Korean Job Discussion Forums

[IT'S JUST ME]

�You should have been able to see everything as a tourist already, why do you need to come back again?

That�s what an Immigration officer asked me at the Busan Ferry terminal and then suggested I might be working illegally.

I'm not currently teaching English (had in the past) and was on my way to Japan to have my passport stamped so I could stay in Korea for another 90 days, but ran into a nightmare as I was trying to pass through immigration. I was pulled our of line and brought into an immigration office.

The first immigration officer didn't understand that I was visiting Korea on my passport and kept asking for a working I.D. even though I kept repeating...passport...tourist...not working. The second immigration officer trying to assist kept asking me to fill out unnecessary forms because he also thought I was working in Korea. The third immigration officer trying to assist finally understood that I wasn't working in Korea and then turned really "mean."

She asked why I needed to come back again and suggested that I was an illegal worker. She kept repeating that Canadians and Americans work illegally on their passports and that she would have to check with my past employers, etc. to see if there were any problems with my past stays in Korea. She asked me about my finances. It was difficult to offer a simple explanation without being ignored and making the immigration officer more angry.

It felt like an interrogation.

I had arrived early, but now my boat was leaving in 15 minutes. I pointed that out and the immigration officer said I could go but that she would have to check with my past employers, etc., and emphasized that she would see me again in the afternoon on my return trip from Japan.

[runthegauntlet]

I imagine there will be more and more situations like this in the future.

Unfortunate, but eh, it happens in lots of countries. Hope you make it back through a bit more quickly.

[ttompatz]

Repeated or long term stays on a tourist visa or visa free entry stamp will often get flagged.

IF you can show proof of adequate funds from a source outside of Korea (show you are not working here to support yourself)

and/or

show a legitimate reason for staying (living with your partner who is legally working, have Korean kids, etc) the problem goes away.

.

[Louis VI]

[ajgeddes]

I have never taken the ferry before, so maybe it is different. But, if you were on a tourist VISA why did you need to tell them you were coming back on your way out of Korea? I don't understand why they would be questioning a tourist leaving Korea.

[IT'S JUST ME]

[matthews_world]

Thanks to 9/11, gone is the ability to experience the world off-the-cuff so to speak.

When engaging in international travel, reservation agents are now required to ask for proof of a return ticket. You just can't go to another country to escape life as you could in the past.

It's Kimmigration's duty to enquire over anything they feel is suspicious.

The new expanded 90-day stays of sojourn became effective January 1 of this year I believe. These are just provisions that were negotiated into the new travel restrictions that are regulated by immigration officials.

They thought you were private teaching.

Unless you are rich or had connections, why would you so special that you need to nullify what they do?

I'm sure that, as others have mentioned, if you brought in a bank statement that this would good enough to cover your reasons for staying in the country on a tourist visa.

[IT'S JUST ME]

[asylum seeker]

I'm actually glad to hear this. It means maybe, finally, Korean immigration is going to crack down on all the illegal teachers who stay here for years and years on tourist visas doing visa runs every three months (or six if they're Canadians).

[Konglishman]

I don't know. Whenever I go home to visit my family in America, I usually get one rude comment from one of the immigration officers in America.

These comments usually consist of "What were doing over there in Asia for so long? What were you doing in Kuala Lumpur? We are going to have to search through your bags."

Frankly, it is probably a bit unrealistic to expect the Korean immigration to be much different especially as more and more foreigners find their way to Korea.

[IT'S JUST ME]

[jvalmer]

[Xuanzang]

[questionmark]

But the op seems to have had other hassles from Immi, like why were they asking the op for I.D. and to fill out a reentry permit when the op was on a tourist visa?

Sounds like Immi got upset because the op dared ask a question and then took it out on the op.

[guava]