Korean Job Discussion Forums

Keepongoing · Joined: 13 Feb 2003 Location: Korea

I set up an account years ago with Kookmin in Itaewan and gave them a letter from my uni so that I could send an unlimited amount home. When I first got here they told me that without the letter from our school/hogwan/Uni that we were only aloud to send up to US10K in a year.

I went to a different Kookmin near my Uni to transfer 8,000,000 won home and they stamped the back of my passport. I do not have a letter with that branch so they could/would not honor it.

A colleague told me that KB had told him that one could send up to US50K home?

I hate going all the way to Ewan to transfer money and would like to continue using the closer branch, but it looks like I will have to get another letter from my Uni because I send way more than US10K home a year.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

merkurix · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Location: Not far from the deep end.

Never let them touch your passport!!! I mean, sure they can touch it for identification purposes, but do not let them put ANY kind of mark on it! One time I had a bank try to do that and I told them that they are not customs or immigration authorities to go around doing that. I had one friend who got hers stamped on every visit to her bank! Tell them to get stuffed if they insist on putting a mark of any kind in your passport. It is possible that you can get in trouble with the government later if they see "unauthorized marks." And at best this will clutter up your visa pages which could force you to needlessly apply for new passport pages.

dogshed · Joined: 28 Apr 2006

merkurix · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Location: Not far from the deep end.

dogshed · Joined: 28 Apr 2006

Under the new August 23, 2006 rule anyone can send up to 1000 US dollars per transaction with no passport stamp nor proof of income. KEB money order (Bank of New York Check that I mail) is 15000 won. The electronic transfer has a lower fee but is subject to fees from the receiving bank and intermediary banks. The fee in the US for receiving banks ranges from free to $45. There is a 20,000 US dollars per a year limit. The bad thing is that you have to pay a fee for each transaction.

To send more than $1000 US the KEB guy said I needed pay statements with my school's stamp. When I arrived with the stamped pay statements he said he would have to request the right of sending money be transfered from the bank I receive my pay at to KEB. He had a big long form he could fax. He asked why I didn't want my passport stamped and told him I didn't want to fill it up. I caved and let him stamp it. It takes up one square on a page, and I can transfer from my regular bank electronically if I have to. Using the passport stamp you can send more than $1000 US for each transaction which could save you money on the fees, but it is still limited to $20000 per year.

With the proof of Korean income, which for my guy was stamped paystubs, you can send up to your income. This requires a transfer of the right to send money from one bank to another.

On my most recent visit I sent about $5000 and he didn't need my paystubs. I guess that is just for sending over the $20,000/year limit and not for the $1000 per transaction limit. Maybe?

I take stamped paystubs, copies of the stamped paystubs in case he wants to keep a copy (I'm not giving him the originals.), and my passport.

Maybe I don't need the stamped paystubs because he is stamping my passport?

Getting the $5319 Bank of New York check cost me 20,000 won (about $20) and my bank deposited it without any fees. I mailed it regular mail and this time it took only 7 days but the last two times it took 10 days.

If I had sent five $1000 transactions using the ATM the total sending and receiving fees would have totaled about $100 for most banks.