Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mogikilla]

I may have been just a while ago. Or there are really shady people posing as Immigration officers to harass or collect info about gullible foreign-looking people (such as myself), which was my first impression.

I was just walking home for lunch when some guy starts walking alongside me at a major intersection. I thought he was going to try to tell me Jesus loves me or just randomly hand me his business card but he pulled out this dinky white laminated card that of course was 99% Korean (hey, I do remember where I live) but the only English on the thing said IMMIGRATION CARD. For all I know, he's showing me his own foreign resident card, then he demands to see mine. I'm looking for some sign of a uniform or insignia or something to make him look official but he doesn't have anything.

I ask him why, in a fairly uncooperative how-dare-you tone, and he says he has a right to see it. A passport would suffice, too. But do the people with a right to demand these things just do so randomly on the street? I did show it to him and he asked me where my hagwon was, even though the address is printed on it.

I still didn't believe he was Immigration so I called my boss right there and asked her if this situation sounded normal and she didn't think so so I passed my phone to him but he refused to talk with her, he said to me he was just checking. So I said to my boss it sounded like he was doing something illegal and she agreed. He said again he was just checking and I left.

When I got home I called Immigration and the woman there said he was probably just checking for illegal workers. Just randomly on the street? What if I was just visiting and forgot my passport at my friend's house? Would he demand to escort me to the apartment to see it or just arrest me?

Just wondering if this is common...

[kangnamdragon]

It sounds VERY strange.

I do know that we are required to carry our resident cards or passports at all times. Even visitors are supposed to carry passports.

However, I have never heard of this situation. Did he speak English? I would just keep walking. He does not know where you live anyway.

[Lawrence]

I have seen it in the past few weeks. If you look "foreign", i.e. your
appearance may be consistent with that of a foreign laborer, expect to be
stopped. You did the right thing by asking for ID. You could
have also said that you wanted to have the conversation in a police station
instead of on the street. That would have cleared up any potential scam.
But it is "round up time." Non Koreans are fair game this month.

[kylehawkins2000]

I was stopped a couple of weeks ago and 'detained' for nearly half an hour becuase I didn't have my card or passport on my. There were actually 6 guys. One was a police officer and another had a video camera. We were eventually let go.....but it was a serious pain in the ass.

I hear that it's becuase of the 'crack down' on illegal migrant workers.

It is strange but I believe they really are from immigration and they're just doing their jobs. It did smack of discrimination however.

[Stunted Wookie]

I was 'held up' by immigration in the stairwell of a building once. 5 of them, had really nice suits and really nice badges complete with photo ID.

They said "we are immigration, can we see your passport please?"

I said "Do YOU have any identification?"

They said (collective like the Borg) "Yes, here"

I said "oh"

It ended with have a nice day, after I told them what I do....

REALLY nice suits.

[Mr. Pink]

[tokki]

I didnt know that we are supposed to carry our ARCs on us all the time. Do I have to have it if I go to the gym? Will some creep from Immigration ask me for my ARC while I am doing the 3rd set on the bench press?

[The Lemon]

I was asked for ID on the streets by authorities, randomly, twice - both times were in 1997. Hasn't happened since.

That same year, a well dressed older man came up to me outside my school and asked me to teach his kid privately. I declined, politely telling him to enroll his son at the school. The next day, our school was raided for having teachers on illegal visas. I've always wondered since then if the guy had anything to do with it, or if the timing was just coincidental.

[Son Deureo!]

For the OP I have a question, and while it shouldn't matter we are in Korea.

Are you white? If not, I'd guess that you're being harassed is in connection with the current roundup of illegal 3Ds.

[Dr. Buck]

Great for tourism in Korea, isn't it?

I was stopped once before while visiting Seoul. The fellow showed me his Immigration ID card and asked for my ARC. On the street, out of the blue, and very blunt in that demented Konglish way. I opened my billfold and handed him a business card of a man that just left Korea two days before. He is a older gentleman that I took fishing before he left. He works for a very large American corporation that does big business with a Korean super chaebol.

When the immigration fellow noted the corporate logos and his facial expresssion slightly shifted, I said, "Give my secretary a call and perhaps we can set up a job interview for you, but right now I'm very busy and need to go. Annyoung!"

[Derrek]

A friend's boyfriend got deported because the police walked into his open apartment door and asked him for his Passport.

He was from Africa, and was overstaying.

They were looking for a black man that was running from them, and that was their excuse for entering.

[kangnam mafioso]

this is really no big deal and a common occurance in many countries. if i got angry everytime i was asked for my passport on european trains, i would be in bad shape.

the last thing you need to do is freak out and cop an attitude because that is going to just make them want to inconvenience you more. be polite and helpful, always carry your alien card, make sure it is up to date and you should have no problems.

what is about korea that makes westerners feel that they should have carte blanche and they are somehow above the law?

[buddy bradley]

Well, this proves it. I am as ugly as sin. Pigs ignore me and I don't get stared at.

[Ilsanman]

Sounds stupid, but I'd just tell him/her to *beep* off. It's straight up harassment, as far as I am concerned.

They can contact my hagwon if they have a big problem. I pay tax here, the government saw fit to give me a visa, I even pay a special tax just for being here. My school sprung it on me one day. It was like 5,000 won. It's not a lot, but I felt insulted. Like..paying for the privilege of living here.

This xenophobic shit really needs to end.

[candu]

Several Immigration officers followed me around an apartment complex for a while in the spring '97, so I decided to have some fun with them, leading them around in circles, occasionally darting between buildings, popping into Family Mart for a can of coffee, stopping to use the pay phone, etc. Funny thing was they never seemed to realize I was aware of them from the beginning, and I'm not especially streetwise back home or anything. They were pretty sad as "undercover" tails go, and contrary to some postings, wore suits that suggested they were purchased off the Namdaemun Market bargain rack. Anyway, I started getting bored after around half and hour, said to the one across the street from me, "I know you are Immigration officers. Have a nice day," was told in reply, "You must stop! Come with us," and responded by getting into a cab and going home, leaving them dumbfounded on the street. Easy as that. And, in case anybody was wondering, I wasn't doing anything illegal that day, aside from being a cracker in a Gangnam residential neighborhood! I suppose I wouldn't have gotten into trouble had I stopped, but at the time a number of people I knew were getting stopped on the street, accused of being illegal teachers (in most cases, wrongly accused), asked to show ID, open their bags, etc. Didn't feel in the mood to be humiliated, so I didn't stay around. So while getting "profiled" isn't the nicest feeling in the world, it is possible to have a little fun with an otherwise bad experience.