Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cangel]

Thanks for all the useful info. When I started this thread, I was angry and now I am even more angry. This is blatant discrimination. A coworker stated that Korea is having a problem with too many teachers doing privates and living off that money and thus not putting their legitimate-earned income back into the economy, hence the new rules. True? I have no idea. BS? Most certainly. I can't imagine the pickle some of the posters could have gotten in to having been unable to use their "international Cirrus/PLUS/Maestro" cards on holiday. I assume there is nothing we can do about it... My uni will transfer my income (free of charge) to my stateside account which is great but hen I get tapped for the ATM charges. Might be worth it just to circumvent these discriminatory #@!%s.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[hogwonguy1979]

I sent a message to EFL-Law about this and the guy is working on getting me the exact law about this.

[Vicissitude]

[Vicissitude]

[The Bobster]

[tzechuk]

I've had one from KEB for, oh, 5 years now.

Last year when we wen to Taiwan, I took minimal cash with me and was relying on the card to give me cash..

I was so shocked when the card wouldn't work in certain banks! I was almost dying because I was running out of cash! Anyway, we finally went to the Bank of Taiwan or something and got money out. Phew!

I think if you have a card and it doesn't work in one bank, try another and another until you find one that works.

[dogbert]

[tzechuk]

[Milwaukiedave]

I tried a couple of times and just plaining gave up on getting one. My wife is going to transfer my money through her account anyway. Somethings are not worth the hassle especially if your going to be told "no" all the time.

[DCJames]

[superacidjax]

[superacidjax]

[aquagirl]

I'm with KB Bank. When I joined the bank they told me I could use my ATM card overseas because it has the cirrus/maestro logo. Anyway last month I went to Italy and my card wasn't accepted by any of the machines I tried, while my Korean friend's card was accepted everywhere.
Today I went to 2 branches of KB Bank to try and sort the problem out. The first branch in COEX mall told me there must have been a mistake when the card was issued because even though it has the cirrus/maestro logo foreigners who had cards issued after 2005 cannot use them overseas.
I went to the second branch and the teller told me I could get a new card and that it would be no problem for me to use it overseas. We get to the end of the process and suddenly some kind of error message pops up on her computer screen so she called the head office. Then she told me she was very sorry but she had no idea that a new law that was apparently enacted 2 years ago would prevent me from getting a international debit card. She was very apologetic and agreed that this new "law" was ridiculous and unfair towards foreigners.
I came home and called 4 other banks - Hana, Shinhan, Citibank and KEB - they all told me it was impossible for a foreigner to get an international debit card. I asked them what would happen if a foreigner decided to live here long term and marry a Korean national. They told me that the only way for a foreigner to get this elusive international debit card is if they become a Korean citizen.
I was curious as to whether foreigners living and working in Japan receive the same treatment so I called Citibank in Japan and China Trust Bank and ICBC Bank in China and was told that I would automatically be issued with an international debit card that I could use throughout the world when I opened a bank account in either country.
Korea really needs to take a good hard look at this blatant discrimination against foreigners if it wants foreigners to live and work here.

[superacidjax]