Korean Job Discussion Forums

goodfella · Joined: 10 Feb 2004

hi. im new to this forum and i was reading all these posts on illegals and privates here in korea. im from canada and i know that a visitor visa is good for 6 months long. but the hawgon im at, ill be working there for a year with my contract. ive heard people doing "visa runs" going to other countries. my friends that i met here in korea, since i just came here recently, told me of people doing that. my question is this: how can someone keep leaving the country every 6 months, that is if youre canadian, and keep re-entering the country through immigration? wouldn't
they get suspicious or think it seems weird that someone that is visiting
korea is always entering and re-entering on a tourist visa every 6 months?
is there no way they can actually stop someone , only on suspicion, without any proof? or can they tell you to go back? just wondering, coz i read on many posts that there is a large number of illegal teachers here.
what if someone came here, entering and re-entering 10 or 20 times.
they cant do anything to them without proof? thanks. sorry about the long post!!!!

take care

goodfella · Joined: 10 Feb 2004

sorry, just to add this.
how can they explain their income on how they make a living if only visiting?
how could they explain staying so long?

just a thought....

thanks

Ilsanman · Joined: 15 Aug 2003 Location: Bucheon, Korea

Lie until you are blue in the face. If you make a good Korean friend, she will lie for you.

I am surprised by it everytime I meet a new person who does it too. I guess you could say you are a student. If you study under 20 hours a week, you don't need a student visa, so I am told.

But to answer your other question, immigration has deported and fined people without solid proof before, and lightning does strike twice (or more times) in Korea.

Alex Buffa · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: South Korea

why not just go legit?

Saves the stress and worry of looking over your shoulder when you see the immigration van coming around the corner.

Juggertha · Joined: 27 May 2003 Location: Anyang, Korea

Goodfellla, if your gong to be working for a Hogwon for a years contract then you should get an E2 visa. If you have a 4 year degree and are sponsored by a school you should get one no prob. then you wont have to leave every 6 months.

As for those who come over and work illegally, yes they have to leave every 6 months. Yes immigration gets suspicious and yes they can be turned away with little explanation.

If your thinking of coming here and doing it.. ya better be swift.

busan_boy2000 · Joined: 11 Nov 2003

yo, I think the common sense was trying to get out, but you just didn't trust yourself. "Won't they get suspicous." Well yeah, depending how smooth you are. Can they arbitrarely just turn you away? Yeah. Just like at any other border in the world.

My 2 cents. I left my old job, as they were insisting I work illegal. In my months in Busan, before I booted, the degree of intellect amongst the illegals I met (to stereotype I realize) was not to high. Do not deduce that I'm validating that all legals are, therefore bright, in and amongst themselves - but have a little confidence in yourself. All the questions you thought of, are reasonable concerns and will eventually nail you or your friends. We all hear about Joe X from blah blah that has worked for 5 yrs illegal and made so much money. But come on. Do you really want to live like that?

If you can, get a visa.

chrisbem1 · Joined: 14 Apr 2003 Location: south korea

Yes, you can make a lot of money doing the illegal thing, but if you want to make almost as much and still be here legally, why not get a part-time job that will sponsor your visa, and teach privates when you aren't working your 12 hours a week (or however many hours). There are a lot of people who do that as well, and it's a whole lot less stress.

bjonothan · Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Location: All over the place

Personally if you are going to do the illegal thing make it worth while. I did it for two years and made up to 5 million a month but after the crackdown I decided to be legal. The biggest problem with being illegal here is that some bosses will screw you. I have heard that you can buy degrees on-line. A friend did it recently and it all passed with no worries at all. I think you are looking at about $110 for a REAL degree. After that you cannot be screwed and don't have to be on the lookout for immigration.

goodfella · Joined: 10 Feb 2004

yo yo yo! busan boy. wasn't talkin from experience, just wondering how
people can get away with it. i mean if someone is here for 3 years , for example, and dont have any source of income, saying that they are visiting for the last 3 years, i would like to know how they do it?
how would he or she tell them how they survive? panhandling 100 wons!!
actually i would like to talk to someone who did it or is currently doing it.
sounds like youre not the only smart guy around if they can get away with doing that! diploma or not! i seen guys making probably double what your making and work 10 hours a week. its all who you know and who you dont.
oh yeah, you think the kids give a crap about what you teach just coz
you have a degree. 80% could probably care less! i know guys back who
dont have a degree and could out talk and entertain brats all day better than almost anyone. as ratslash said, having a degree in criminal law
doesnt make u any better of a teacher than someone without a degree.
if people didnt realize already, two thirds of teaching at a kids school
is entertaining acting like an idiot to make them laugh!!
NO THANKS
if anyone agrees with me feel free to pm, or to talk about illegals, not that i do them, of course.

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

I had 5 6-month tourist visas before I went legit. They never asked me anything at the passport control. I have a friend who has been doing it for 7 years, and he only gets 3 month visas. He ran out of pages in his passport. He has been asked once, he said he is a student. That was that. Relax.

waggo · Joined: 18 May 2003 Location: pusan baby!

So you can say youre a student but study for less than 20 hours a week so dont need a visa...that sounds dodgey to me...the next question they are going to ask you is where do you study?....what are you going to say then?...starbucks!

just because · Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Location: Changwon - 4964

I would say ganada language institute in Seoul if I was asked where I was studying and just coming in on tourist visa. Just pick amy language school you know. Should be sweet

OiGirl · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: Hoke-y-gun

I thought that the student issue was not about hours, but subjects. I have heard that if you were studying Korean language or culture (even at the university,) that you didn't need a student visa, but to study other subjects you did.

I never did change my visa status to student.

harpua · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: haebangchon

can you actually get hired there without a visa? that's something that i'm thinking about doing....

sistersarah · Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Location: hiding out

the problem with working illegally is that if you eventually want to go legal and get a visa, you're going to have a hard time convincing immigration that you were just in korea visiting or studying previously. i worked here for 5 months when i first got here illegally.....just out of naivity. when my new job applied for me to get a work visa, immigration made it difficult.....they demanded letter after letter of what i was doing in korea for 5 months if i wasn't working. they even asked for contacts of people i stayed with, credit card receipts....finally, they backed down. i still think my boss had to have paid them off....