Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bbonthec]

Immigration is giving me a headache.... My current employer is laying me off one month before my contract's up (last day's tomorrow, Nov. 30, let's see if I get all my pay!). I found a new job that starts on January 3rd. So, all of December I'm gonna have nothing to do, but my current hagwon is nice enough to let me keep my apartment until Dec. 21st.

Anyways, my new hagwon wants to apply for my new E2 visa next week, on Monday, Dec. 3rd, so as to have the papers ready to do a visa run late December. The new hagwon director informed me that my current employer has to cancel my current visa before they can apply for the new one. He said my boss has to physically come to immigration with me to expire the visa, and that immigration will give me an extension on my allowable stay in Korea.

This seemed fine. I asked my boss, and she asked me to phone immigration to confirm. I did so, and got a different story. So, I phoned back and talked to a different immigration officer. Different story again. I phoned back about 5 or 6 times, and my boss phoned multiple times too. Different stories every time. The various stories I have been told so far:

1. My boss has to come to immigration with me and expire my visa. I must then leave Korea before my new hagwon applies for my new visa. I can NOT return to Korea (even on a tourist visa!) until the papers are ready for me to receive my new E2 visa.

2. Same as above, but I'm allowed to re-enter Korea on a tourist visa while the new visa documents are being processed, then go to Japan for the real visa run.

3. Same as above, except I won't have to leave Korea. Immigration can extend my period of stay for up to 30 days.

4. Completely different from above. My boss does not have to come with me, and I only need to submit the famed letter of release with my new visa application.

Needless to say, it's a headache. I am going to immigration with my boss tomorrow (Friday) to get this squared away. However, not knowing whether or not I have to leave Korea is more than frazzling my nerves. I already have a return ticket to Japan booked (but not paid for), just in case. But still...I am definitely not ready to move out of my apartment on such short notice!

Well, that's my story. Just wondering if anybody has ever had any similar problems with immigration, and what you think the real answer is? I suspect that I do have to cancel the visa and leave Korea, and then re-entering on a tourist visa is fine. After all, I would have to do the official visa run before my current E2 expires. I still don't understand why most of the immigration officers said no to the letter of release however.... On the upside, I have been told that since my new employer is applying for my E2 before Dec. 15th, the new criminal record check laws won't apply to me. This is lucky too, as my RCMP check won't arrive until March or April. :S

[MarionG]

This isn't very helpful, but it's normal in Korea that every single employee in Immigration has a different opinion.

Although you didn't mention this, being "laid off" at the 11th hour, or more specifically the 11th month, is something that the Labor Board views very negatively. You might want to consider talking to the Labor Board about getting your severance pay. An 11th month firing is assumed to be so that you don't get severance and your flight money.

[bbonthec]

[cbclark4]

This is a job for the mighty Ttompatz!!!

Has anyone seen him, oh where could he be!

Stay tuned, don't leave your seats....

[bassexpander]

Just go there together and get it handled.

Not that this will make you feel any better, but one of my favorite true stories is about a guy who was accidentally given a 6 month tourist visa stamp in his passport (he's American, and for some reason, the guy stamping it had a brain fart, and thought he was Canadian). So the guy, who was in Korea for the first time ever, just assumes he has a 6 month tourist visa.

Month five rolls around, and he's heading back home. He goes through immigration at the airport, and they pull him aside, and chew him a good one, as well as give him a hefty fine. Why? Because he's American, and they are not offered 6 month tourist visas.

"But my passport says my tourist visa was good for 6 months!" the guy explained.

The immigration officer didn't care that a mistake was made. He was American, and the rules were that he should be fined for overstay. It was his fault, and he should have known better.

True story.

[oldfatfarang]

[/quote]
Well, they are *promising* me they'll pay the severance pay anyways. They're actually being pretty nice, and appear sincere. They're not firing me, but down-sizing. They're cutting down from 4 foreign teachers to 2. We'll see if they're truly sincere tonight....[/quote]

Downsizing eh. Why not let you go after your contract expires in one month's time. Sorry, to say this. But you are being shafted here. They are trying to get out of paying your bonus, airfare, pension etc. You need to sort this out with them TODAY.

Forget the smiles and assurances. You must be paid your severance, flight, final pay and pension (in full or on an 11 month pro-rata basis) or you should go to the labour board. Take your boss to the bank if you have to.

Downsizing 1 month before your contract expires. Who are they kidding?

[bbonthec]

Well, I do have proof they are downsizing. I was head teacher, in charge of interviewing new teachers. The teacher they were going to hire has been turned down. There is another teacher leaving one month early as well. Their given reason for downsizing one month early is that the semester finishes on Nov. 30th, and they want to downsize at the beginning of the new semester, not midway through.

Anyways, we shall see. They are paying the other teacher today, but have said they'll pay me on the 7th (as I'll still be in Korea). I don't like this, but I will wait and see if they pay the other teacher everything she's owed. If they do, I will rest a bit easier. If they don't, yes, I will definitely take them to the labour board.

On another note, just got back from immigration. Got my visa expired, with my boss present to sign the required forms. However, I still can't get a straight answer from them!!! They gave me a Paper saying I have to leave Korea before Dec. 30th. I told them my whole situation. One worker said I have to leave this weekend for my new employer to start processing my new visa, and another worker said this wasn't true. I have nooooo idea who to believe anymore. :S Maybe I'll just go to Japan this weekend and be done with it. Take a holiday in Tokyo.... Do I need a return ticket back out of Korea in order to reenter Korea again next week?

[elliemk]

I went with my old director to immigration. He got the standard 14-day exit order extended to 30 days. Only problem is, I forgot to take the new exit order with me to immigration at the ferry terminal in Busan on Sunday last week. They kept telling me I had overstayed my exit order. Fortunately, they gave in 10 minutes before the ferry was scheduled to leave. Moral of that story - make sure to take your exit order and letter of release to immigration when you leave the country.

Also, don't forget the new regs start on December 15th. Get out of the country before then so you can come under the old ones.

Also, you can probably get your visa extended next year to cover the difference between the day you get your visa and the day you actually start work at the new job.

Don't leave Korea until you have your new visa number. Your new employer can probably get it for you within one-two days, or at the most a week. It took my new employer 1 day to get mine. So I was fine. Why leave the country and then have to leave again?

Ask your new employer to put you up for the time difference between your contract starting and you getting your visa. The new employer might just agree. I have more information for you that I won't post here for various reasons. Email me (don't pm) if you want it. My email address is elliemk at mindspring.com

Good luck.