Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Foo_Fighters_Dave]

Hi,

I have tried searching for this answer and called Immigration in Korea and the Consulate in Canada to no avail so I am hoping that I can find advice on how to proceed here.

In 2014, after teaching in South Korea for almost ten years including five at a university in Daegu, I decided to leave the city and take a job in Anyang. I went to the Immigration Office and all of my documents were fine except my visa for E1 was denied.

I asked the immigration officer why and she said that it is because Immigration now has their system hooked up to police records. I had to pay a fine of 2 million for breaking a guy's nose at a bar in 2012 and I was accused of selling/smoking weed in 2009 (for the record, my I took a urine test and it came out negative but apparently an expat gave a list of 50 teachers to the police and my name was a part of the list).

I remember asking the Immigration officer if I was being deported and she said no. I was on a D10 visa trying to sort this out while this was happening. I ended up accepting a second job offer at a university in Gwangju and the Immigration office denied me a second time.

Three years later after working in the Middle East, I would like to return to Korea for a week and see some friends. I am a little gun shy about flying over because I am worried that I will be stopped at the airport. I called the immigration hotline and gave them my old ARC number. They brought up my profile and can see my visa was denied twice. However, they told me in order to find out if I would be blacklisted or not able to come into Korea to call the Consulate in Toronto Canada. I called them and they told me they don't have a system set up to see and to call Immigration.

My question is this: Should I wing it and fly in to Korea/ Forget about it OR there is nothing to worry about. I was never kicked out of the country/ deported after my visa was denied. I have a new passport and I don't have any outstanding bills. If I did wing it and go it would suck if I was denied entry because I am assuming they would put a deported stamp in my passport and that would be a pain in the ass to go to other countries and explain it.

What do people on this forum say?

[ttompatz]

Being denied a residence work visa is not the same as being labeled persona non grata.

While you may not be able to get an "E" visa there should be no issue with a visa waived TR entry.

The unpaid fine may be an issue for you if it was a court imposed fine. Getting in may be easy, getting out again... you may have to deal with the fine.

.

[Foo_Fighters_Dave]

I paid the fine as soon as it was issued. The thing that gets me is that I was fined in 2012 and was never denied my E2 or E1 visa until two years later. In addition, I never actually went to court but was accused of something that I didn't even do with the whole busting foreigners for weed. It was strange how the law worked in South Korea. Apparently that is on some kind of record even though I never went to court. I was investigated and they found nothing.

Thank you for the input.

[mysterious700]