Korean Job Discussion Forums

[idonojacs]

Let's think this thing through for a moment, OK?

Between the drug check, medical check, criminal check and in-person interview at a Korean consulate, you could get stuck back in your home country for a while. It could be anywhere from one to four months, with no way of knowing how long when you fly home.

Once this becomes apparent to the schools, are they going to offer to renew your contract? They might not have a teacher for one to four months, and an empty apartment. Or they could hire a new teacher who has all the paperwork done and get them to Korea in a week or so. Which are they going to choose?

And do you want to try to renew? You leave Korea and all your stuff behind in your apartment. You don't have a signed contract to guarantee that you will be returning. You encounter delays. The school hires someone else.

They then pack up your stuff and tell you to come get it, maybe. Or they tell you to come get your stuff in one week or they will "throw it in the garbage." (Yeah, right.) Are you going to buy yourself a roundtrip ticket to clean out your apartment?

No matter which scenerio you choose, this is a risky proposition.

And you know, when you got your first contract, it included a clause offering you the option of renewing with the contract's current terms, plus some extras. Korea is not honoring those contracts.

In most countries, if you are an existing employee and an employer changes the terms of employment, current employees are 'grandfathered" in, in terms of rights and benefits.

It would be a lot simpler if Korea grandfathered in current teachers, perhaps with a letter of good character from their current employer.

I mean, which is more likely: That a current teacher with a good track record will continue to be a good teacher, or that a new teacher hired from overseas based on a phone interview with a recruiter will be a good teacher of good character?

I like it here in Korea. I have made some nice friends, have a good job, a pleasant apartment, bought clothes and furnishings. I don't want to leave. But I also don't want to risk the above scenerio.

If I have to hang out back home for a month or more I am going to have to get a job, and I am going to lose my overseas tax exemption, and I am going to have to pay thousands of dollars in taxes on my Korean income, and I am going to have to pay rent back home, and I am going to lose more than $2,000 a month income from my job in Korea.

Plus I am going to have to pay for all the expenses related to all the tests, checks and interviews.

Add all this up and it comes to thousands of dollars out of my pocket. Korea is nice. But it's not that nice. And it's not that cheap, either.

[boyne11]

[Voyeur]

Canadians really are at a disadvanatage here and will have to return home between contracts???

[The_Conservative]

[Pyongshin Sangja]

[Young FRANKenstein]

OP, I don't renew until September. If I have all my docs here in Korea, then why won't I be renewed?

The situation you outlined is only for those renewing before March. Everyone else should have enough time to get their various checks between now and then.

[idonojacs]

Young FRANKenstein wrote:

[Boodleheimer]

^ and you'd still have to go back home to interview, apparently.

[Biblethumper]

I do not understand the original post well.

Is it talking about renewing and extending a contract with the present school?

Because I just had my visa extended for a year under the new rules: because of the March 15 grace period for renewals? (My first contract does not actually finish until February 2, 2008.) I am a Canadian.

[idonojacs]

Biblethumper wrote:

[sojourner1]

I understand that if you have had an E-2 visa and have no criminal record, you are exempt from Korean consulate interview in your home country, but you still need your diploma and CBC apostillated which could be done from abroad if willing to pay about $300 US.


It is true that you could be ready to submit to the new visa requirements if given time. The other problem is that drug testing is not yet available (to my knowledge) in Korea which is required to maintain legal E-2 visa status. Maybe they will equip hospitals for drug testing, but then, maybe not since Koreans are not drug tested.

With an adequate amount of buffer time such as 6 months between deciding the policy changes and the effective date, all these uncertainties could had been worked out. Perhaps all these questions and problems pertaining to the new policies will work themselves out over time.

[tzechuk]

The new laws say that you do NOT need to go through all the hurdles if you are either 1. remaining with the employer, or 2, remaining with the same employer but at a different school (so we are talking about EPIK, GEPIK and the likes).

I see no reason why you won't get renewed.

[nautilus]