Korean Job Discussion Forums

[luckysharms]

Hey all,

I know there are a ton of posts ranting about school issues, so I figure one more won't hurt.

I live and teach in Incheon and a couple of months ago the board of education sent out a memo saying that native teachers could use their vacation days to leave earlier if they wanted to. The condition was that the principal had to be ok with it.

Initially my girlfriend and I had planned to take a trip to China using 5 (of 9) vacation days and then use the remaining 4 to leave early. Our contract ends on September 4th (Saturday). Sadly, on July 1st China changed some of their rules and your ARC has to be valid for at least 6 months in order to get a travel visa. We went to get ours on the 3rd and were told about this new rule... Anyways, since that fell through we both asked our co-teachers if we could just add our remaining 5 days and leave even earlier. After some discussion with the principal, he agreed and we were set to leave on the 24th.

I left the school early (as I teach a firefighters' class for the school) and when I got home, my girlfriend told me that my vice principal had called her co-teacher to say that we wouldn't be allowed to go. His reason was that there would be too much time between native teachers (2 weeks).

I was kind of pissed off that the VP went out of his way to change the principal's mind. When I came in this morning, my co-teacher came in to confirm that I had heard the news. She said that we'd still be able to leave the 31st (A Tuesday, using 4 days of vacation) so I asked if I could at least use one more vacation day and then leave on the Saturday instead. Then she said that since I'm supposed to work on the 31st, that wouldn't be possible... Now I'm just confused. If I'm supposed to work on the 31st, I can't leave until the 1st of September and also, I'm using one of my vacation days and coming in to work? How does that make sense?

Does anyone happen to know - if my contract ends on a Saturday, am I expected to come into work? The way I see it, using 4 days it should end up being: Tuesday the 31st (1 day), Wednesday the 1st (2 days), Thursday the 2nd (3 days) and Friday the 3rd (4 days). If I never come into school on Saturdays, why would they be counting the 4th as a vacation day?

Anyways, it has also been hinted that the VP no longer "likes" me because of this, which I think it pretty stupid... It has been over 10 months and I've had no problems, but it looks like it's going to end on a bad note.

Thanks for letting me rant. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[CentralCali]

You may be confused. China most likely couldn't care less about your ARC. It's your passport that concerns them. You must have six months or more validity remaining on your passport to get a visa.

[luckysharms]

Sadly, I'm not confused... As of July 1st, 2010 they do care about your ARC. I'm not the first person with this problem. I've checked with a few travel agencies and the Chinese embassy. You can't get a visa from Korea unless you have 6 months+ left on your ARC AND passport.

Sucks.

[DrugstoreCowgirl]

[rickpidero]

use your sick days. In our contracts it says we can take them whenever. They cannot stop you unless you string together a few days together, in that case you need a doctors note.

[luckysharms]

[rickpidero]

[air76]

What was the excuse that the Chinese gave for this new regulation? They do realize that it is impossible to extend your ARC more than once a year, right?

[air76]

What was the excuse that the Chinese gave for this new regulation? They do realize that it is impossible to extend your ARC more than once a year, right?

[NYC_Gal]

[air76]