Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aalais]

I have an offer to do some freelance work for a company in my home country. I'd be paid in US dollars into a US bank account, although obviously I'd be doing the work itself in South Korea. Can anyone well versed in immigration rules tell me if:

1. I'd be violating the terms of my E-2 visa?
2. Has anything good ever come of notifying your school you're doing outside work?
3. If I am breaking rules, do I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting busted?
4. If I'm not breaking rules, should I be paying Korean taxes on this income?

I'd really like to take the work, because it's in my field and will look pretty good on my resume when I get back to the States. On the other hand, if it's going to get me deported, that's not so great.

Thank you.

[Bibbitybop]

As long as the money is being paid to a US account and you aren't blatantly performing physical work in Korea where others can see you, you are totally fine. I've done some writing for companies based in other countries. No one in Korea except my friends knew about it, and if they did, who cares. Tons of teachers do correspondence work.

[aalais]

Thanks!

Totally fine means I'm not going to get in trouble, so don't sweat it, right? Not totally fine as in it's perfectly legal?

[jellobean]

Totally fine means how in the heck is anyone in Korea going to prove you are working and earning income.... As long as you keep it to yourself, who will know... Koreans can't exactly access your US bank records.... If you want to be super safe, just make sure that your email service provider stores it's files in the US or some other country... Although the chances of that ever being an issue is less than none...

This means don't be stupid and tell people at work...

On another note, be careful to file your US taxes correctly if you have US income...