Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Isehtis]

I've got a friend here who's studying Korean, she's on a D4 student visa here. She's only studying a few hours a week and needs to get a job.

She went to Immigration, they told her it was fine and that they just needed a letter from her school saying that was okay.
She went to the immigration lady from her school, who told her that it is impossible because it's illegal.

Are people on student visas here held under the same work-restrictions we are, or is the immigration lady in the wrong?

Is there a way she could transfer to a work visa instead of her student visa?

[Sireno]

to my understanding of looking into this before... a person with a D-4 visa needs to have been studying at a uni. for 6 months, then get a letter of permission from a uni prof. that says they can work. then to the immigration office with that.

do some googling, it wasn't too hard to find for me before. "visa, d-4 student visa"

[UknowsI]

I don't know about the D4 visa, but I am on a D2 student visa and I'm allowed to work up to 20 hours (or something like that) as long as I get a signature from my university and a permission from the immigration office. What the immigration office said was true for the D2 visa, but maybe not for the D4.

[coralreefer_1]

It is not illegal to work on a D-4 (korean language study) visa if she has been in the program at least 6 months, gets permission from the school, filed the paper from the immigration office supplying the work place, business registratin number..etc, pays a small fee and works no more than 20 hours a week.

Up until maybe last year, it was illegal for any D-4 visa holding person to work, but sometime last year the laws changed to allow D-4 visa holders the same work privileges as D-2 (foreign university students in a degree seeking program)

I cant link you directly to the page, but here is how to get to the info..

1. http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/index.html

2. At top, highlight "Information", and then click the "Immigration Guide" popup

3. Find D-2/D-4 and click the "view" beside it under the column for more than 91 days

4.Now, on the left of that page, find and click "foreign sojourn", and on the selections that open, click the one that says "participation in activities uncertified under current sojourn"

5.On next page, you will see a diagram. Above that diagram there is something that says "obtaining permission to to engage in activities beyond the limits of current status" - Right beside that is a link that says "status of stay (19)"<---click that

6. On the page that comes up...find your friends visa status and click it. This will explain what work can be done, time limits, procedure for getting permission...etc.


As far as a work visa, she can get any visa so long as she qualifies for it. What I mean is...she can keep her D-4 visa, but get permission to do work that would actually fall under any other visa type as long as she would otherwise qualify for that visa. For example..she could have her D-4, but get permission to do E-2 visa work (teaching English) BUT she would have to do all of the same things required for E-2 (degree/CBC...etc) but would still be bound by the limits of work under D-4 and have to remain a student under D-4 to keep the work permission.

If you friend can get another type of work visa...it might be easier to just get that visa, and study Korean on the side

[Isehtis]

"I'm on a D-4. I've been studying in Korea for longer than 6 months. The immigration department asked me to get a letter from my professor, but when the professor was asked, she said I had to speak to the faculty member in charge of immigration. This person told me that it was impossible because it was illegal. Should I go back to her with this information and ask her to make sure she hasn't made a mistake, or is there another way of going about the process?"

[coralreefer_1]

Heaven knows it is hard to tell someone when they are wrong and have them admit it. My suggestion would be to print what shows up on the page proving that the Korean government website says it is legal and show it to her.

As mentioned..it was completely illegal up until last year sometime, so she may just be unaware of the change. If all else fails..get the name and contact info for the immigration officer you spoke to and ask her to call and confirm it.

[PeteJB]

The D4 is quite limited as a visa. It's also impossible to renew after your studying is complete.

It's weird, because let's say you want to attend level 1-6 at Yonsei then, say, 2-6 at Sogang for extra practice. Well, you can't. They don't let you renew it after finishing the last level. Which never made any sense to me, because it's approx 1.5 million WON every semester going into the Korean economy and even if you wanted to, you don't get extra time in Korea on a D4.

My guess is some people abused the system and worked on a D4 instead of studying, which is why they've placed so many restrictions on it.

Personally I've always wanted to study more in Korea but they won't issue a D4. Hm, maybe a new passport would be the trick?