Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jack_b57]

Why is private tutoring considered illegal in Korea? Just wondering what the rationale is. Wouldn't it incentivise hagwons and recruiters to be more legit knowing people could get an alternate form of income?

[northway]

Why would Korea want to incentivise hagwons to be more legit? Their owners and overlords participate politically, we don't. And it's not like the horrible plight of English teachers is going to attract massive negative publicity for the country.

That said, I don't understand why they're as stringent about it as they are. The mother of one of my kindies asked me to give him privates, and seemed genuinely distraught when I said I legally couldn't, saying she just wanted to get private lessons for her son but didn't know how to do so. The market is there, people want the privates, yet the law disallows it (perhaps because it's essentially untaxable income).

[Koharski]

Private tutoring is illegal only if the income is not reported to the government. It is perfectly legal to tutor privately if you are registered with the Tax Office and all income is reported. Same in all countries; the government wants all income reported and taxed.

Koharski

[BigBuds]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Skyblue]

Do many E2 folks do it and fly under the radar?

[Netz]

[Troglodyte]

[Hatcher]

Privates are illegal because Koreans want everyone to have an equal shot at the top unis. The rich can afford the top tutors so.... In fact, 60% of SNU students come from rich families.

The next one is taxes.

A major reason why 2nd jobs are not permitted is that KOreans dont like, most would say hate, it when foreigners here make a lot of money.

At my uni, the K profs all monitor how much the westerners make. I have heard lots of stories where westerners have had their salary decreased because they were making too much.

[northway]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[jack_b57]

Well, I'm glad the government gives a lot of legal scrutiny to private tutoring on an E2, just as they do to, say, the sex industry. (insert sarcastic laugh here)

But seriously, maybe instead of tutoring, maybe people can just have "coffee". And the conversation will be in English, of course. And after I pay for both cups of coffee, the student will pay me back. And (oops!) the student might "accidentally" overpay me for this coffee by a few ten-thousand won. I would call it "English coffee".

I have no idea where I came up with this idea. "Massage" anyone?

[nathanrutledge]

E-2 visa holders CAN work second jobs with permission. Now, how many people have ever been given permission? (yeah yeah, i know, everyone knows someone who's done it, whetever, we all know it's extremely rare to get permission).

OP, the reason why you can't do it is because it's the law. Compare the visa rules here to Japan. They are much more archaic here, tilted in favor of the employer. That's just the way it is, don't bother asking why.

Also, you want to teach illegally, fine, do it, but just know that 1) it's illegal, 2) if you're caught you will be fined heavily, 3) you make foreigners look bad by breaking the law. You want to try and be clever, it won't work. They'll see through it and you'll get bitten.

Just my 2 cents.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[nathanrutledge]