Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Singer]

If anyone has questions about contractual issues or visa issues, please feel free to ask me. I am a Canadian living and working in Korea. I've been here since April 1999 and have been through enough to help and advise. My Korean wife has done extensive research in these areas and if we don't have the answer for you now, we'll find it.

Also, any general questions about Korea and it's culture are welcome. Anything I'm not sure of, my wife will probably compensate.

[kuki]

Hi,
I saw yur post and decided to try and ask you a question.
I am an American who holds a B.A. Degree from The Hebrew University in Israel. I have 3-4 years experience teaching English and have taught in Japan, USA and Israel. When I came to Korea immigration refused to grant me a visa on the grounds that my degree was from a non English speaking country. I had at least 3-4 schools that wanted to sponser my visa but immigration would not allow it.
Is there anything I can do to get around this problem?????

Thank you,

[Singer]

Hi Kuki,

I'm afraid there's nothing you can do legally. The immigration law in Korea is very specific in it's stipulation of obtaining a degree from a country whose first language is English. This is the only document in the eyes of Korean officials that proves that you are a native speaker and therefore proves that you can teach English better than anyone else in Korea. That's the basis of working in another country in general. The employer must prove that no citizen can do the job as well as the foreigner.

Now, you could come to Korea on a visitation visa and look for work once your here. Many small time operations will be happy to hire you illegally and pay you under the table...or you could even set up private lessons and make even more money. The two main problems with that is A) accomodations are expensive and difficult to get as a foreigner, and B) if you do get caught working illegally, you'll be deported and black and if you ever try to come back to Korea for any reason, your passport will be red-flagged and you could have major difficulties at the port of entry.

So my advice to you is to stick with the countries that recognize your citizenship rather than your degree.

Good luck

[Jasmine]

How can you get another job if you're fired from one school before your contract is up and your former employer refuses to give you a release letter?

[captain kirk]

hi, thanks for the 'helpline'. i started a job in korea on a one year permit/visa and left after three months. that permit/visa will expire this coming March 19 or so. i've asked re; this and heard that after ten months from the start date of an unfinished contract term one is in the clear and able to start again. i didn't think to get a letter of release. the wonjonim, of course, cancelled the visa immediately after i left. i gave my alien resident card to immigration when i left at the airport. i've heard there's variety in the immigration judgements/permissions. in your opinion, would i be able to successfully start another visa with them now?

[hojusaram]

Interesting I wonder if you know anything about d7-8 visas and the best way of reasoning or obtaining one?

[flintoca]

Hello,
I appreciate your offer for help! (Get ready for a long and complicated question!)

My question is about Korean pension/Canadian taxes. I've been in Korea for almost 2 years now, and have worked at 2 seperate schools during this time. I'm about to leave Korea, and my employer wants me to file for pension returns. However, I haven't claimed any of my income here to Revenue Canada; I've been "traveling" (partly true) for the last 2 years or so. (I don't want to pay taxes)

My question is this: If I claim my KOrean pension, which could be quite substantial, will Revenue Canada/Canadian Government automatically know I've been working in Korea and earning overseas income? And if they do find out, will I have to pay up all back taxes from the past 2 years? Or, can i claim Korean pension and the Canadian govt. never know about my working overseas? I really need the money I could get back from the pension, but I don't want to screw myself over and end up paying even more money to the lovely Canadian taxman.

Please let me know how to go about this. I'm leaving in a month, so have to figure out what to do quickly.

Oh, one more thing. Does each employer have to file pension claims for me? Or, when I go into the pension office, will I get pension returns from both jobs automatically? And how long until I receive my pension money back? Approximately how much do you get in return? (I'm guessing they wire it to your Canadian account if you've left Korea already).

Thanks so much for any info or links you can give me. I appreciate it!

flintoca