Korean Job Discussion Forums

[madowlspeaks]

So for that past 3 years my family (K hubby and 2 kids) and I have been trying to move to the USA from Korea. Hubby is Korean and is realizing he hates the USA. And I hate living in Korea.

Great. Limbo time.

A couple of times we have had to fly back to Korea on emergencies for various life / job meltdowns. But thank god we still had our place in Korea or we would have wound up near homeless in America. We do alot of flip flopping back and forth neither here nor there while trying to get settled. We have a small 3 year jeonse apartment in Korea for emergencies (ex...job loss in USA)

This year I found a teaching gig in Alaska. In Alaska they have a yearly permanent fund dividend payout option for residents but the qualifying questionairre asks all sorts of questions about maintaining drivers licenses, cars, and residences in other states or countries.

To me, it smells like audit bait.

But it got me thinking....what do I do with my Korean license and F-6 card now that I am spending most of the year out of Korea? It is hard because we still have ties in Korea but need to keep our options open in both places due to unstable jobs and employment options.

Any advice?

Also, do I need to inform immigration I am in the USA? And is the F6 visa connected to actually living in Korea? Or can that F6 be maintained while being in another country?

I know that if a person changes a Korean address they need to notify immigration. However, there is no address change in Korea..it is still the same jeonse apartment.

So confusing...any advice?

Then there is the tax issue. If we live mostly in the USA and have the apartment rental, does the IRS need to know about that?

Just so confusing being in 2 countries so any info is greatly appreciated.

[PRagic]

Wow, definitely check with Korean immigration. You don't need to inform immigration that you're in the US as they already know. Your info goes into the system when you're on the way out.

As far as I can recall, the F6 is a temp/renewable hold over visa on the way to the permanent F5. The F6 has to be renewed annually, but even then, it can only be renewed up to a few years. So if you're now spending most of your time in the US, you might not get that F6 renewed so easily. The permanent F5, however, is long term and has no residency requirement once applied for an received, or at least that's my understanding.

As for US taxes, IF you are simply going to and from Korea, and IF your income is earned here, then you'll continue to hold your foreign earned income exclusion. Once your primary employer is in the US and you're earning income there, however, you'll lose that exclusion and pay taxes on everything earned in the US, most likely to include any income earned in Korea.

If you're renting out an apartment and generating a documented income from that, then, yes, you'll need to declare it. If it's 'under the table', it's up to you whether or not you want to roll the dice.

Never easy to have a foot in both countries. Hope things pan out for you.