Korean Job Discussion Forums

[icekool]

I have a problem that I need some help with. This problem may happen to anyone, including you.
I am relatively new to Korea. To cut a long story short. The director did not register me or take me to be registered for a ARC (Alien Registration Card). I only learned about the ARC through another English teacher. Had I known earlier, I would have reported and registered. As I do not want or need any trouble.
Only after my insistence did the director begrudgingly take me to the Immigration Office. Therein is a rather neat trick. If your director does not register you after 15 days of your arrival and you do not register yourself within 90 days of arrival, when you do register yourself you will be fined Kwon 200,000 by the Korean Immigration Service and your director will not be penalized at all.
Has anyone had a problem like this or similar? How did you come out of it? Does someone have some useful and positive advice? If I had deliberately overstayed or something then I would pay up but I honestly did not know about registration and my director knew, but kept it from me.
Would the Labor Relation Commission be of help in this situation?
Needless to say the director would not pay for the photographs, the application fee or the Kwon 200,000 fine. This man is a lay-pastor, which amazes me.

[Wondering]

I have never been able to get through the immigration booth at the airport without being told about it, almost always given a card with info regarding it, and seeing a sign posted about it. Surprised that you did.

[icicle]

I would love to be positive and say that it is all your directors fault .. but in this case I don't think it is. From the reading that I did before and in the process of applying for my visa to work here I knew that registering when I arrived in Korea was required within 90 days ... I learnt it in more than one place ... including the Korean immigration website when I was in the process of applying for the visa ... That was simply one of the basic things that was part of the deal with working here ... And not something that was obscure or hidden ... Some things here are our employers responsibility and some are ours ... I am sorry but I see knowing that this needs to happen is not just something that can be passed off as my employer didn't tell me ... It is something that we have to do ourselves ... While our employers may (as mine did) help me to do it ... which with my lack of Korean made it easier ... It is our responsibility to do it ... and there are consequences for us if we don't do it. It is a hard lesson to learn ... but I know that it won't happen to you again ...

Icicle

[icekool]

Thanks Icicle. If registration is so prevalently broadcast, why did I not observe it - anywhere? Like on the visa, would be an ideal location, rather than on an obscure web site.
Yes, after the fact I saw it on the Korean Immigration web site.
So my director is what.....
This is a man, who has 'operated' a school, employing foreigners for 10 years and he did not have the forethought to inform me of this little 'trick'. One would of thought that in ten years, one of his teachers might have held an ARC? Those who may have stayed 90 days - that is.
Do you have any positive comments, which may ameliorate this difficult situation?

[kprrok]

Pay the fine. Suck it up. It could be worse. Remember this lesson next time something happens that you weren't aware of.

KPRROK

[Ilsanman]

You're going to have to pay it. Your skinflint of a director won't. Just make sure to work 200,000 won not as hard as you should.

I think the posters on this board are being overly harsh. My first job here, I was the only foreigner, and I had a hard time meeting others in the area. In this case, it's hard to learn anything about living here. It was the director's fault for not letting him know. That's what a good employer would do.

[flint]

When you enter WITH a work VISA they staple a paper in your pasport saying, in English, that you have 90 days to get your ARC. It is pretty hard to miss.

[icicle]

[RedRob]

It's not all bad news, the same thing happened to us, but I came across a flexible immi guy and we haggeled! Got it down to 100k each witha lot of "gee I'm silly, sorry 'bout that, didn't know, won't happen again grovelling"
Have a go, remember : nothing is absolute in this place!
Luck!

[tiger fancini]

I've entered Korea twice, both times with my E2 visa already in my passport. I don't think I was ever told at the embassy in London, or on arrival at ICN that I needed to register within 90 days. However, I was aware that I had to get it through my own research.

[dogshed]

[OiGirl]

I'm sorry you weren't well-educated about the rules for living in Korea upon your arrival. Maybe your employer will hold your hand in the future. But now at least there's one thing you know that you have learned through experience.

[chinook]

I can't recall ever hearing about it in the airport on my way in, but the other teachers and my employers have always made a point of it. Other teachers have kindly offered to take me both times to find it, and I have taken others. I am surprised you didn't notice other foreigners with it - I always have mine in Seoul in case anyone asks for ID (I've been asked by MPs once or twice) and it is handy at the beginning in case you get lost - the cab driver can get you close to home generally by using the address.

But the fee and the photos were certainly never paid for by my boss.

[mrsquirrel]

my school paid for them

[icicle]