Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Miles]

This school is now advertising for teachers.
In reality they only need one.
The advertisement says that they have 20 teachers, Korean and foreign.
They only employ two foreign teachers.

The advertisement itself is an example of the misleading and deceptive statements/information, and a hint of the unfulfilled verbal and written promises/agreements that are standard and numerous with this school and its owner.

Do yourself a favor, don't sign, don't even waste your time applying, it's a trap of the worst kind. Definitely one for the blacklist.

There are many, many reasons, but reason number one is a clause in the contract that says:

'In the case of criminal or ANY OTHER CONDUCT that, IN THE OPINION OF THE INSTITUTE, seriously jeopardizes the reputation of the institute ....the instructor may be dismissed immediately and no notice or time for remedy will be given.'

This was the excuse that the owner has just used, without any factual or substantial justification whatsoever, to fire me, evict me from my apartment and blacklist me with Immigration, less than 3 months after starting the job.

That is just one of the very questionable contract clauses and, trust me, any form of reasonable or legitimate questioning of any aspect of the job and/or conditions is immediately interpreted as mutiny by an ultra-imperious owner who demands total subservience and submission to his every wish and command, period. And, as you know, mutiny is punishable by death.

Needless to say, many of his wishes are unacceptably unfair and, as far as he is concerned, completely unnegotiable, not to mention sprung on you after the fact in an underhand and deceptive manner, and, behind the smiles and friendly exterior, the deception begins on day one and is gradually but continuously reinforced and applied in a very calculated fashion.

I can't begin to describe how devious this man is, I literally don't have the time, there is just too much to tell.

Suffice it to say, take my advice, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, don't invite the nightmare, you really don't need it or deserve it. No matter what he says, DO NOT SIGN.

[wowser]

Really, really sorry to hear about this....it is shafting season???? I know I'm hurting a little in places!!!

[mishlert]

Blacklisted at immigration? I've heard that it's just a myth because if a teacher does anything that would get him blacklisted it's equal to being deported and never allowed in Korea again.
I think that the owner is telling you that he did that and laughing to himself and thinking, "Hahahaha, another dumb weygok has bought it."
If you got your release letter, get another gig and you'll see how easily you'll get an E-2 visa from immigration. If he did not give you a release then technically you still have a job and he he still has to pay you and provide you with housing; failure to do so is a violation of the law.
All that aside, hope all is going well for you now.

[Rue_Meridian]

I heard various things about this Blacklist thing but from few people who have actually experienced it. Here is my experience...

I suppose for lack of a better term my wife and I were (and continue to be) blacklisted at immigration. What does this mean for us...no new E2 Visa. How did it happen?

We were in an extremely bad situation with an employer that was screwing over several of our co-workers and who had assualted one of them. We found a new job (because we were beginning to get scared working for this man - - who had a reputation for assaulting foreigners at the local police department)...and were advised by this new school to cut and run (because there was no way that we were going to get our letter of release - - he had denied it to two previous employees). So we did. Went to Japan, handed in our ARC's and headed to the new school (at this point I would like to insert a statement that I am not looking for a discussion or even a reprimand - - I know what this board can get like sometimes - - regarding the morality/ethics behind 'midnight runs').

Once at the new school there were some complications and those gave our old director time to write a crap load of letters to immigration and tada!! we were blacklisted. Basically when our new school went to get us our new E2's there was a flag on our passports saying, "blah blah blah" and we couldn't get them.

So now as we prepare to leave the country we hope that there will be no further problems...we just want to get out of this country and leave all this crap behind...Korea has not been a good experience for us in any way.

This is my blurb on the "Is there a Blacklist" discussion. If you (being the general population) don't feel inclined to call it a black list that's fine but you cannot deny that something of the sort exist...I suppose it just needs another tag. That's my two cents.

9 more days...sweet sweet sweet. Back home and then to the UK where we have found comparable money with a much more palatable working situation. Cheers to all of you who are having a rough time...and to those of you who are riding high...tell people where you teach so more people can have a good experience in this country.

Peace out.

[Jensen]

[mishlert]

[Miles]

Thanks to all for your input and good wishes so far.

It is very difficult to get reliable information even from official sources it seems, since some Korean officials either genuinely don't know the rules or they say they don't, or they don't tell you everything, or they tell you one thing the first time and then say something different the next time. And then of course they can apply or not apply the rules at their discretion, not exactly an even playing field, more like an exercise in frustration.

A Korean friend called Immigration and was told that the E2 cannot be cancelled unless both my former boss and myself go to the Immigration office together. I hope to have more (hopefully, accurate) information tomorrow.

[PatrickSiheung]

I was also told that... last year I went to immigration informing them that I would be leaving the country in 30 days. At the time I had read somewhere that I should inform immigration of my intention of quitting my job.

Anyway, the person wouldn't even accept my letter of notice saying that I didn't need it and that before leaving the country I had to come back with the directors to cancel the visa.

I was not about to go to Immigration with them so I just ignored them and left the country when I wanted. I didn't have any problems. Now I hold an F2-1 and immigration didn't say boo about leaving the way I did.

[Ilsanman]

Actually, I signed up for a Japanese class at that exact school. They cancelled the time period, so I refused to go at a different time. I asked for my money back, and was told it would be in my account 2 days later.

2 weeks later and after a few visits in person, and e-mails, I finally got the money back.

I met the director. Weird guy. He wears pajamas at school!! Also, the way he talks to his secretary is similar to how I would talk to mold.