Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blonde researcher]

Does anyone know if there are any regulations or immigration rules that stipulate that the airticket cost to and from Korea must be paid or reimbursed to a teacher?

I cant find anything that puts this in writing - it just seems to be an historical practice.

What I do know is that
When an employer goes to immigration to sponsor a teacher for a visa, he/she has to sign that he agrees to the following things;

1.To have the teacher obey all the Korean laws
2.To be responsible for the teacher's departure and any expense regarding this
3.To be responsible for any costs incurred during the teacher's stay in Korea - or if the teacher is in custody?

He/she also has to guarantee to the teacher's background and that the teacher has 'no problem'

I cannot see anywhere in the labor law that guarantees the payment of a ticket either to or from Korea. Is there one somewhere?

The employer sponsorship really only guarantees the employer will pay for the airticket departure from Korea at the end of a contract or when they are officially sponsoring the teacher if something happens and the teacher needs to depart.

What about the arrival into Korea? Who legally has to pay? What would happen to a school if they took 'airfares to Korea ' out of the contract. Apart from possibly not getting a teacher to accept the job?

[bassexpander]

They are responsible for your ticket back, if you work 6 months or something like that.

[jadarite]

I'd say it all depends on the contract. You have the upper hand at first, you don't have to leave anywhere until you receive an E-ticket.

This is what happened to me. The recruiting agency helped all the way up until payment had to be made for the flight. Then I got an email from the travel agency to give credit card info and expiration date. The school wouldn't pay for it, so I took another job with a different recruiter.

[kat2]

No, there's no law about any of it. It's just kind of been tradition, although it seems to be changing.

[MarionG]

I think it's just contractual...

[Juregen]

All Financial agreements are stipulated in the contract.

[sadsac]

No legal precedent, just in the contract or agreed to between the teacher and the hogwan.

[Young FRANKenstein]

Yeah, paying for COMING here is strictly contractual, but they must (as an agreedupon condition of their visa sponsorship) must pay for your flight out. Basically, they must agree to it with Immigration because Immigration doesn't want the school to just fire you and dump you on the streets of Korea without money to get home. If they wish to sponsor you, they have to be responsible for getting you out of the country, too, so you don't become their problem down the road.

Can you imagine how many indigent EFLers there would be in Korea if the hagwon scum were just allowed to throw them out on the street at the end of the contract or after firing them? With all the scum stealing our final salaries/pensions/severances/etc I have no doubt it would be an epidemic problem for Immigration.

[blonde researcher]

OK.. So if there is not any law or regulation that stipulates the airfare to Korea has to be provided by an employer - what is keeping the Korean employers continuing to offer it in a contract? (Apart from a fear of a teacher shortage)

I have heard rumor that a number of Korean employers are realizing this, and if they have no trouble getting applicants for their jobs, they are now considering offering a set amount $US for an air ticket fee that is paid to a teacher at the end of a contract. nothing at the start. This fits the visa sponsorship law.

If enough franchises and big schools, especially in Seoul, start this way of paying and put it in the contracts, there is nothing to stop it rolling on into all schools.
Especially with the cost of airtickets getting so high with the cost of fuel increasing dramatically recently. Some employers are now getting some large airticket costs to pay for a teacher to arrive into Korea.