Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cswehla]

Another co-worker of mine and I gave our original diplomas to our school, thinking this was the policy per the immigration office. This was over 2 months ago and we still have not received them back. I emailed the man who hired me in the beginning of January and asked him when I could get it back. He said "end of January". So at the end of January I emailed him again asking him about my diploma and he still hasn't answered me. We asked our manager (aka head teacher) about our diplomas and all he ever tells us is "I'll speak to the director about it", and we never get an answer back. Does anyone have any ideas about getting our diplomas back?

[dirving]

There is a large market for fraudulent documents in the R.O.K., and your degree might be in the hands of a criminal organisation. Threaten to make a Police Report concerning the stolen degrees.

[ChilgokBlackHole]

Make a police report. Don't threaten. Act.

[dirving]

Yes, Chilgok's advice is much better. Do so at once! The Police Report will help you if the employer fires you for trying to get your degree returned to you.

You could use the Seoul Help Centre's hotline number (120) for translation purposes when you make the report to the police.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for good luck.

DI

[AminoUp]

It might also be that they lost or damaged your diploma... I asked to get mine back at least a dozen times, and finally, after 14 months of waiting, I got it back 2 days ago... bent-up and water damaged. Apparently the recruiter thought it would be okay to mail it in a plain paper envelope without reinforcing it with cardboard or anything. My boss kept putting it off because she knew I'd be miffed when I finally got it back.

[toiletgod2000]

My university will send replacements, and right now it's free. Since they started charging $12.50/transcript, I've been stocking up on diplomas so that I don't have to worry about recovering one, folding one in half to mail, or a hefty replacement fee down the road. The downside is that I think they only print them at commencement time, so I've always waited a few months for it. I'd check with your school though, having a spare (or 3) seems worthwhile if you're going to keep in the ESL racket.

[Rory_Calhoun27]

but the original matter is how to outsmart your boss if thry decide to hold a diploma hostage... they did that to me when I was new and my coteacher b**ch pulled the midnight run... I got it back though... after they "forgot" about overtime hours I worked, I pitched a fit, got the recruiter on the phone and somehow reached an agreement that I'd forget the hours ifI got the diploma back....

[Ramen]

[Rory_Calhoun27]

on the final frontier sometimes you have to make concessions..... it impressed one teacher who became my fiancee, so it paid off with other dividens as well....

[hagwonnewbie]

Yes.

Call the police.

That's the answer to all your problems in Korea. I'm sure they will be very concerned and your troubles will all go away.

Every employer I had kept the diploma. They all gave it back after several months or at the end of the contract.



You can get a new one anyway if something happens to it.

Or you could seriously piss off your employer and make your next year a living hell by acting like a paranoid douche.

LOL. Some of the people on here...

[Fishead soup]

In future don't give it away. There is absolutely no reason for them to need it. Go to the immigration office and do all the ARC stuff yourself.
Even having them ask for an original copy is a obvious red flag. Any school that treats it's English teachers OK is not going to resort to this kind of behavour. There is only one reason for them to hold either your diploma or degree and that is to prevent you from legally seeking employment somewhere else.

[I-am-me]

Go to Thailand and get yourself a brand new one. Choose whatever subject sounds interesting.

[nautilus]

The hogwons have a habit of doing this in order to hold power over you and prevent you from running. They try to make excuses like "this is normal practise in Korea" etc. But don't buy it. This is one thing you can't afford to compromise on.

Most universities do not offer replacements and if they do it is an difficult process to undergo. You basically have to prove it was damaged or lost and provide legal assurances that this was the case. The original degree/diploma basically has the same status as a passport- it should not be held by other people and if lost the relevant authorities should quickly be notified. Sure, some things are worth overlooking in Korea -but not your essential documents.

I had it happen to me twice here (years ago). The first time I had to sneak into the office and retrieve it myself when the boss was absent. The second time my requests and subsequent demands were ignored until I finally threatened the hogwon with the labor board, police, embassy, university advice centre hotline, a lawyer, foreigner helpline, and two korean friends willing to translate. I got all the relevant numbers on a piece of paper, waved it under the boses nose and held my cellphone up ready for action.
It was a knockout blow and the degree that had supposedly been "lost" miraculously was "found" and returned to me within 30 minutes.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[ChilgokBlackHole]