Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Old Surrender]

I'm going through the EPIK application and it asks if I were ever charged with a crime. I was charged with a DUI about 7 years ago, did a diversion (basically stay out of trouble for a year, charges are dropped, no criminal record) so my criminal record is clean.

So my question is this: How will they know if I was ever charged with a crime if I have a clean criminal record? And if I do answer honestly, will my application be rejected?

Thanks!

[themagicbean]

Answer honestly and you will probably be rejected.

Even diverted /expunged crimes leave a record. When you get your background check specify it's for a third-party employer. If the crime shows up, get a different one instead of handing that one in.

One person applied to my hagwon. He had a very small theft crime expunged 5 years ago. Immigration told him he couldn't come in.

[jmuns]

if it was expunged then its not on your record, because it has been expunged. nothing to worry about.

[sulperman]

Agreed. What is the point of expunging something just to go on and tell everybody about it? The government agreed not to tell anybody, why should you?

Don't mention it.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[usaenglish13]

^ how to be consistently annoying in one easy step.

[bacasper]

You have a choice here: indulge your pathological honesty and lose the chance to work in Korea, or "expunge" the charge from your memory.

Apparently honesty disqualifies one from being a GEPIK teacher.

To answer your questions: they will only know if you tell them; and if you do so, you will be rejected. But if you can't resist Jiminy Cricket, you should probably look elsewhere.

What if they asked if you ever lied to your mother?

[Old Surrender]

Hmm. I guess I'll be dishonest.
Let's see how karma bites my butt a few years from now.
Thanks, guys.

[Kaypea]

[nathanrutledge]

I had some fun in college, 12 counts of fun to be exact. I did diversion because it was supposed to result in the case being dropped and not being on the record.

HA! It showed up on one record but not on another, partially on a third.... it's really hit or miss. Criminal records are a matter of public record and in this county, they published them online. For a while (about 3 years after the fact) you could search my name and see my 12 counts of mischief on their, but they all said dismissed under disposition.

Now one of my friends was a county sheriffs deputy and HE searched my name and it showed all of those PLUS my negligent driving from my 23+ MPH speeding ticket from when I was 16.

My partner in crime from the 12 counts went on to work for the department of corrections and from HIS state database, none of it is shown, but from looking at other people we know, it DOES show SOME past transgressions.

Long story short, the line "my buddy is a cop and they know all the records" doesn't cut it, at least in the US. The federal system with different states, counties, and city jurisdictions, it really is a hit or miss as to what gets reported to whom how long after the fact and how long it will stay there. Just my two cents.

[blonde researcher]

If NOTHING is showing on your legitimate state police check then you have nothing to declare anywhere or at any time.

If the previous charge is on your police check then you will have to declare this, even if it was dismissed, simply because the immigration are expecting to find NOTHING on your police check.

If they find anything written on it they will get curious and apply Korean logic thinkin "where there is smoke there must have been fire".
He does not have a clean record- NO VISA

[themagicbean]

IAAL, former prosecutor, we need to settle this "expunged" thing:

EVERYTHING is on a record somewhere. If a police officer walked by and said hi to you, that's written down somewhere as a "consensual encounter." If you were six, charged with stealing gum, and the charges were dismissed, all of that is on a record.

An "expunged" crime is most certainly still there ... it's just a matter of who can see it. In the US only a few select employers (law enforcement, maybe some schools) can see the WHOLE record including expungments

I know. I went through an extensive background check and swore to only use information relevant to cases I was prosecuting and to not use--or even access--the records otherwise.

The problem is when you request your own records--all the privacy protections are gone because, duh, you don't keep secrets from yourself. Thus you have to be specific, try to get them to give you the record that a third party would get--the nice clean one. That's the point of expungement, to remove the disability that results from the conviction of a crime. So make sure you get the clean record and submit it and as far as I'm concerned you're morally justified. Just IMHO, though.

[buckeye101]

if you hand in to your recruiter a state record check and its clean does Korean immigration do their addictional search on you? it sounds like it from reading this

[hellofaniceguy]

Don't ask....don't tell...works for the military folks!

[nautilus]

Koreans can commit all the same petty crimes in this country and go unnoticed. Drinking and driving? fairly commonplace and you'd be unlucky to get checked.
urinating in the street? Public indecency? ha.
Drunk and disorderly? Korean police ignore it.
Same goes for soliciting prostitutes. An overlooked daily part of the culture here.

So you can have a western "criminal" who is actually far more law abiding than the averae Korean.
Ultimately Korea will end up with only the most innocent and whiter than white westerners in their country. Maybe they'll be forcd to stop branding us as lawbreakers then?