Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Centauri]

Hey everyone, my girlfriend and I are both about to apply for the EPIK Spring 2012 intake and would like to be able to live together. I realize that EPIK no longer officially offers couples housing to unmarried couples, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on perhaps which cities would be more likely to place us closer together.

Also, I've read about some unmarried couples having success in directly requesting to share one apartment from their school. Does anyone know if some cities are more inclined to allow this than others? Or is it just completely the luck of the draw, depending on what school you get?

I know a lot of couples just tend to get assigned 2 apartments and end up choosing just 1 to actually live in, but a lot of the studio type apartments I've been seeing seem pretty cramped for 2 people, which is why it might be nice to try to get an apartment actually made for 2. Although, every now and then I see a video of just 1 person with a huge apartment, like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6jpTTVMkMw&feature=related


Anyways, I currently have my top 5 cities listed as:

1. Incheon
2. Daejeon
3. Pusan
4. Gwangju
5. Daegu

But if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Thanks!

[Centauri]

Oh and by the way, I did find a thread about this already, but it's a couple years old, and I'm worried things may have changed quite a bit since then.

[roguefishfood]

I'm watching this thread-- my boyfriend and I are appying for Spring 2012 intake too! We've got our fingers crossed super-hard for Busan, but I know everyone else does too.

The only difference is that he and I already live in a studio the size of a largeish closet and are used to living in each others' pockets. We're definitely planning to just let the schools give us each housing and see whose is better/better located.

What I've heard is it's totally luck of the draw... so let's cross our fingers...

Good luck!

[Centauri]

[SeoulNate]

If you are interested in living together, or even being guaranteed to live near each other, do not go the public school route if you are unmarried. They can guarantee that you end up in the same city and that is about it. You could easily be an hour's commute or more away from each other. They used to place unmarried couples in housing together, but to my knowledge they do not any longer. However, even when they had that policy, both of you could have ended up being an hour or more away from each of your respect jobs.

If you want to live together, work at a Hakwon. Some positions prefer couples and you can get a nice place if you do your research.

[CentralCali]

As far as Korea is concerned, if you are not married, then you are not a couple. There will be exactly zero effort from a government entity (the public schools) to treat you two as a couple.

If you two do manage to both get schools in Busan (or anywhere else, for that matter), you run the risk of getting fired for cause if you decide that you will both live in one apartment provided by the school. Again, the school will not treat you two as a couple if you are not married. Just like everywhere else I've lived around the world, rental contracts require all residents of the apartment to be listed.

If you two each decide to go with the housing allowance option, you don't have to worry about any of that. What you will have to worry about is the massive deposit required in this country and, of course, finding someone that will be willing to rent to you without your school being your guarantor. If you request your school as your guarantor, then you'll be up against wall with the "morals clause" because you're living together. Yes, I know Koreans live together. Koreans are not foreign English teachers.

Or you two could get married and be treated as a couple in Korea. You should know that, if you take that option, the government will not give you a double-sized apartment nor will they provide you both with a housing allowance; and they certainly won't provide one of you an apartment and the other a housing allowance to reside in that same apartment.

[roguefishfood]

I appreciate this advice!

The getting married thing is sort of a vague possibility I suppose -- takes some of the romance out of it, adds a lot of convenience, the funny thing is I think I'm more pragmatically ok with that than he is... but it has been brought up.

We're definitely doing public school. We're aware that we might get placed far from each other, but we've also talked about not living together full time either way (see also, the landlord problem) and being more like frequent visitors. That might be a fun way to handle it too. Basically I'm saying we've got a lot of flexibility and are ready to take whatever comes.

Also: Does being engaged change anything about the way you're treated?

[CentralCali]

Engaged means nothing. Either you're in a heterosexual marriage in which case you're a couple or you're not in a heterosexual marriage in which case you're not a couple.

[roguefishfood]

[Centauri]

[CentralCali]

The public schools are a government entity. Hagweons and private schools run housing issues the way they see fit.