Korean Job Discussion Forums

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I taught in Daegu this past year and came back to the US for August. I was trying to get into a 2 month Korean course and then teach after that. It looks like I will not be able to get my visa in time for the class to start now and I already purchased a one way non-refundable plane ticket. I would like to still come as a tourist to practice Korean on my own while looking for a job.

Has anyone been able to get into Korea with a one way ticket with no visa?

And if I won't be able to enter on a one way ticket, if I buy another ticket back to the US in a few months, should I be able to enter?

I am very confused and tired of getting various answers ><

[Kimchifart]

Well I was stopped in the airport on my way here and they thoroughly checked my visa and my ARC, so I'd say you have a 50/50 chance.

[tardisrider]

The decision to let you into the country on a one way ticket and with no pre-arranged visa is entirely at the discretion of the immigration official when you arrive. The decision will be made on a variety of factors. Assuming that he or she thinks that you will not become a burden on the Korean government (ie,you won't become indigent) or violate the terms of your stay as a tourist (ie, you won't work when you're not supposed to or engage in political activities) then you'll likely be let in. By the way, if you are let in, it will be on a Tourist Visa, so technically you won't be on "No Visa" at that point.

Nothing I've written so far addresses what will likely be your biggest hurdle to entering Korea on a one-way plane ticket, namely the airline itself.

Airlines are often highly reticent to allow people to travel without per-arranged visas or round trip tickets. This is because the airline bears the responsibility for returning you home if you aren't let into the country. If immigration turns you away and you don't have an onward/return ticket, the airline that brought you has to take you back, and they don't want to do that for free.

I'd say it's far more likely that the airline will turn you away than immigration in Korea.

[fezmond]

where are you coming from?

leaving from the UK was fine, had lots of trouble in japan last month. strangely i had no outgoing flight when i travelled from the uk whereas osaka immigration stopped me because they couldn't understand the fact that i was married to a korean and that the original visa from 3 years ago was out of date

[viciousdinosaur]

It's possible. I've entered Korea on a tourist visa twice with a one way plane ticket. You take your chances. Have a good excuse.

[northway]

1) The airline is more likely to cause trouble than immigration is.

2) You'll be under increased scrutiny if you've had a teaching visa in the past. One of my friends was not allowed to board her flight from Canada, in part due to this.

3) I've done it. I had to argue with the ticketing agents, and I had never had a teaching visa prior (and I had three entry-exit stamps from Korea from visa-waiver trips). I told them I was planning to take the ferry to Japan and couldn't book it in advance.

4) I'm not sure if this actually makes a difference, but when questioned, I shoved a bank statement with $10,000 in front of the ticketing agents, proving that even if I wasn't allowed through immigration, I had my own funds to pay for onward travel.

[ttompatz]

buy a full fare (refundable), one way ticket to Japan dated within 90 days of your arrival in Korea.

Show that when asked.

Fly to Korea.

Cancel the flight and apply for your refund.

If you pay by credit card then the refund will be processed within 5 working days.
If you pay by cash then the wait could be as long as 60 days.

Korean Air only charges 30k won for a cancellation on a full fare ticket.

.

[CentralCali]

Is it possible? Yes. Is it legal? Not really. Is it a good idea to try it? Again, not really. If the airline lets you board without the proper entry documents for you destination and the Immigration authorities in Korea do not let you slide, then both you and the airlines will be penalized. The airline, of course, will not be detained; you will. The airline will pay a steep fine though and that goes on their record with the Korean government. In other words, the more people who pull foolish stunts, the less likely it will work because the more likely the airline will have a negative track record.

[Chalmers]

I did it back in January with no problem. The only person to ask what I was doing was the woman who worked at the check in counter at SFO airport. I just told her I was only staying for 90 days and that was that.

[johnnyrook]

I also did it this year, I'd planned to study korean for ten weeks which according to my research didn't require a visa so imagine my surprise when I went to check in and when they asked me my plans I told them and they said I needed a visa. After some talking over the phone the woman checked me in anyway and just told me that if they asked at K-Immigration to say I was just there for tourism. No problems once I got to Korea.

I actually ended up staying for four months, so I had to do a short trip to Japan; Tsushima to be precise. My girlfriend and I had planned to make a weekend of it, but turns out you need to book ferry tickets weeks in advance even at the seemingly quiet time of late April (that's Korea for ya) for Saturday-Sunday return trips, and my gf didn't make any inquiries about it until about ten days before we planned to go (which was about 80 days into my stay in Korea).

We had a prior engagement for the weekend after that and I couldn't go during the week cuz I'd miss class so we ended up having to do a one day trip on the Sunday, actually we had about two hours between arriving and departing from Tsushima.

I was pretty nervous about how K-immigration would react once I came back only a few hours after departing, seeing it was pretty obvious what my intent was, and I'd read some stories about people having problems doing the same thing, but actually it was only really in Japan where I got bothered, there was a policeman who approached me as soon as I left customs, wanting to know what I was doing in Tsushima. When I told him I was going back into Korea the same day he just let me on my way. When I got back to Korea I got a young guy who didn't even really bother looking at my previous stamp, he processed me in about 30 seconds or so.

Btw, I stayed at my gf's parent's house for half the time (rest of the time in the uni dorm) and both times I came into Korea I ticked "visiting family/friends" and put their address down.

[lemak]

You CAN do it, the same way you CAN drink and drive.

Will you be caught? Possibly.

Will you be in the sh*t if you do get caught? Probably.

This topic comes up seemingly monthly and there's always people yabbering away about "It's fine! I've done it!" And yes, you may get away with it, but if they're following the rules the airlines are technically supposed to prevent you boarding the flight. This happens. A lot.

The airlines are held legally accountable for you, and often fined if they don't ensure you meet the entry requirements of your destination country before they allow you on the plane. If they're doing their job properly they *will* check for visas or onward tickets.

I've had it happen with both Korea and a couple of other destinations. Trust me, it's REALLY annoying running around the airport trying to buy tickets before you're allowed to check in.

Buy an onward, refundable ticket and cancel it.

[motiontodismiss]

Say you work immigration. Someone tries to enter the country with no visa and no onward ticket (plane, train, bus, whatever). Would you admit them?

[tardisrider]

It's silly to compare entering the country without an onward ticket to crimes like drunken driving or even teaching privates--as I wrote before, immigration officials decide whether or not to let people in. If they decide to let you in, then you're in legally. You've done nothing wrong and the immigration official is betting that you won't do anything wrong. That will be based on appearance, past travel history, ability to support yourself, general attitude, a reasonable excuse/reason for travel, and so on.

For what it's worth, you could be turned away even with a visa and onward tickets if the immigration official deems you any sort of risk or whatever. That would only be likely after a period of questioning and investigation, but it's always possible.

The risk of traveling without an onward ticket or visa lies in the possibility that you might not be allowed to enter the country. The airline is concerned about this possibility because if it happens, then they have no choice but to fly you back home, which they simply don't want to do for free. They don't have any control over immigration or any sort of law enforcement; they're simply trying to cover their own butt, so to speak.

I'll bet that if that if someone gets turned away for not having an onward ticket, the responsibility will ultimately fall back on the original person who issued your boarding pass. If he/she isn't supposed to let people without onward tickets board, then no "laws" have been violated probably-- just company policy. The check-in person will get a black mark on his/her record, might have to do unpaid training, and even being fired is a possibility. Whenever you hear about someone being forced to buy a return ticket to board a plane, it's probably because the person at check-in was trying to ensure that she wouldn't get in trouble. Of course, it can be a bit heavy handed at times, but I do understand the check-in person's concern.

Long story short? CYA. Buy some sort of refundable onward ticket (as suggested elsewhere in this thread) and save yourself the hassle and risk of being turned away.

[Kimchifart]

[NilesQ]

Korean Immigration has never checked to see if I had an ongoing ticket. It is the airline bringing you into Korea that will give you the hassle.