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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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guangho
Joined: 19 Jan 2005
Location: a spot full of deception, stupidity, and public micturation and thus unfit for longterm residency
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 Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 4:59 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
The first time you go to a bank to wire money you need your contract (or some other way to confirm your monthly income) plus your passport. Normally the bank makes a copy of the appropriate page and puts it in your file. After that, (usually) you only need your passport to wire money. [At one time you were only allowed to use one bank to wire money. I don't know if this is true any more. |
Yeah, I forgot. The first time you go, bring your contract and a Korean if possible. When you get your receipt for the transaction keep it and bring that the next time. Also, you can use different branches of the same bank but not (I don't think) a different bank. |
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PolyChronic Time Girl
Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Location: Korea Exited
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:02 am Post subject: |
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| pegpig wrote: |
| different wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Also you have to have your contract to wire money home. |
Is this a new rule? |
Some have said "yes", and some have said "no". Obviously it depends on the bank or the person working there. I've never needed my contract. It may have changed in the last few years. I haven't wired money home for a few years - not since I paid off my student loan/car loan/visa. Phew! What a relief that was! |
Actually, I wired a good chunk of money home and was not allowed to send it by myself because I'm unemployed (how the bank teller knew this, I don't know) I had to have my husband wire it home in his name.
Apparently, there is something on the news about a bigwig exec of Daewoo. He did something with the business and wired all this money to the U.S (Korea hates seeing their money leaving Korea), and now he just took off to the States with the money. Why Korea is outraged by this, I dont' understand.
Anyway, the bank teller told my husband that wiring money overseas is going to become more difficult and demand a background check to whoever sends money. The bank teller told me that if you don't have a current job/contract for EVERY wire transaction, you can't send money home. This is apparently some rule that came into effect just recently. I didn't quite understand the whole jist of this rule, but the bank teller told me it was Daewoo guy who is responsible for this whole change in bank wires. It really sucks.
Now, mind you, this bank teller could have just been a royal, paranoid pain in the a**, so hopefully this is not the way all banks will act. I hate my bank anyway.(Finebank) |
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hari seldon
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Location: Incheon
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:11 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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Also you have to have your contract to wire money home.
Is this a new rule? |
No, it isn't a new rule. The first time you go to a bank to wire money you need your contract (or some other way to confirm your monthly income) plus your passport. Normally the bank makes a copy of the appropriate page and puts it in your file. After that, (usually) you only need your passport to wire money. [At one time you were only allowed to use one bank to wire money. I don't know if this is true any more.]
I have a thought about the contract/dishonest Korean boss thing. (It's just a thought, not a firmly held conviction so don't get all hot and bothered if you don't think it is accurate.]
For a couple of thousand years Korea had a monarchy, then for several decades it was occupied by foreigners, then it had a series of military dictators. In none of those types of government does law mean what we in the West think of as law. They are all types of the Rule of Man rather than the Rule of Law. In a dictatorship, only the dictator really has any rights. Everyone else pretty much only has a duty to shut up and do what they are told. The very nature of a contract means that all sides accept the idea that everyone has rights. It seems to me that Korean culture is still very feudal, in Western terms, in this respect.
Therefore, we have the dubious honor of living/working in a society that is still in the early stages of working out the details of the Rule of Law. |
I think you've identified one of the roots of this unethical behavior. Another indicator of the embryonic status of Rule of Law in Korea would be this society's ongoing problems with police and official corruption. |
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pest2
Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:01 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Homer"]
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| For the most part it seems that hakwon bosses are shady figures. But to claim that all or even most Koreans are liars based MOSTLY upon one's personal experience with hakwons and their bosses is just plain silly. |
Well, actually, I dont know about the other people on here, but I can say that I am basing my 'logic,' or at least my arguments, on several observations of people in Korea of which hakwon bosses are only one. Do I need to itemize my interactions, one by one, in order to make a valid point?
But think about it... most of the people who contribute to this forum dont just go home and shut themselves into a empty gim-bap wrapper when they get done with classes. Living in a county for more than a year, its hard to avoid interaction with the natives. And if you go back and read the posts a little more carefully, I think you'll find some examples of this "lying" phenomena we've been discussing that dont have to do with Hakwons or thier owners.
Also, there are plenty of books you can read-- most of them written by Koreans -- that are evidence to the same things we are saying here, more or less.
The post containing the insight about the notion of a necessity for individual rights in order to legitimize a contract is right on... the Western legal system, from the Magna Carta in England to the current US Constitution, developed in a way such that its foundation was based upon rights' recognition... but in Korea, they're still stuck in dogmatic confucian ideology... so there is friction when a boss, who is higher on the confucian totem pole than his employee, makes an unreasonable demand and is challenged by that employee (especially when the employee is a foreigner of inferior blood). |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:28 am Post subject: |
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| PolyChronic Time Girl wrote: |
| pegpig wrote: |
| different wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Also you have to have your contract to wire money home. |
Is this a new rule? |
Some have said "yes", and some have said "no". Obviously it depends on the bank or the person working there. I've never needed my contract. It may have changed in the last few years. I haven't wired money home for a few years - not since I paid off my student loan/car loan/visa. Phew! What a relief that was! |
Actually, I wired a good chunk of money home and was not allowed to send it by myself because I'm unemployed (how the bank teller knew this, I don't know) I had to have my husband wire it home in his name.
Apparently, there is something on the news about a bigwig exec of Daewoo. He did something with the business and wired all this money to the U.S (Korea hates seeing their money leaving Korea), and now he just took off to the States with the money. Why Korea is outraged by this, I dont' understand.
Anyway, the bank teller told my husband that wiring money overseas is going to become more difficult and demand a background check to whoever sends money. The bank teller told me that if you don't have a current job/contract for EVERY wire transaction, you can't send money home. This is apparently some rule that came into effect just recently. I didn't quite understand the whole jist of this rule, but the bank teller told me it was Daewoo guy who is responsible for this whole change in bank wires. It really sucks.
Now, mind you, this bank teller could have just been a royal, paranoid pain in the a**, so hopefully this is not the way all banks will act. I hate my bank anyway.(Finebank) |
How about just taking millions out with you in cash, then changeing it when you get home? Entirely possible, no? |
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pegpig
Joined: 10 May 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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When we went back to Canada 2 years ago we changed our money to 10k in U.S. traveller's checks which got us a better deal than changing to Canadian cash. Plus, we really lucked out as the loonie improved over the time we were there which made it an even better deal. So, even if you're only changing a couple of thousand bucks it might be better to use traveller's checks. We didn't need to show a contract and the money was obviously leaving the country.
My question is: If you're sending 10's of 1000's of dollars, which will be our situation eventually, how can you wire it if you need a contract, but you've finished your contract? Obviously you have no contract because you have no job. And, you can't take more than 10k in cash/checks into Canada, right? So, how do you take 50k back to NA?
I guess maybe there's a thread on this somewhere. |
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pegpig
Joined: 10 May 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| rapier wrote: |
How about just taking millions out with you in cash, then changeing it when you get home? Entirely possible, no? |
Sorry about that. You were talking about taking Won back to NA right? I think you might get really shafted on the exchange. I don't know that much about the rates, but considering that it's probably not one of the more circulated currencies in NA (outside of Hongcouver and Los Korea) it wouldn't be a good idea. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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| pegpig wrote: |
When we went back to Canada 2 years ago we changed our money to 10k in U.S. traveller's checks which got us a better deal than changing to Canadian cash. Plus, we really lucked out as the loonie improved over the time we were there which made it an even better deal. So, even if you're only changing a couple of thousand bucks it might be better to use traveller's checks. We didn't need to show a contract and the money was obviously leaving the country.
My question is: If you're sending 10's of 1000's of dollars, which will be our situation eventually, how can you wire it if you need a contract, but you've finished your contract? Obviously you have no contract because you have no job. And, you can't take more than 10k in cash/checks into Canada, right? So, how do you take 50k back to NA?
I guess maybe there's a thread on this somewhere. |
This is what i want to know as well..I suppose there are several solutions.
1) Wire out the max you're allowed to, then..
2) Purchase as much in travellers checks as possible.
3) Get various Korean friends to send the money to your foreign account via their bank accounts.
4) if you need it all at once,(eg to pay for a car, whatever borrow from your family/ get a loan in U.S, and then pay them back gradually from korea later on.
5) Take bundles of won with you in your suitcase and be prepared to lose 2-3% on the exchange when you get there..
6) i don't know: any more suggestions??!
5) |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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These questions come up again and again in all sorts of threads and forums on Dave's. Surprised there's no sticky. (Not surprised if there is one but I've just been too lazy to look for it, though.)
Below I've outlined what I did when I was doing this regularly (monthly) beginning over 10 years ago and ending in the very late 1990s. Don't blame me if this doesn't work the same way anymore. If the procedures have changed since I was doing it, then I can only assume they've gotten easier and laxer. If the limits have changed, I can only assume they've been increased. (Or are posters going to tell me that Korea's taken a 10-year step backwards in time and actually makes things harder today?)
We were allowed to remit up to 2/3 of our contracted salaries. The regulations, at least as they appeared somewhere at some stage of Korea's FX liberalisation process, stated "monthly income". Because of this wording, there were banks (that is, bank tellers) who insisted on interpreting this as meaning: you must remit your 2/3 of salary EVERY MONTH -- no skipping a month because you were busy or forgot or it was inconvenient and then trying to "double up" the following month, no sir! 
(Let me repeat: These were the procedures that worked for me and many other expats back in Korea's Financial Stone Age. Don't take this as gospel for how things work today.)
STEP 1: Get everything set up with your bank (bring signed employment contract, certificate of employment, passport and ARC to a particular branch that you'll regularly use henceforth for all your FX remittances)
STEP 2: Go to the same branch of the same bank every payday and remit the same 2/3 amount of your salary.
STEP 3: Your vacation rolls around and, although you've been religiously sending home your 2/3 each month, you've still got a few spare million won on hand. Great! Assuming it's under 10 million won, exchange it half into cash at the ajumma moneychangers and the other half into traveller's cheques at the bank.
Or, do the whole amount in TCs if you're under the "travel expense" limit for what you can physically carry out each time you leave the country. (Is that still stipulated in USD these days?)
No need to stuff foreign objects in strange places, no need for nervous sweating at the departure gate, no need to carry bricks of won out of the country (which used to be illegal anyway) and then scout out the nearest "Korea Town" in XYZ city in the West. |
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stumptown
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Paju: Wife beating capital of Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 2:51 am Post subject: |
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What I don't understand is, if you are taking say 20,000 US back home, how are the customs guys going to know? What if you have 10k in a money belt and 10 k on your wallet? Anyone have any insight on this? I'm pretty curious about the whole thing.
Cheers |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:22 am Post subject: |
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| stumptown wrote: |
What I don't understand is, if you are taking say 20,000 US back home, how are the customs guys going to know? What if you have 10k in a money belt and 10 k on your wallet? Anyone have any insight on this? I'm pretty curious about the whole thing.
Cheers |
Also, do they limit the amount you can take out in travellers checks?
Theres no point going through the hassle of wiring cash out if you can simply buy 50k of travellers cheques before you take your flight. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:26 am Post subject: |
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| What I don't understand is, if you are taking say 20,000 US back home, how are the customs guys going to know? |
They won't know if you don't declare it. (Remember that form they give you on the plane?)
However, your bank will know when you start pulling wads of cash out of your pockets and depositing it. If you deposit more than a certain amount, alarm bells start going off and the Feds start investing you on suspicion of laundering drug money (or whatever). You need to declare the total on the plane. |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:34 am Post subject: |
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| stumptown wrote: |
What I don't understand is, if you are taking say 20,000 US back home, how are the customs guys going to know? What if you have 10k in a money belt and 10 k on your wallet? Anyone have any insight on this? I'm pretty curious about the whole thing.
Cheers |
Isn't there some feature on the "new" US currency that means a large quantity can be detected?
Oops...maybe you don't subscribe to the same conspiracy theories I do! |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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pegpig
Joined: 10 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 4:28 am Post subject: |
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I guess they want you to fill out this form if you're entering Canada with more than 10 K:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/eservices/acis/acis13-e.html
I don't know if it's worth the possible grief of getting caught with too much money and not having filled out the form, especially if you're well over the limit. If you're only a bit over I don't see the problem with depositing some in your account and hanging onto the rest in cash. However, I can't see them actually searching for and finding all this cash on you, especially if it's only 20 $1000 checks. Now, if you've got 20k in twenties, well....
What was this thread about again? |
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