Korean Job Discussion Forums

[smoggy]

The travel agent booked me a flight on the 23 of Aug. (midnight) and told the school that she needed payment by the 17th of the month - no payment. Then she had to book me on Seoul Airlines as the Asiana flight was booked - still no payment - so now it is canceled. Now I am booked on the midnight flight for the 26th of Aug. arriving on the 27th of Aug. I wonder if the school will pay the bill, or will it be canceled?

Do I hear any bets on this one? (The school is ECC Seongseo, Daegu. The recruiter is LongbridgePacific.)

[Carla]

[broken76]

Besides public schools (which pretty much have a teachers pays policy across the board) it still is the school's responsibility to pay for the flight. This may change in the upcoming months but overall schools have not required teachers to pay for flights.

[wesharris]

Public schools reimburse.
_+_
|Wes

[broken76]

Yes public schools do reimburse but expect the teacher to pay up front. Hagwons have generally been paying for flights up front for teachers and that may change soon.
Hopefully it doesn't since it will make it impossible for many teachers to come to Korea.

[Dodgy Al]

[Fox]

[romano812]

I've read comments from a few people indicating that all schools inKorea want to go away from paying any airfare, but I haven't really noticed any yet. I worked for 2 hagwons and they both payed for airfare and then I went to work for a public school and they were the ones that actually burned me on airfare. They were supposed to reimburse me for airfare 30 days after I arrived, then they delayed payment and then finally after 3 months simply said they weren't going to pay at all. Now I'm still waiting for money from them for other financial issues and I'm having probelms getting that. I'm sure most people have had a positive experience with the public schools, but mine was so bad I'm going to be bashing the school and division on here for the next 10 years (o.k. maybe a few days).

[asams]

[lifeinkorea]

[iggyb]

If a hakwon is dragging its feet on getting you the ticket, I'd advise dropping your contract.

Have you already gotten the visa stamped in your passport? Hopefully not. If not, I'd say don't and tell them to cancel it on their end.

The world economy is hurting. SK is an export-driven economy. It is going to be hurting. The last time Korea suffered a major, multinational economic meltdown, many hakwons went under. Most were hurting. (Most were run by people who weren't really business people and didn't know how to prepare or withstand such a shock.)

If a hakwon today is unable or unwilling to purchase the ticket on time, it most likely means they are having cash flow problems ---- which screams AVOID ME!! DANGER!! DANGER!! DANGER!!

Someone posted a comment here on visa terms and timelimit lengths. You might want to locate it or maybe they can repeat what they wrote.

I'd also call or email the Korean consulate in your area. You might try an email to the consulate in LA if you live in the US. I sent about 4 consulates an email about the F series visa and only LA responded and they did so within a few days.

Depending on whether or not you already have the visa stamp in the passport, ask them about what you need to do to get it canceled and/or when it will expire naturally.

I would not recommend going forward with a hakwon at this point in time if they are showing signs of monetary weakness...

--- As for long term, the only way I can picture SK's ESL market dropping the plane ticket item is if the Korean economy soars like a rocket propelling it up several rungs on the top economies ladder and the Won strengthens or the pay gets much better ---- and Korea's ESL market becomes saturated.

In the late 80s and early 90s, Japan's was the go-to ESL market until it became saturated. That is when they stopped giving airfare. Then people started shifting to Korea.

Today, you have other ESL markets to look at. Not clear cut alternatives in terms of money-making potential, but enough that pulls on the pool of TESOLers. Hakwons already have to compete with Korean public schools for even the non-education majors with no teaching experience.

In short, if hakwons stopped paying for airfare, the Korean ESL market would have to contract big time, because they would be unable to recruit enough people to come over.

[smoggy]

Thanks for all of your help so far. Yes, I have my Visa and no I can't cancel it. My recruiter knows about the situation, and gave me the financial directors e-mail. I am waiting for a response. If the recruiter tells me to pay for my own ticket, I'll run for the hills. The travel agent is nervous & won't issue the ticket. We canged the date for leaving from the 22nd to the 25 of August.

[bassexpander]

If they stopped paying for airfare, it would be great for me.

Far fewer people would be interested in coming here. I can't tell you how many people I've met over the years who came here without a pot to piss in, and thousands in college debt.

I'm looking forward to watching this bite schools in the ass.

[expat2001]

[iggyb]

If I were in this situation, I would not accept a ticket from this school and I'd ask them to cancel my visa and I'd start checking with Korean immigration and the consulates about what I could do to get out of that visa -- explaining why I had changed my mind.

In short, if it were me --- I wouldn't go.

The school is showing signs of economic hardship. That isn't going to change if they have enough or borrow enough money to buy you a ticket. You do NOT want to land in a school having economic difficulty. Repeat -- you do not want to land in a school having economic difficulty...

On whether or not the market will cancel airfare as standard,

The expats coming over will drop dramatically if most of the ESL industry stops paying for airfare ---- IF there are other ESL markets that do offer it.

What is it like in Taiwan and China? Does Japan still not offer airfare normally?

A large percentage of the TESOLers in Korea, unless this has changed, are fresh out of college. They usually have debt to pay off. Many don't have money for airfare.