fo up to one year and to enter you got to leave right?

2)

You are "clean", right .. if you have never broken the law in Korea or been report or caught, don't sweat it.

3)

Clear immigration at COEX. COEX is a lot more lax then Incehon plus it is alot easier to leg it if you have to ...

4)

Or ... go to immigration before the fact and ask for a week extention.


CYA

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[Anda]

You can get a tourist visa extension on a E2 for up to 4 weeks on which you are not supposed to work. Cost depends on which country you are from. A work visa extension can only be given untill the end of your written contract of which immigration has a copy.

[Crazy Oz]

After contract expiry (which is usually the same time as the ARC expiry) you are allowed 15 days to exit the country. This was told to me at the Uijongbu Immigration Office only recently, but CHECK with your immigration office, because they tend to have different ideas.



Still crazy, still here.

[Busanchick]

That happens to a lot of people. It happened to me last year. I just told my boss she took all of my paperwork to immigration and they wrote something on the back of my alien card and I was good to go.

[OiGirl]

By saying your alien registration card, expires, do you mean your visa expires?

You can easily get a work visa extended for a few days. Take your passport to immigration. You could take your outgoing air ticket with you too, but they didn't want to see mine. Tell them you need a few days' extension. It's free.

[deshell32]

Ok, here is an updated situation. I spoke to my supervisor today (not my director) and she said that I could not get an extension on my Alien Card unless I signed a new employment contract with either them or another school. She informed me of this immediately after she supposedly called immigration to ask about getting an extension on my alien card. AM I BEING SCAMMED? Also, I should mention that I did not come to Korea on an open-ended ticket due to the time of the World Cup (round trip tickets were higher than normal in price at that time), so along with my severance pay, my director also must purchase a one-way ticket to return to the U.S. My supervisor did state that I would receive my severance pay even if I left on the day of my alien card's expiration (even though this is two days prior to the end of my contract-so I think technically they do not have to pay me even though I would only miss one day of work, because the 31st of May I believe is on a Saturday). Via my supervisor, my director today also asked me if I wanted to stay until August. I replied to her I would only consider doing it if I received my severance at the end of May (the end of my 12 month contract), and she stated she would tell the director that. However for some odd reason, at the end of the work day, I asked my supervisor if she had informed the director of my proposal and she said no that she hadn't spoke to her yet. I found this odd because she (the supervisor) had earlier stated that it was important for me to let her know if I would stay until August so that the director would know if she needed to purchase a ticket or not for the end of May. I am just outside of Seoul. If anyone knows of the location of the nearest Immigration office (or any other place that could help me) please let me know. If at all possible, I would like to go there myself to either get an extension (which via earlier replies to this post I have heard is possible) or simply purchase a short tourist visa which would be money out of my pocket, but at least I could hang around for a couple of weeks to make sure I received my severance. And I could inform mysupervisor of this before they purchased my return ticket so that I would have time to stick around after the end of my contract for a few days to make sure I received my severance. Which would of course be better than having them purchase the ticket and then not receiving my severance because I had to catch the plane or staying around and missing the return trip to fight to get my severance in which case I would still lose the cost of the flight and much more if I also failed to collect my severance. I am employed just Northwest of Seoul. Any information on how to get to an Immigration office or any other place that can help me by subway would be greatly appreciated. I would love to get this free extension or tourist visa ASAP and then walk in to work and let them know that I will remain here in Korea longer and not to schedule my return until later. THen at least they would know that I would be around to make sure I received my severance and I would think they would most likely have to schedule my return ticket for the later date. AM I BEING PARANOID??? Any advice is certainly welcome. THANKS.

[muggie2dammit]