Korean Job Discussion Forums

s.tickbeat · Joined: 21 Feb 2010 Location: Gimhae

So here I am, a quarter way into my contract, and only now are my directors going on my MOE registration paperwork (I have a suspicion that someone paid them a visit or a phone call). Anyway, the MOE is refusing to accept the medical certificate I got (for my ARC application) in February, and is demanding one dated to April. Has anyone else run into this? 'Cause the fee to do the testing again is 89,000W (x2, for me and my partner both), and I can avoid it I'd like to.

It's not an immigration issue, so calling the Kimmi hotline won't help me at all, unfortunately, and my director and co-teachers are a little worse than useless ('The officer says this so it must be true. . . ')

Any info anyone has on this would be awesome.

s.tickbeat · Joined: 21 Feb 2010 Location: Gimhae

Come on guys, has ANYONE heard ANYTHING about this, at all!?

Skippy · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon

If it is MOE asking, best thing to do is get it done. Accept the loss of 89k x2.

Still double check that it is not your boss/manager just saying/parroting what they think is needed. Sometimes a manager will not think outside the box or go the extra mile, they will just do what they think is proper. Thus MOE wants medical, medical is done at office, so teacher needs to get a new medical. It might not be thought of teacher did medical from E-2 visa a few months ago, is that not good enough for immigration, maybe we should call them and ask.

Yet, if you are an E-2, I am just guessing, they should be satisfied with a copy of the medical from immigration.

Plus, be patient. Sometimes it takes time for people to answer a question. I have notice the weekend be a bit slow. If they want to or if they can relate to it. Be pushy can be off putting and prevent people from helping.

Who's Your Daddy? · Joined: 30 May 2010 Location: Victoria, Canada.

Require the employer to pay for it. If they agree to pay do it, if they don't refuse.

s.tickbeat · Joined: 21 Feb 2010 Location: Gimhae

Honestly it's not my employer's fault - the MOE should be covering the costs of any and all document checks for things they refuse to accept from immigration, including but not limited to medical checks, copies of things, photos, and drug tests.

Fucking hell.

tgrear2008 · Joined: 14 Apr 2010

Yeah, I think they want the medical from all the teachers. I had to do it and I have 5 months left on my contract. I made my boss pay the fee.

ssuprnova · Joined: 17 Dec 2010 Location: Saigon

Ask your employer to pay for it. After all, you ate the costs of the initial checkup.

Also, the more people raise their voices, the quicker the whole med checkup thing will go away. The thing is, hagwon bosses do coordinate (they hold regular meetings in my area). One of the recently raised issues was the med check and who should be paying for it (I asked my boss to pay and he told me he'd check with other hagwon owners). Well it turns out that said owner association decided that since the teachers in my area haven't fought, they wouldn't be paying for it, and as a result will not fight the arbitrary moe requirements (since they're not the ones eating the costs).

Anyway the point of this rant is that you should raise the issue with our boss. Hagwons are a big lobbying power in Korea and they can make the med checkup go away if it's hurting them enough.

Ps: I heard through the grapevine that Gyeonggi is toying with the idea to require three med and drug tests a year. I'm past caring since this contract is my last in Korea, but I'm just wondering if anyone heard similar rumors?

NYC_Gal 2.0 · Joined: 10 Dec 2010

My boss paid half, but she's one of those awesome hagwon owners who actually pays pension and national health, and lets me take all 10 days of holiday in the winter, using my home leave 2 weeks in the summer, rather than before my contract ends, so my having paid 50 bucks out of pocket (my hospital costs a bit more, but it's the best uni hospital in Incheon, and the doctor speaks pretty-much perfect English, having lived and practiced in the States for years,) wasn't that bad. This year, when I get a new check for immigration, I'm getting 2 copies (an extra copy is 10 bucks) and having one submitted to the MOE at the same time.

soomin · Joined: 18 Jun 2009 Location: Daegu

I'm on an E-2 visa, working for a hagwon, and I just needed a copy from immigration... I had to go there myself since you, and only you, are allowed to retrieve your medical check information from immi.

I went there, they made a copy and charged me 300won and I gave it to my boss. No further questions or hassle.

I would ask your boss if a copy from immi isn't the only thing necessary... and hint that they would need to pay for a new check if you have to get one.

s.tickbeat · Joined: 21 Feb 2010 Location: Gimhae

I have two bosses, working for two hagwons, and neither of them speak English - and quite frankly this is just another cost of doing business here, it seems. I'm going to immigration tomorrow, and I'll get a copy of that and see. . .

NYC_Gal 2.0 · Joined: 10 Dec 2010

My MOE office (in Incheon) would not accept a copy. I even had an extra original copy (I always get an extra for my records, as it only costs 10k, and I can use them later when I start health insurance again in the USA, to show that I never went without) but they wouldn't accept that. I ended up having to have the whole check again. I was more annoyed that I had to do another x-ray, as I'd had some other scans done last year for a surgery, and was well over the limit for safe amounts of radiation for the year.

stickbeat · Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Location: Canada

I an original from Feb. 7th, as well all of the other supporting docs. . .

For some reason they're also asking for a sex crimes report? I think they just want me to get a copy of my CRC from immigration, but I'm not sure if that's even necessary. I feel like I'm being jerked around by bureaucrats who have no idea what they're doing

Who's Your Daddy? · Joined: 30 May 2010 Location: Victoria, Canada.

BigJ · Joined: 21 Dec 2010

What is the deadline for this drug/medical test?

Does it involve anything like the first medical check (ie. X-Ray, etc.)

Also I am planning to re-sign my contract in two months, will I have to do an additional medical test or can I somehow combine the two checks? How could I work this out in my favor.

My employer made it clear that they will not be paying for it. Anyone in a similar boat? I am not sure if I can bring it up again and insist they pay it.

Troglodyte · Joined: 06 Dec 2009

If you were in your 6th month, you could ask the labor board what your rights are. If you refuse to do the test or if you refuse to pay for the test, would your boss have the right to fire you over this issue?

But..... you're only in your 3rd or 4th month so they can fire you anyway. They don't need a reason.

Still, I'd tell him that since it's not in your contract you want him to pay for it. If you're willing to risk being fired it's a bluff worth pulling. As others have said, if enough people refuse to pay for it, and the schools are forced to pay the bill, then they'll push for the MOE to smarten up. If he does fire you, it's not too difficult to get another job and if you're sticking around in Korea then it's not hard to get the labor board to make sure that your boss doesn't make any deductions from you last paycheck.