Korean Job Discussion Forums

[schwa]

[Hanson]

[BigBlackEquus]

The thing that bothers me is that it seems many people teaching in hagwons have no idea about this at all. Are all directors in Korea sponsoring E-2s being told about it? And then they say that if you don't verify your degree by a certain date, you won't be able to get another E-2.

Imagine this situation: Johnny Westerner works for a hagwon. The owner said that he needed to keep Johnny's degree back when they got the E-2. Johnny has taught there for about 6 or 7 months now, but the director doesn't really like Johnny. He knows Johnny doesn't care to work there either, and is worried Johnny will pull a runner before the contract is finished. Immigration notifies hagwon owner that Johnny needs to appear with his degree for verification. Hagwon owner doesn't want to give Johnny the degree back out of fear he won't stay around to complete the contract, so he simply 'neglects to tell' Johnny about the new immigration request.

So Johnny finishes his contract, never having verified his degree. The hagwon owner hires someone new, because he doesn't like Johnny, and sends him out on the street to find a new job. Johnny gets his degree back after reminding/insisting that he needs it back. Johnny can't seem to get the money for the return flight money, as stated in his contract, or his last month's salary from the boss. Johnny tries to fight it with the Labor Board, who tell him he needs to hang around for another month on his own dime and try to get another job. Johnny tries to get another job while he waits for his labor board dispute, however, immigration will not grant him a new E-2, and tells him to leave the country.

Anyone else see the problems that could arise from all of this? How are people being notified of said rule?

The outcome of all of this will be a lot more illegal workers. It is getting to the point (or already has become such) that it is like a penality to even bother getting an E-2. I believe many are quickly approaching the 'what the f***' barrier on all of this. Due to red tape, more are tempted just to work on a tourist visa and not bother with all of this E-2 crap, which limits salary potential, and becomes more of a detriment to life more and more each day. If you can work here for six months illegally, and probably not get caught, why bother getting an E-2, which they will stack some stupid law onto without telling you about?

People are becoming encouraged to work illegally, and are realizing they can make a lot more money working part time. And what is the fine if they get caught? A few million won? A black mark keeping you from coming back to this racist hubcap of asia craphole for 3 to 5 years?

Big deal. The potential outweighs the risks.

[lastat06513]

I think if we get enough Canadians and Americans on board a petition drive to force the Canadian and American governments to crack down on illegal Koreans overstaying in those countries, I think Korea would become quiet about the whole thing now.

I would have to agree with the last poster, this will just cause more and more people to work part time, and it would cause more people to come to Korea to teach, forcing the tuition lower because more people would be changing from E2s to tourist visas to try to work here.

This silent agreement has been broken by the Koreans this time, and I think they have no idea of the repercussions of it.
The people that support this thing will find that they will be affected by it in a negative way someday- maybe not now, but sometime in the future, then all the good feelings they had about Korea will be lost in the true spirit that is ~~Korea.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[jacl]

If you're here legally on an E-2 visa then there's no reason to worry about anything. If you haven't received the proof of degree form yet then tell you boss and contact immigration. I filled one out and my boss took copies of my ARC and passport. Other than that, I'm not going to worry about whether he's forwarding this info or not. There was a man from immigration at the hagwon last month and it was after this that the boss got all the necessary info and I had to fill out that sheet. The immi guy never talked to me. He talked to the other teacher though. Maybe it's all a consipracy! What the *beep* can I do? No one but my boss has contacted me about this. Think about it. If someone from immigration doesn't give me some kind of one-on-one meeting for this then how's that my fault? No letters sent to me personally, etc. Are you supposed to have ESP?

I don't really see why people would work illegally unless they didn't have a degree. I don't think you make more money teaching privates. You have to pay for rent, you don't get severence pay, you have the possiblity of cancellations or outright firings, and, in most cases, travelling.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[just because]

Still no proof of link..


-Anyway got it a bit clarified tonight, theyt are doing the country in stages, province by province so of course Seoul was first, they are down in busan now so it can't be too long before i get the notice

[jacl]

[bellum99]

Yes they can punish you and they will. Ignorance of a law is not an excuse. They will fine your butt for sure.

[Chow]

"I'm not worried - they can't "punish" me for not doing something that they never asked me to do."

No offense, but that's not entirely true. I had a pretty serious run-in with immigration few years back for something I couldn't possibly have done, and they should have know that. I was given an exit order for working illegally; the truth was that the camp put the wrong address on the form (off by one number or something). It took me almost the full two weeks before the exit order went into effect to fix the problem, but they were determined to kick me out of the country.

So don't be too confident. They can pretty much do whatever they want. That being said, the confirmation form is a piece of cake.

The office in Cheongju said that everyone has to do it. The easiest thing to do is go to the office with the university's contact info (phone and fax) and just fill out the form on the spot.

Better safe than pissed off.

[Real Reality]

[gajackson1]

I popped this into it's own thread, but figured a cross-ref wouldn't be such a bad thing:


Heya ~

I had just gotten these in work at my place (Bun-dang hakwon, near Mi-geum Station) yesterday. Followed up & read the 2 threads; thought people might prefer to cut through all the other stuff & see exactly the 2 letters.

So, I scanned them (nice to occasionally use the thing!), and put them up on my website. Here is the link; it shoooulldd take you directly there, and I would hope you don't have to sign in:

http://groups.msn.com/GAJacksonsTheMeaningofLife/confirmationofdegree.msnw?Page=1

if you do have to sign in, try here:

http://groups.msn.com/GAJacksonsTheMeaningofLife

If someone is feeling industrious, feel free to take the images & slap them directly into this thread.

Regards,

G.

[freewill]

[TheUrbanMyth]