Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jughead]

Open it up!

It's far past time to open up the industry. It's a joke where so many people are working here on tourist visas. For the most part, these aren't unqualified teachers. These are people who have degrees, and probably at one time were on E2 visas, but realized quickly that they can make far more money working pt jobs and getting hourly wages.
The industry is in need of teachers. You want to bring in Filipinos and Indians to teach. You want to bring in people who haven't completed university to teach English. You complain and have crackdowns on 'unqualified' teachers.

Why handcuff a 'qualified' teacher to a job working 6 hours a day for 2.2 million? Why do they have to go through hoops to work a second job? Rarely does a single hagwon have enough students to give a teacher real full time hours, so why not just let us work!

Get rid of the hoops, get rid of the hassles, get rid of the E2 prison. If a qualified teacher wants to work 16 hours a day, they should be able to without worrying that immigration is looking to deport them.

Stop being such jackasses and let us work goddamnit!

[joshuahirtle27]

AMEN. There are lots of people out there who do not have the resources to pay a school but could afford 50,000 W a week to have some foreigner give them private lessons. Why can't we allow them to have their cake? They are crying to eat it.

[knee-highs]

[Beej]

Koreans do not want individual foreigners to make too much money in Korea. Koreans do not want individual foreigners to make more than the average Korean worker.

[Pyongshin Sangja]

True dat.

[moosehead]

they also don't want K kids to actually speak E, much less understand it, and even less, to be learning it from a native speaker as opposed to a K teacher.

[sojourner1]

If Korea brings in Indians, then bye bye jobs as they will work for half of what we're working for. That's how the ball bounces down hill in the global economy where it's a free market. Korea is not a free capital market in any aspect of it as many of you already know that it's artifically controlled to preserve it's economic interests. It would be just like how Americans lost so many good jobs to India and China due to outsourcing to those who will work for peanuts, because they can. Go figure.

I wish they would make it where teachers had the visa instead of the school like the way it is in Japan, but this would mean no benefits with a market flooded full of everyone making it tougher to get those jobs only paying a wage. The opportunity would be ruined and it will go away within about 5 to 10 years due to quick changes in dynamic Korea who will have to deal with a recession or global depression.

[crusher_of_heads]

sorry sojourner1 but the perceived broken english of Se Asians, Indians, Phillipinos and wherever else will not make a dent in the demand elasticity of Native Speakers with an American accent or close to it, on a macro level.


Not from USA, you are welcome.

[DongtanTony]

The environment the OP desires may well be on its way later this fall.

There has been talk under the current administration that even though current immigration regulations would not be eased in terms of necessary documentation...there does appear to be two meaningful changes on the horizon.

1. Employment mobility--meaning...after 30 days...instead of the current 9 months...we would legally be able to transfer our visas to worthy employers. If your boss wants to screw with your first month's pay...you leave for greener pastures. If they don't acquire your ARC...you leave. If you don't like your s***hole apartment...you leave. If any number of things make you uneasy about your employment...you leave. Keep in mind...there will also be airline ticket reimbursement to employers who have employees leave...recruiters will have to return fees left and right...there will be an adjustment period. But...in theory...there will be benefits.

2. Legally working at multiple workplaces---in addition to the above changes, this program also seems to have some steam behind it. Visa sponsorship might become more of a gray area...paying for initial airline tickets will also be confusing...paid housing....there do seem to be some drawbacks. Furthermore, employers could still be sticklers about having their employees all to themselves...strengthening contractual clauses keeping the visa sponsor as the sole employer. But...public school employees should benefit...and a few liberal hagwons as well.

I don't know...we'll have to wait and see.

But...what the OP desires does seem to be working its way through the pipeline.

[hagwonnewbie]

O.P., You're post is not bright or articulate, but I agree with the spirit of it.

If you're writing a letter to immigration, you're complaints are misdirected. The current immigration policy is dictated by elected government officials acting on the behalf of the hagwon association and its leaders.

Of course, you can look at any nation and see small, wealthy groups influencing public policy in a way that does not benefit the public as a whole. You can also see people making high wages in positions where they break the law, e.g. drug dealers, prostitutes, black market merchants, and spies, to name a few. What makes illegal teachers any different?

I think you should have directed your comments towards the legislative body in Korea and recognize that there are many different forces influencing the current English frenzy and its economy in Korea.

[JamesFord]