Korean Job Discussion Forums

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

I never had it happen to me, but a girl I know told me they asked her questions for 45 minutes in a back room at Inchon airport immigration. She just denied she was teaching over and over, and finally they let her in but said they'd be watching her. She was from NZ and coming in for a new 90 day entry visa for the 5th time. I'm American and have the official C3 5 year multiple 90 day entry tourist visa and I've never gotten harassed...yet.

buddy bradley · Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: The Beyond

Why do want to know this?

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

panthermodern · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Taxronto

The question is: Was she teaching illegally?

buddy bradley · Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Location: The Beyond

Of course she was, and shawner88 has already hinted that he does the same by saying that he's been to Japan six times.

panthermodern · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Taxronto

Therefore: Is it unjust for Korean Immigration to question who is suspcious?

What is the point of this question ? (the OP and the purpose of this thread)

Joe Thanks · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Location: Dudleyville

I was interrogated for helping foreign factory workers get to hospitals and have group outings. I was interrogated for taking Korean lessons. This was in Pohang and I was doing it through the YMCA a few years back.

Immigration at work.

Annoying, really.

Joe

Homer · Guest

Shawner....come on now...5th time in and out...its just normal immigration would wonder whats going on.
As for you and those ins and outs..same deal, you play with fire you just might end up getting burned at some point.
If you or she is working illegally then immigration has every right to check into your dealings and take appropriate measures.

shawner88 · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

Yeah, obviously. I just wondered if this has happened to a lot of people. That's why I asked the question, not because I thought it was weird or wrong of immigration. Some people get questioned right off the bat after a few runs, others have gone 5 years or more. I'm wondering if you have the official C-3 visa if it's less likely for you to get hassled than if you're just leaving and coming back on landing visas.

Ilsanman · Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Bucheon, Korea

I got interrogated when I was applying for my 1st visa. I had been working for 3 months already.

I obviously lied and did it badly, but I claimed his english was bad (it was good actually) and I said I didn't understand the question. Then I covered it up.

candu · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Shawner88 is just asking a question. Why do people want to jump on him for asking a simple question? He hasn't made any criticisms of Immigration, nor any arguments in favor of teaching without a proper visa.

I know people who have been accused - in many cases wrongly - of teaching illegally by Immigration officers, people who have been told that, "Korea has too many foreign teachers," as their passports were being stamped at Kimpo (admittedly not in the last couple of years), and one guy who was offered "one-day visa service" for an extra W 100 000. (He was called after hours by the officer on his cell phone.) I'm not even going to go into what some schools do to secure work visas from Immigration. Some of these instances reflect a lack of professional courtesy - and I will even allow for the possibility of cultural and language misunderstandings - but other cases were more corrupt in nature.

There are a lot of stories about Immigration, some true, some false, and others somewhere in the middle. I'm not going to claim that Immigration officials are always perfect elsewhere. (I've heard horror stories about the US, Canada, UK, and Japan too. Korean Immigration also appears to be understaffed/overworked, especially with the numbers of 3D workers in the country, and the implementation of the latest permit system.) Can't blame somebody for wanting to know what they deal is though, can you?

helly · Joined: 01 Apr 2003 Location: WORLDWIDE

Early on in my days here, I went out to Japan for a visa run, blue paper in hand. Well, only for a short while because I apparently lost it somewhere along the line. Didn't figure that one out till I was trying to turn in my documents at the Korean consulate in Fukuoka.

School had to cancel the application and start over. A month later, new blue paper in hand (tightly), I went back to Japan and got the visa.

On return, I was stopped and questioned at immigration for about 90 minutes. Confusion as my name had been registered with 2 separate visa applications. Quite nerve-wracking but hadn't done anything wrong so they let me go along my way.