Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gigure]

Hello and thank you for welcoming me to dave ESL Cafe,
I am a 32 year old Canadian general contractor with many skills including 12 years of floor covering instalations, I am well orientated in computers and would enjoy doing on-line work. unfortunatly I don't know where to begin looking for work overseas, any sugestions or help would be apreciated, even if i could find work in the construction field where englis is the major language. me and my fience are looking into working in South Korea to save money, to do so i must have an income.

[mayorgc]

I'm assuming your fiance is a university grad who is planning on Teaching English in Korea.

Your Fiance will be able to work legally.

I'm assuming you are following along, but do not have a university degree. You'll have to basically work under the table.

If you want to teach English under the table, you'll probably find a way.

[gigure]

no i do not have a university degree and i would not be interested in teaching at all..

Are there any other suggestions?
on-line work ideas?
or construction?

Is it too risky to go over without a job, even though my fiance would have a job at an international school? Our main objective is to save money

[alongway]

fiance or spouse?
You won't be able to get a visa to stay if you're not married.

[deizio]

[Captain Corea]

[crescent]

[ttompatz]

Intra company transferee (working for a foreign company and being sent in to do contracted work in Korea) is possible.

Landing here and finding work is NOT possible (no visa that permits work is available based on your brief explanation of credentials and experience).

The ONLY possible exception might be an E7 but he would have to have document his expertise (journeyman and years of experience) and even then it would be tough to find a job (most potential employers would not be allowed to hire a foreigner).

.

[Captain Corea]

[gigure]

Ok, so it sounds like the construction/labour route is out of the question.

What about this...IF we were married, could I possibly do online work from home? Then, I would be under her visa, but would be able to make some income myself.

Suggestions for online work in Korea? I was looking into doing something internet based, but not sure if what is available here in Canada would be available online in South Korea.

Has anyone heard of a trailing spouse doing online work from home?

Thanks for your information!

[mayorgc]

[Who's Your Daddy?]

This isn't Kansas. Here's a page:

http://www.korea.go.kr/ptl/main.do

Does that make sense? Welcome to Korea.

[PRagic]

What type of on-line work have you done in the past, OP? If you've worked on-line in Canada, you might be able to continue along with that while you're here.

Your taxes and residency are going to come into play, however. IF you are married and IF you want to keep what you earn here without paying looping Canadian taxes on it, you're going to have to formally announce that your residing outside of Canada. This comes into play if and when you go under your better half's insurance scheme. A Canadian poster can definitely provide more insight on this than I can.

From the sounds of it, you might be better off just working back in Canada if you won't be married when you get here. As others have noted, the visa runs are going to set you back some coin, and even if you can find work, it'll split you two up should you get popped by immigration.

[crescent]

[Modernist]

Hmm, this sounds like one of those relationships with the big reverse gap in education. The white-collar professional girl [going to an IS must mean she has a Master's in Education?] and the blue-collar tradesman guy.

Anyway, I concur that Korea is not really the place for people like you, OP. Almost every Western foreigner here teaches. The few that don't are in professional white-collar jobs. They have D visas for skilled laborers but those go to people from South Asia in my observation.

If you come on a spousal visa you have to be very careful in how you live. If they see any evidence of you working for income they will not hesitate to deport you.

Your references to 'online work' don't help anyone here much. What are you talking about doing? Skilled professionals in things like graphic design or something like that MIGHT be able to work remotely, but you'd need a background, skills, training and a reputation to do that. That you 'would enjoy' doing it won't cut it. Your vagueness about the idea strongly implies you've never done it before and have no specialized skills in any programs, networks or hardware. As a result I suspect you are approaching it roughly like someone who sees an ad 'make thousands monthly on the Internet!' If that's what you think you are deluding yourself.

If you want to work online you need explicit skills in difficult programs or languages, like C++, ArcGIS, AutoCAD, NoSQL database stuff, Adobe Creative Suite...these programs are very expensive, complex and take years of experience to learn fully. As a result people who can use them skillfully are paid well. AND, if they like, they can often 'work online' as you desire.

If I were you, and I had confidence in my ability to learn, I would take a training course in one of the tougher programs and really throw myself into doing well. Let the fiance come over here for a year or two and save what she can [at an IS, she should do well]. She'll have a fair bit of vacation so she can come see you or you her. Then either you can come over here and do your online work or she can come back to Canada and all's well.

If you are meant to be together your relationship will survive. It's wiser than any half-cocked scheme for you to tag along and 'somehow' things will work out. That's a recipe for disaster in this country, and it may break your relationship to boot.