Korean Job Discussion Forums

hagwonnewbie · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Asia

I went to transfer money home last week and I didn't have my pay stub with me. The guy at the bank wrote something in the back of my passport. What the hell is that all about?

cdninkorea · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Location: Seoul

They say it's so they can keep track of how much money you send out of the country. They don't do it all the time- I'm not sure why.

Not that my opinion will change anything, but I think it's stupid. To keep track of how much money you send out? Most anyone can just get a Korean friend to wire it out for you if you go over the limit and don't want to bother with the paperwork of proving your income.

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

The silly stamping and writing in it at the bank can be nipped in the bud by complaining/warning them not to. You are the customer. You have rights. Squawk and they will defer. Most Koreans don't say boo. Squawk and the teller will jump a foot in the air with a triple sommersault. Laughing

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

The minute I saw some measly bank clerk trying to write something in my PP would be the minute I grabbed it back from them and hauled myself to the next bank...they don't have any authority to do that...punks! Anyhow, I don't deal w/ K-tellers anymore to wire money as I have the ability to do so using my KEB ATM card 24/7... Very Happy

Zark · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:44 pm Post subject:

Really nothing to get stressed about.

I have several of those in the back of my passport - on one reads it, no one cares. Let them write all they want. No big deal.

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

They did that to me the first time I sent money home. Every person at immigration, when I visit other countries, has asked what it is. After that first time I don't let people write in it. It doesn't seem to matter, as when I tell them not to, they say "okay" and stop.

The thing is, a few weeks ago I sent money home again. It was at a new bank, and, as I didn't have my contract or pay stub, the woman there was a little confused. Then, she looked at the mark in my passport---which was two years old---looked at the money I sent home at Christmas, and said that it added to to more than my limit.

Don't they keep track of these things electronically?

whatever · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Location: Korea: More fun than jail.

Alyallen · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:08 pm Post subject:

No one has ever written in my passport. 3 years....not ONCE....

whatever · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Location: Korea: More fun than jail.

Right on...nobody should. I would be livid. I would make a scene.

Few things exemplify condescension (in Korea) quite like this example. They know it's not right. At the very least, they question it in the back of their minds.

Zark · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:10 pm Post subject:

whatever · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Location: Korea: More fun than jail.

Yeah, I follow your logic. I don't dispute having backups.

But, there's no denying that mishandling and mangling diplomas or other official documents is utter and contemptible BS. Mine was folded three times and appears to have coffee AND kimchi stains on it. WTF is that? I wanted to throw down when I saw it. It's rubbish now. Isn't it obvious that it *tangibly is*, and not just represents, the most significant academic achievement I have yet to gain? In addition to that, it's the culmination and end all of a huge financial investment. Something I have a right to be proud of.

Lets say you make some money and buy a nice car. You take it to my carwash where you receive my services, which are a detailed car and clean exterior. Then I park it under a tree where birds shit on it and some scumbag comes by and keys it. I give it back to you with no apologies, because I 'fulfilled my roll'. It was just there; You can get it cleaned/fixed again. Of course, I don't treat my 'preferred customers' in that manner.

Or let's say you give me the title to the car for some sort of inspection and I eat my Greek salad on top of it. Whoops! It's infantile, rude, deliberately f'ed up and I want to knock somebody silly.

Quit apologizing for such idiotic behavior. Jesus, god. They know it's wrong! They just do it anyway because THEY DON'T CARE AND YOU AND I ARE FOREIGNERS. Therefore, their misbehavior is irrelevant.

It's the same thing with the passport. It's identification. They have no jurisdiction over your immigration status, the issuance or maintanance of the document, or any official notations. It's not meant to serve that purpose, period. Why are they notating your foreign-issued, soveriegn document with their silly notes?

Zark · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:56 pm Post subject:

whatever · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Location: Korea: More fun than jail.

in_seoul_2003 · Joined: 24 Nov 2003

They stamped my passport once when I exchanged Korean money into American money for my Lunar New Year vacation. They stamped and wrote the amount I received in US dollars. That was a couple of years back and I didn't know she was going to do it. Had I known I would have grabbed it and said, "There are a thousand other banks I can go to exchange Korean money into America that WON"T do that."

I wrote a couple of the banking inconsistencies (even between the same banks) in the Hubcap of Asia thread. Writing in the visa sections of passports is one more to add to that.

What's so bad about it? Aside from the contradictions (some banks do it but others don't, so you have banks inconsistently adhering or not to their own laws), I don't want a detailed financial transcript in the back of my passport when I decide to go back home.

zappadelta · Joined: 31 Aug 2004

The 2 back pages of my passport are completely filled with stamps from the bank.