Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bellatore]

I just returned home last week after completing a year's contract with GEPIK. My co-teacher didn't know how to process the end of my stay. She got through most of it, but she told me the day I was leaving to go to the pension office at the airport before I left and show them my alien registration card. She said they'd give me cash for my pension. I knew this didn't sound right, but she was supposed to be the one with the information. My Korean abilites are far from adequate to find out this information for myself. So, I went to the airport and asked Information for the pension office. They never heard of it. I asked the guy at check-in. He had never heard of it. I went to the immigration office and that guy didn't know what I was talking about. There's no pension office at the airport. I called my co-teacher, who said there was nothing she could do because she was already at her home and the administrators had gone for the day. I told her to make a copy of my card (from a copy she had) and that I'd also make a copy. I knew they'd keep my card when I left. She told me she'd email me the next day and let me know what I should do, but it's a week later and I haven't heard from her. I realized later that I don't have her email address. I wrote to another teacher and asked for contact info for the co-teacher, but she's not writing me either. I can't afford to lose this money. I'm also furious that I spent a year there and I might not get all that's due to me. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can get this money? I'm jobless in California and I need all the cash I can get.

[yingwenlaoshi]

You should've went to the pension office with your alien card, bank account information and a plane ticket to show that you were leaving Korea. You can still apply for your refund from home, I believe.

Maybe someone can chime in here and give you the proper phone number(s) for the pension office You can check your balance over the phone and I think online as well. As far as getting it ASAP, you're SOL. Might take a month or so.

Hate to say this, but you should've looked into all of this before leaving. Pension office at the airport... That's too funny.

[oskinny1]

Try http://www.nps4u.or.kr/jsppage/english/main.jsp

[cruisemonkey]

Let this be a lesson to all newbies - NEVER trust a K co-teacher to know (or do) what is required when it comes to important matters such as pension. Do your research and take matters into your own hands!

[antoniothegreat]

[bixlerscott]

[Big Mac]

If you're in Canada you can make an application with HRDC. It took me a while to find the right department within HRDC because no one I called with the Canadian government could figure out why I was calling them about Korean pension. But the office does exist. Just keep asking for the department that deals with Canada's social security agreement with Korea and you'll get it eventually. Unfortunately I don't have the information now or I'd give it to you.

However, I will warn you that it will take over a year for them to even look at your application. They claim to be very short-staffed. But you will eventually get your money. I never got mine because I was back in Korea by the time they got to my application.

If you're in the States I'm sure there's a similar office there. Hopefully it's more efficient than the Canadian one.

[Mithrae]

Contact the nearest Korean embassy in California. They should have the information. If they don't, they should be able to give you the contact information for the pension office in Seoul. It's in the Koryu Building about 1 km from Seoul Station. Given the nature of their jobs, the staff speak very good English, so you can communicate with them. It does, however, take 6 weeks to get the money after you've filled out all of the paperwork. The good news is that they can put it into your US bank account. It's your money. You can get it. It's there waiting for you to claim. You just need to contact the correct authorities to tell you exactly how to do it.

Phone the Korean consulate Monday morning.

Note: To get more hits on your thread, and more detailed advice (perhaps even the phone number of the pension office), change the thread title to something like "Applying for Korean pension from outside Korea.' There's also a 'sticky' on this website ('Job Related Discussion Forum')about pension refunds. There might be pertinent information on there about overseas applications.

[ChilgokBlackHole]

The above, as well as it doesn't matter a lick what anyone says to anyone. Unless it's written down on a piece of paper, it never happened. Please, everybody: I hear the words "Don't worry about it" far too often here on the peninsula.

Get things in writing! If it's not in writing, it's a rumor!

[bellatore]

Thank you so much to all of you who offered useful information. This was my second year in Korea and so different from the first. (different job) The first time, it was all taken care of, so to suggest I should have known better than to trust my Korean co-teacher is kind of cold. We don't do things we don't know we're supposed to do. Anyway, I do appreciate the advice and I hope no one else will have this kind of experience. I'm digging and I do hope I'll get it all worked out.

[Mithrae]

The Galbijim website has kindly provided contact information on the various pension offices in Korea. Here it is.

http://wiki.galbijim.com/National_Pension_Offices#Head_Office

Best of luck brother.

(Thank you Galbijim for your informative link. People helping people is always good.)

[summer33ny]

Does anyone know when to begin filing for pension refunds? How early?

[mmstyle]

Good time to do it: about a month before your contract is up, as long as you have a ticket. They should be able to estimate what the final payment into your pension will be and when it is due.