Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zoot]

Has anyone here done any volunteering in an orphanage?

What was your experience like? What did you do? Were there many expectations? How were the kids?

I'm curious about it. Let me know what you've got.

[joeyjoejoe]

last i knew, volunteering on an e2 visa was illegal.

[Zoot]

Really? I guess my contract says teaching off property is illegal but took it to mean teaching somewhere else and getting paid.

Where do we draw the line at volunteering? Is language exchange illegal, then?

Where did you learn that volunteering on an E2 is illegal? Where can I find out for sure?

[Smee]

Biiiiiiiiiiiig bump.

Okay, so I've read that volunteering on an E2 is illegal, and I think there was a big stink in the newspaper about it. I'm curious about what one has to do to make it legal.

Permission from current employer?

Registration with immigration?

I saw Jizzo posted this link in another thread, which talks about how to do activities beyond the scope of the visa: http://www.immigration.go.kr/HP/IMM80/imm_04/imm_0404/sm9.jsp

But I'm just looking for a few concrete answers and procedures. Thanks.

[nobbyken]

Sorry OP,

From the title, I thought you had a big argument with your parents!

[ttompatz]

[Bibbitybop]

Some waygook friends were volunteering in Seoul last year at an orphanage. The administration asked them to stop coming for no reason at all. Probably because they all have AIDS and don't smell of kimchi.

[boyne11]

[AylaZ]

man how sad is that. needing permission to go to an orphange. Needing to ask to do something out of the goodness of your heart, wot bollucks.
My Korean friend in Cheongju has a friend who runs an orphanage. I plan on going soon to take loads of stuff b4 I leave Korea.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Immigration officers are not going to work unpaid overtime on a Sunday so that they can get on the six o'clock news for busting an orphanage on such ridiculous grounds. As a very well educated Korean friend told me, go help out, don't worry about it, and thanks a lot for doing this service for less fortunate Koreans. You're not making fun of Korea at a venue that charged admission and is selling alcohol without a license, and legally it's too grey an area for authorities to attempt anything that would make them look so assinine.

If you are going to do volunteer work at an orphanage try to work in or set up a volunteer programme at an orphanage that doesn't have highly transient full-time staff, few if any of whom have any knowledge of English. This combined with highly transient waygook volunteers can make for quite a bit of difficulty if you're the only permanent, reliable volunteer.

[boyne11]

[The_Conservative]

[koon_taung_daeng]

don't volunteer, maybe then immigration will get off their asses and change the law

[Bingo]

Korea needs to wise up. 'Volunteering' has a thousand faces and cannot be regulated by the government: They need to also think up a Korean word for 'consistency'. Would it be illegal if;

I tutored my American friend's kid for money?
I tutored my American friend's kid for free.
I tutored my Korean friend's kid for free.
I tutored my boss' kid for free.
I spent my Saturdasy picking up trash in Seoul.
I spent my Saturday's handing out Scientology literature in Seoul.
I spent my evenings helping drunk as a skunkKoreans find their way home.
I spent my Saturdays handing out leaflets about how wonderful Korea is.

Probably depends on the ajoshi, and how bad his hangover is, at the local immigration office.

[Pak Yu Man]