Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kimchi girl]

Hi everyone,

I just joined so sorry if there are all kinds of posts about this already.

I will be leaving in a couple of months and I'm just wondering how things normally work.

Question 1: When will the hagwon normally buy the plane ticket home? Or do they give you money to buy it yourself? If so, when do you get the money? What's the SOP on this issue?

Question 2: When is the bonus usually paid? Is it on the last day? After you leave? Can I finish my contract but go to immigration and get a couple of days extension so I can take all my money out?

Thanks!

[DosEquisXX]

[Kikomom]

I think everyone's situation is a little different, but here's how it went for Zippy. First of all, he went to Immigration and had his visa extended because his expired on the 12th but his contract wasn't up till the 14th. They extended it to the 30th even though he only needed three days.

I'm not sure how or when he was paid for his plane ticket, but he made his own reservations and bought the ticket himself and was paid by his hagwon for the cost of a trip from Korea to Pittsburgh, PA. The actual ticket he bought was only $60 more than that flight cost (what the hagwon paid him) but took him to Hawaii for eight days, then home to State College, PA (closer than Pittsburgh). He'll be home Christmas Eve.

He emailed me the day before he left Korea (Dec. 15th) and said he was paid everything--his severance, the last two weeks of work, plane ticket(?). So in his case, he was paid on the last day and left the following day. He put the money in his KEB account that we have access to from his bank card here in the states.

If you're American, you'll want to go to the Pension Office and set up how you will be reimbursed. I had to scan a copy of Zippy's bank statement and email it to him for them to have his money deposited to his stateside account. Otherwise they wanted to mail it to him and they specifically said no post office box, which is what we have for a mailing address here. Not knowing what kind of mail service they would be using, he opted for the bank deposit instead. Our post mistress said that she'd put it in our box IF she saw it but that sometimes if a street address is used (we have that too but no mail box at the house), they don't always come to the post office. And if she doesn't see it, it could be returned to sender. He didn't want to take a chance on it being lost in the mail or sent back to Korea. The pension takes about two months.

[kimchi girl]

Thanks Kikomom.

I'm going to ask soon, since it's not in my contract. So I'm just looking for other examples so I know what to expect and if they aren't telling me the truth.

[sketcha]

best is to talk to the director or whoever's in charge of the foreign teacher as some schools may differ

and it's not uncommon for them to do things in the last minute

regarding payment + severance,
at our school, you get paid + severance (together) on your last day