Korean Job Discussion Forums

Batboy · Joined: 26 May 2007 Location: Gangnaru

My employer is demanding she hold my diploma for the duration of my employment citing the threat of immigration officials. Everyone tells me she can't make me. But where is this written down? Anybody know? Citing the heresay of the guy sitting at the coffee shop doesn't carry a lot of weight.

Anyone else deal with this? What did you do?

Whistleblower · Joined: 03 Feb 2007

Would you give your diploma to an employer in your home country? Likely not. I pressured my employer for a week till they gave me my diploma back. The employer has no legal right to have your diploma. There are no problems with immigration, you have the E2 visa in your passport and if immigration want to see your diploma (highly unlikely) just bring it in one day for show. However, just provide a photocopy of your diploma for your employer. Tell them, "I shall contact immigration to ask if they want to visit". That should finally stop this stupidity.

tob55 · Joined: 29 Apr 2007

She's pulling your chain...There is no rule or regulation giving the hagwon owners or school officials the right to hold your diploma for the duration of the work contract. It is illegal, and she is doing this in an attempt to control you...If you are wise you will tell her that if she wants to make a photocopy of it she can, and if immigration wants to see it fine, but you expect to have it back in your possession within a reasonable time (a week or two at the outside most), or it will be reported to the police as stolen property...I have been in Korea 4 years now and had this pulled on me once...That was until I simply said I was going to contact the police if my property wasn't promptly returned...I had my diploma back by that afternoon...Don't let the people here control your property...

Zark · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:51 pm Post subject:

You'll find that people tend to have very strong opinions on this issue. And, really, NO, your employer should not be able to hold your degree, diploma, certification, passport, or anything else - unless they have a specific need and limited time-frame in mind.

BUT, IMO/IME if you intend to spend more than a couple years overseas, the best thing to do is order a few extra "originals" from your university (I have several of each of mine) and you then can happily let people "hold" them, not have to worry about people folding them, spilling coffee on them, having it held for ransom over a disagreement with an employer - or any other problem.

Though, yes, it costs a few bucks - it will give you some peace of mind and generally avoid a lot of upset. And, for sentimental reasons - you'll never risk losing your REAL "original" document in the mail or having it in the hands of an idiot.

littlelisa · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Location: Seoul

For a similar reason, I just got copies certified by the Korean consulate. They never get my real one.

Also, one of my dad's cousins is a notary, and I have friends at a copy centre, so even though the copies were larger than 11x17, and they needed to be notarized, the only costs I had to pay was about 2.50$ per copy at the consulate to get them done.

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

browneyedgirl · Joined: 17 Jul 2007

Corky · Joined: 06 Jan 2004

This is one of the tactics the hakwon owner's associations teach to their members for controlling expats.

Zark · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:40 pm Post subject:

ChinaBoy · Joined: 17 Feb 2007

I have 6 originals diplomas, you might want to contact your university for extras

"better safe than sorry" is my motto

regicide · Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Location: United States

Fresh Prince · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: The glorious nation of Korea

Some teachers have reported that their hokwon claims to have "lost" their diploma, and will not return it. Recently there have been several news reports about Koreans/foreigners with fake university qualifications and I can only guess that some of those "lost" diplomas are somehow ending up on a wall with other peoples' names on them.

It took two weeks for immigration to issue my ARC and they kept the diploma the entire time. The application for the ARC asked for the address and contact information of my university and I was told that the ARC people would be contacting the university to confirm that the diploma was legitimate. I can't see any reason why immigration would need to see the diploma again but if they did then they have my address on file so they could contact me personally rather than the school.

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007