Korean Job Discussion Forums

[imiiini]

I went into my previous job with a 6 month contract, from late August 2013 until late February 2014. This was agreed upon between both parties when the contract was signed.

The school had not offered a renewal, so I told the school that I was looking around for other job opportunities, or might just go home.. only then did they ask me if I would like to stay another year. I politely declined the offer, and happened to find another place very abruptly, soon after my last day of work. My current director said she spoke with my previous director, and that she was given the go ahead to deal with the E-2 visa transfer. I assumed this meant the Letter of Release was not a problem. (I did not leave the school on bad terms, but we weren't on great terms either?)

I went to immigration to take care of it, and during my wait figured it would be good to do any last minute double checks, so I called 1345 .. and it turns out that my previous school gave immigration a contract stating that I would be employed with them for 1 year. Therefore, to them, I did not complete my full contract, but "left early" which means I'd require a LOR, which was not given directly to me. I went back to my previous school to speak to them directly, and they pretty much said they are not willing to write me one because 1) they asked me to stay another year, and I went on to find another job somewhere else (aka they needed to spend more money on things like recruiter fees = my fault) and 2) since they've already sent in the paper saying that my employment at the school is terminated, they don't see why they would have to do that for me since our relationship is now over.

I was a bit flabbergasted and confused, as when I had talked about finding other jobs, they were more than okay with it. Also, I completed my full contract that both parties had agreed to.

She ended our meeting with, "If we had to go through 'difficulties' because you left/didn't renew your contract, then you should have to go through difficulties, too."

There are more details to the situation, but to make it simple...

1. My previous principal/director is unwilling to write me a Letter of Release, in my opinion solely out of spite.
2. My current ARC is valid until Sept 2014. According to immigration, they have a copy of my contract as being valid until Aug 2014.
3. My previous school did send in the paper saying that I no longer work there as of February 26th, 2014.
4. My copy of my contract states that I would be employed under them from Aug 2013 til Feb 2014.

I'm not sure what I need to do or how I would go about this. My recruiter who helped me find my new job is saying I will just have to go to immigration to apply for a new E2 visa and do a run to Japan, and I won't need new apostilled documents or anything because they will already have them...


Any insight would help.... THANKS!

[newchamp]

Since when has your alien registration card been valid until September? If it has been that way the past 6 months, Immigration's records would probably indicate that your old contract was a year-long contract. Your card should only be valid for 1 month after your contract ends. Didn't you wonder about that 6 months ago? I can understand if you didn't know any better.

If the card was originally valid only until March, but Immigration is saying it's now valid until September, that's pretty messed up. How could they let an employer do that without your consent? Go down to Immigration and talk.

If necessary, maybe you can get a D-10 to get around this. Or you can tell your old employer you'll make some unannounced visits and cause drama during their business hours if they don't give you a letter of release, and that it would be in their best interest to give you the letter immediately.

In the future NEVER let an employer go to Immigration to do your alien registration card stuff. Go there yourself.

[Troglodyte]

Take a copy of your original contract to immigration. They can compare the signature on the two (along with your signature on other documents). They should realize very quickly that your boss forged your signature on the 1 year contract. From there, if immigration is still unsure about what to do then at least you'll have some strong leverage to get your old employer to sign a LOR to avoid some serious legal issues (with the LB and immigration).

If all else fails, then just get another E2 visa. It will take from 1 to 2 weeks. It will require a short trip out of Korea. Check out Japan for a weekend.

[ghostrider]

[littlelisa]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

As of January 2013, you can no longer cancel your visa by handing in your ARC card and leaving the country. You need a LOR or to complete the contract. As you have completed the contract, you may be able to get what you want. Bring as much documentation as possible. It may also be worth hiring a lawyer.

[Troglodyte]

[SeoulNate]

[CP]

1. His ARC is obviously dated until September, 2014, which should have been a clue that you had a 1 year contract with them when you were first given your ARC.

2. The school gave immigration a 1 year contract that either has a forged signature or the original poster signed another contract that is different than his original.

3. You said you called immigration - did you actually try and transfer your visa to another school or apply for a D10 with an actual officer? I have found that the person on the 1345 line can make mistakes with giving the correct information.

4. They have terminated your employment with them with the immigration office. Obviously once this happened you were no longer their employer and the contract has ended. You shouldn't need a LOR at this point and should have been able to transfer your visa without a problem if you did it within two weeks of immigration being notified.

5. It now seems that more than 2 weeks have passed since immigration was notified, so now you won't be able to transfer your visa to another employer or to a D10 anyway, unless you get a sympathetic officer.


NEXT

This is what I would do. As one poster said go into immigration and talk to someone there. Don't call.

1. Take your signed contract to immigration. Get a copy of the one submitted to immigration. If you can't get that copy they will have it on file and you should be able to request that they pull the file on you. Have them compare the contracts.

2. Explain that you shouldn't need a LOR if the employer has terminated the contract.

3. Have all the documents prepared to transfer your visa to a D10 since you may get an understanding officer.

If none of this works you will have to go through the entire visa process again.[/i]

[young_clinton]

You should be able to show Immigration or the Labor board, go to both, the contradicting contracts. I think you can get a LOR. Get the LOR first then maybe get a lawyer later to deal with your very capricious former boss. You can't get a new E2 until your resident card expires. It was that way when I was there in 2010.

For all the good things about Koreans, they follow the Asian standard of capriciousness, petty resentment etc. even petty edicts and demands. It is a pain

[Troglodyte]

The 12 month ARC would have made me suspicious as well, but it's not necessarily a sign that a 1 year contract was submitted. Immigration could give you any length of ARC but it would become invalid when your employment ends. It's like when you get a 13 month ARC for 12 month contract. It's just so that your employment can be extended by a few weeks without a new ARC. Once your employment ends, then you have to declare it at immigration and you're able to transfer your visa (without a LOR), even if the whole 13 months are not finished.

If the OP did actually sign a 1 year contract (it wouldn't surprise me either) then his options may depend on a few more details.

Did the OP make any physical declaration that he was quitting the job? letter? email? text message? In other words, is there any evidence that the termination of his employment was initiated by the OP. If not, then it's always possible that he could backtrack and try to claim that his boss fired him or such. If he was initially told that he would be finishing after 6 months then his boss has terminated the employment. The OP made plans. The employer then re-decided to keep him around for a whole year and asked him to ignore his original notice that he'd be finished after 6 months.
If he has original emails or documents from his boss to show that he was told he'd be finished after 6 months, then he's been mislead and the LB might side with him and let him do a transfer (they can give him something like a LOR).
Simply filing a complaint at the LB can often be enough to bring an employer into line. They don't want any further trouble. If they can make it all go away by giving him a LOR, they might do it to avoid potential trouble.

Another question for the OP. Do you have another set of documents available?

[imiiini]

Thank you for all of the feedback.

I've pretty much been making lots of phone calls to 1345, because currently the Suwon Immigration Office is CRAZY busy and no matter how many times I try to make an account for a reservation, the site keeps blanking out on me.. I haven't even been able to get close to a waiting ticket, much less a person..
(Last Friday closed wait-ticket machine and 370 people waiting at 3pm .. closed wait-ticket machine and 200 people waiting at 4pm earlier today [Monday])

So far the information I've been getting is that no matter what, I would need a LOR, because to Immigration, without the LOR, it is simply me leaving my workplace without completing the 1 yr contract that they hold. Even if I leave the country, hand in my ARC / try to get a new E2 ... my previous employer would have me until this coming August, when the visa actually expires... but like most of the responses, I'm trying my best to get to an actual person at the Immi.Office.


I will admit that in my naivete, I signed two copies of a contract that did not have the dates explicitly written on them, and I was simply told that I needed to do it right away and would get my copy later on (I was only able to get my copy later in December after much badgering), because they needed to get all the processing done ASAP. That was my fault, but at the time I was very trusting of the school, especially since it was my first time and didn't realize they would turn on me like this.

I have an email I sent that states that I agree to a contract of only 6 months. When I spoke to my previous employers about that detail, they simply said I could try and do something about it using the law, but there wouldn't be any point to it because they're not obligated to do anything for me anymore.

I do have extra sets of my apostilled documents with me.


If he was initially told that he would be finishing after 6 months then his boss has terminated the employment. The OP made plans. The employer then re-decided to keep him around for a whole year and asked him to ignore his original notice that he'd be finished after 6 months.

This is pretty much the gist of it, except they wanted me an extra one year, on top of my 6 months.

I also contacted the 1350 number (the Ministry of Employment and Labor Counseling Center) and they simply told me they can't do anything that pertains to immigration.

[young_clinton]

If you signed two contracts with two different contract time lines. There is a conflict. The contract with the longer timeline should stipulate that the other contract is superceded by the longer contract, otherwise the contracts conflict and you win. I still think you can win this with Korean Labor.

[CP]

Not surprising that immigration is busy right now as a lot of "newbies" have just arrived and are having their paperwork done.

Try again to get the LOR on a friendly basis. Failing that I agree that you should become a "pest" for your previous employer as much as you can.

1. File a report with the labour board, regardless of whether or not you have a case. The labour board will have to contact your employer at some point.

2. Visit the school as often as possible or call them daily and ask them for the LOR. Have the LOR prepared, so they don't have to do anything, they just have to sign it. They might just do it to make you go away.

3. Wait outside the school when parents and students come and go for classes.

Basically do anything within the law that can make life a little difficult for them that it will be better for them to just give you the signature.