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igotthisguitar

Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:25 am Post subject: Volunteer At Own Risk |
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Volunteer At Own Risk
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
By Spencer McCall
If you�re an English teacher thinking of heading down to Mallipo beach to help clean up Korea�s worst ever oil spill, don�t let your goodwill get the better of you or you might just be deported. Unless you fill out the proper form and pay a certain fee, the Korean government would much rather you stay home.
There are rules for foreigners volunteering, and the rules mean paying for offering a free service.
As surprising as it sounds, under the Immigration Control Act of Korea, � ... it is punishable that you [a foreigner] engage in the activities beyond your current visa status without permission� from the Ministry of Justice. This includes volunteering, not just at the oil spill disaster, but also for any work or event outside of the school that is sponsoring your E2 visa. The documents you require to volunteer include:
A travel document (passport)
Alien Registration Card
Application forms (downloadable from http://www.immigration.go.kr/)
Fees (60,000 won)
The government crackdown on volunteering extends far beyond the recent natural disaster relief effort, a particular event that has drawn dozens of English teachers to the beach in a genuine gesture of goodwill.
Posted by Korea Jim at 4:01 PM
Labels: danger, government, illegal, immigration, Korea, Spencer McCall, teacher reputation, visa, warning
http://esldaily.blogspot.com/2007/12/volunteer-at-own-risk.html
Last edited by igotthisguitar on Thu Dec 27, 2007 7:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Bibbitybop

Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:36 am Post subject: |
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I've been saying this for over a year: Mods, this needs to be a sticky or in the FAQ. Maybe it is in the FAQ and I'm spouting for nothing.....but I haven't seen it.
This is the official link my friend was given by immigration last year when she did a play (a non-paying volunteer play):
http://www.immigration.go.kr/HP/IMM80/imm_04/imm_0404/sm9.jsp
And yes, the fee is 60,000won.
Now a few weeks ago, someone posted that they talked to a Busan immigration official and said that registration and paying a fee wasn't needed if a volunteer action didn't involve money. But Korea doesn't ever have it's shit together and no one follows or knows set rules.
So the answer, like the OP said, is play it safe. Korean officials will do anything to make a foreigner's actions illegal, even if it cleaning up their own mess on their own beach or working with kids in orphanages. |
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Suwoner10

Joined: 10 Dec 2007
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:39 am Post subject: Re: Volunteer At Own Risk |
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igotthisguitar wrote: |
The government crackdown on volunteering extends far beyond the recent natural disaster relief effort, a particular event that has drawn dozens of English teachers to the beach in a genuine gesture of goodwill.
Posted by Korea Jim at 4:01 PM
Labels: danger, government, illegal, immigration, Korea, Spencer McCall, teacher reputation, visa, warning
http://esldaily.blogspot.com/2007/12/volunteer-at-own-risk.html |
Ha, so they did crack down on those volunteers? I remember reading a thread here about helping with the cleanup, someone posted to be careful or you may be deported, and a bunch of people refused to believe it and went to help cleanup anyway. So they got deported? This story must have been written for a reason. |
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sojourner1

Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:50 am Post subject: |
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That is stupid and idiotic. It was correct when some of us said Koreans don't care about any of our acts of goodwill.
Screw it, let them deal with their dirty polluted mistakes. I think if we want to worry about improving the situation with big problems in the world, go home and help out. It's not illegal at home to volunteer nor is a fee required.
Let the Koreans deal with their messy mistake, it's not our problem. I know this is a harsh thing to say, but it's the truth. They are too proud to welcome and appreciate outside help. |
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Mr. Pink

Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 7:12 am Post subject: |
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This should go in the book of world records for stupidest government policy.
Yes, making people PAY to volunteer. Maybe one day the Korean bureaucracy will pull its head out of its ass and wake up to the plethora of stupid and idiotic rules and regulations it has towards foreigners. |
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nomad-ish

Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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Mr. Pink wrote: |
This should go in the book of world records for stupidest government policy.
Yes, making people PAY to volunteer. Maybe one day the Korean bureaucracy will pull its head out of its ass and wake up to the plethora of stupid and idiotic rules and regulations it has towards foreigners. |
they just want to make money off of us.... i'm reminded of how we're required to pay for our multi-entry stamp in order to leave and re-enter the country  |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006 Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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I read most of the links, and some other threads as well.
I have yet to hear or read of actual instances (other than the Pusan 9) where foreigners were jacked for volunteering.... |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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I pretty sure the law is there to stop people from working and claiming that it's volunteer in order to avoid prosecution. If you were helping to clean up this oil spill and immigration actually tried to deport you, I'd tell the officer that if I paid any fine at all, I'd be calling CNN. What an opportunity to get into the news.
Think about it, if volunteer work was technically legal, all the people doing privates would have an automatic 'out'; you'd need to actually catch them receiving the envelope.
I guess they could deport me for talking to strangers on the subway, saying hi to the kids in the next apartment, visiting a restaurant, going hiking with Korean friends, dating Korean women, learning Korean and crapping in the toilet. I don't remember any of those in my visa. |
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Snowkr
Joined: 03 Jun 2005
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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I volunteered quite a bit my first year here and I was on an E-2. It was through my church and I never had any trouble.
I had no idea that foreigners are fined for such a thing and I have to agree that it does seem pretty ludicrous. I'm sure there is a reason, illogical as it may be... |
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Roch
Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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sojourner1 wrote: |
That is stupid and idiotic. It was correct when some of us said Koreans don't care about any of our acts of goodwill.
Screw it, let them deal with their dirty polluted mistakes. I think if we want to worry about improving the situation with big problems in the world, go home and help out. It's not illegal at home to volunteer nor is a fee required.
Let the Koreans deal with their messy mistake, it's not our problem. I know this is a harsh thing to say, but it's the truth. They are too proud to welcome and appreciate outside help. |
Sorry, eh: WORD! |
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Bigs
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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Snowkr wrote: |
I volunteered quite a bit my first year here and I was on an E-2. It was through my church and I never had any trouble.
I had no idea that foreigners are fined for such a thing and I have to agree that it does seem pretty ludicrous. I'm sure there is a reason, illogical as it may be... |
There is - when we volunteer (for anything) - no Korean adjoshi is making money off of us  |
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Roch
Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:33 pm Post subject: Gyopos, Etc. |
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Snowkr wrote: |
I volunteered quite a bit my first year here and I was on an E-2. It was through my church and I never had any trouble.
I had no idea that foreigners are fined for such a thing and I have to agree that it does seem pretty ludicrous. I'm sure there is a reason, illogical as it may be... |
No offense, Sir: Do you not have at least a little bit of local blood flowing in your arms?
No offense, eh.
Roch |
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ernie
Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Location: asdfghjk
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:45 pm Post subject: |
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the busan 5 (or 6 or whatever) got in trouble because they were SELLING tickets to their performance, not because they were volunteering... i play in a band: does this count as volunteering? i don't plan on receiving any money for my shows... will i get deported if someone doesn't like me or my lyrics? that would actually be a lot cooler than getting kicked out for smoking a joint! |
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Bibbitybop

Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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ernie wrote: |
the busan 5 (or 6 or whatever) got in trouble because they were SELLING tickets to their performance, not because they were volunteering. |
Not exactly. The Koreans involved in the performance sold tickets. The foreigners never received or had intentions of receiving money.
That's like foreigners volunteering for "The Nutcracker" and the owner of the theater charging each audience member 5,000 won admission. |
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ernie
Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Location: asdfghjk
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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then why did they sell tickets? who was the money supposed to go to? |
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