Korean Job Discussion Forums

[evilchiapet]

Howdy All....

Not a great topic to start with....

but I am considering doing a midnight run.

Some issues have arisen at the hogwon and I do not want to get too much into it, but it's not a pretty thing. I've been here 6 weeks and things have gone from bad to worse.

Anyway, given all that I've read it doesn't seem to terribly difficult getting out of Korea, but would it be "easier" if I flew to Japan, or some other area that is relatively close, cashed in my Korean Won for Japanese currency, hung around for a few days and then fly back to the USA from Japan (purchasing online tickets).

I would be able to get out of the country faster if I were taking a flight to say, Japan...would that make a difference? I am planning to leave right after payday. This would leave me with a lot of dough (I am paid in cash)...or is it easier to just try cashing in my won once I get to the states?

Thanks for any tips .

I'd rather not get into the problems at the hogwon, but they are serious enough to warrant my leaving.

Thanks in advance,,
ECP

[Otherside]

Wait for payday and leave on the next saturday.
Boss won't know what hit him till Monday.

I didn't really get why you want to go to Japan, but if you leave on a weekend you should have plenty of time to get your ducks in a row.

You will get a better exchange rate changing your money in Korea. For simplicity I would do it at the airport (rate is a little worse, but they wont ask questions and if we are talking a month's salary, the loss due to the exchange rate will be no more than about $10-15, not worth getting your panties tied up over that).

It might be tempting to leave right after payday and there is little your boss can do to stop you, but giving yourself the weekend to do everything will be worth quite a bit in terms of peace of mind - I hope payday is a Friday!

[evilchiapet]

In order for me to change WON at the airport, won't I have to show receipts showing that I changed the money initially, or use paycheck stubs (vs, changing Won to some other currency for "travel/vacation" purposes?

We don't get paycheck stubs at this school. Just a dollar figure written on a post it note and cash in an envelope. Our pay day is the 5th of each month but May's pay comes early (the Friday) because of the holiday.

I guess I just want to plan it so that I'm out of Korea by the time they figure out I'm gone (hopefully already landed somewhere...).

Will immigration question me as to why I am leaving? Will they believe me if I say something to effect of a sick parent, etc... or do they just not care.
I've been so stressed out, I don't think I can endure a lengthy interrogation.

I thought by going to Japan it would look like I was taking a weekend vacation...think it's a waste of time? Should I just hop a flight for the states?

Quivering,
ECP

[ontheway]

You can exchange your money at a regular bank, if you have time, on the Friday before you leave. Unless your amount is over 10 million won you shouldn't have any trouble. They may stamp the amount in your passport, but you are allowed to wire or take out 10k without proof that you earned it.

Do you have your ARC (Alien Registration Card)? If so, you will need to hand that in as you leave.

You might as well take a direct flight back to the US. Once you exchange your money, hand in your ARC and pass pass airport immigration check, it doesn't matter where you're going.

What's your big issue with your school?

[bejarano-korea]

[evilchiapet]

I haven't been here long enough to get an ARC card (my boss said we'd do the immigration visit the second week of May...I wanna be gone before that day comes : )

Also, I tend to get about $1,000.00 in those $100.00 Korean Coupons (substitute for the 100 bill). Do you think I would have a problem changing those at an airport? I would have about $3,0000 to change...not close to the 10,000. I'm worried about getting stuck w. 1G of Korean coupon money that I can't change.

The issues with the school are numerous from my contract subjects/hours being changed (to a god awful schedule to compensate for the FTs that've left and never been replaced, to being told that I have to teach subjects other than English ( I am an English teacher..), extremely disruptive kids to whom I'm told I cannot discipline or deal consequences to because the parents will send them to another school if they are unhappy, yadda yadda...the list goes on (and the shady way taxes are being withheld from me, but not being paid for me, etc....).

same ole' same ole.

I have a credit w. china airlines too, so I thought I might be able to use that to get outta here. : (

[bejarano-korea]

[evilchiapet]

It says Multiple Entry on my Visa. I haven't been here long enough to have an alien card.

The coupons are those things the ATM spit out because it doesn't have $100.00 bill. The boss taps his ATM to pay me....

I don't have a Korean bank account.

You can use the coupons like cash at stores, etc.. They look like travelers checks (number and such on them).

I guess I can always run around and make little purchases to use them up. (an entire Sat. will be spent doing this since banks are not open on Saturdays here...).

Yikes.

[ontheway]

Those "coupons" are bank checks. You will want to exchange those before you leave Korea. It's difficult to exchange Korean currency outside Korea, but I'm not sure if anyone outside Korea will accept those Korean bank checks.

[CentralCali]

If you've been here for six weeks, then you've been here plenty long enough to get an ARC. It takes one week and one week only to get the thing. Your boss paying you cash in an envelope is yet another clue to the fact that he's not doing things legally.

Those things you got aren't coupons. They're Korean checks. They're kind of like what I'd call a money order back in the US. When you purchase something with them, you have to sign the back of the thing. I think you can go to a bank here and convert them to Korean cash.

Since you've only been here six weeks, you shouldn't have anywhere near the declarable limit of cash to take out of the country. Fly to your home country and convert your cash at the airport there. As far as I know, you can't convert those Korean checks outside of Korea, though.

If your passport already has the E-2 visa stamped in it, you're going to have to answer some questions from Immigration on your way out and possibly pay a fine, again as bejarano said. If your passport only has you here on a tourist visa, then you should be good for 90 days as a tourist. Don't tell Immigration you were working or they will hold you here for the fine, which will be a bit more than 200 thou won in that case. Just leave.

Are you only getting a grand for pay? That can't be right. Seriously, as bejarano said, name the place. It's beyond obvious that he's doing nothing legally.

Finally, if you ever do take another job in Korea, don't agree to receiving your pay even one day after the end of the pay period. There is no reason whatsoever to not pay you your monthly pay at the end of the month. I work at a public school and get my pay on the 24th of the month, which is also the end of the pay period. The school has quite a lot more employees to pay than any hagweon does, so if they can pay me on the final day of the pay period, your hagweon boss certainly can.

[evilchiapet]

Hi--no, I'm not getting a grand. I'm getting a gran in coupons (same as a check) and the rest in cash. That's what the ATM dispenses to the boss.

I'll have to delay my exit a week so that I can unload the coupons/checks. I had a feeling I might get stuck with them....

always something, eh?!

When I said I haven't been here long enough to get an Alien card I meant that legally I don't need to have one yet (it's 90 days) and that my school waits to the last minute to do everything. I could have applied the first day I stepped off the plane, but this school has a teacher shortage so I can barely get out of the classroom to eat and urinate let alone the immigration drive.

That is another issue to add to the list.....

It is an official E-2 so you think I will be grilled at immigration?
Eek.
Should I use the dying relative story or say I'm going on a trip (thats why I thought a trip to a neighboring country would more believable--I could be going there on a weekend trip, right? THen book a trip out of Dodge to the states?

I'm probably making a bigger deal of this, but I just want to be prepared.

Thanks Everyone!

[jellobean]

The question the OP needs answered is whether the money exchange at the Incheon airport will exchange his checks.

If they will, he is set. If not, he should look for someone to trade the checks with for cash.

Does anyone know the answer to this?

[ED209]

[maingman]

both my next two pay days are on Friday... the first one being tommorow


only another 65 odd days not that Im counting

[shifty]

Hi OP

Some important advice. Don't cash your checks at a bank other than the one whose name they were issued in, else you'll have to wait 24 hours for them to clear.

That bank may not be present at the airport. If I were you I'd do some kind of dry run with the cash, do tests and experiments, just so that there's no drama at the last moment.