Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The evil penguin]

I have been seriously thinking about doing a midnight run. I don't see that I have a choice. The school here really sucks and the on-going disputes over pay and conditions etc really make it impossible to work here.
I don't really want to leave Korea but as I'm stuck in this current contract it looks like I'll have to leave rather then stick around and find other work.

My question is....... what is the best way to buy the airfare ticket? Can I just get a bus to Soeul and buy one over the counter at the airport?

If I decide to go I need to be able to do it at short notice after my next pay. If I actually GET my next pay.......

Any information?

[kiwioutofthenest]

You don't have to leave R.O.K, if you can't get a letter of release from your boss...just do privates for 3 months in Seoul, then from my understanding you get your letter regaurdless. I also think that your E2 will still be valid, obviously not for tax purposes and with a different school but i've heard it is still valid at the airports etc so yoou get 1 months u won't have to leave every three months. Better yet get fired then you get a months severence. Don't let one school bugger your chances here.....show up late every day, plan nothing and leave them no choice!

[camel96]

[ulsanchris]

don't do a runner. give him your one months notice. if you are unsure how to do this just contact www.elf-law.com. THey will be able to tell you what to do. Also maybe some people who have done this can post here and give you some advice from their experience.

[The evil penguin]

[justaskdan]

Why can't you just say that you don't think that it's working out and ask for a letter of release? If they are paying you late then you have valid complaints. Contracts are to protect you as well as the employer. And my contract says I will be paid on the 15th of each month.

[captain kirk]

What month are you at? It doesn't look good to immigration, doing a runner. The boss will explain to immigration what happened to the last teacher (you) while he's clearing up the path for a new teacher to arrive. There are only three places in Asia that take a lot of teachers and offer real pay. Each has its perks and downsides. Korea's is that the bosses and culture make a person uptight, and you feel like a subservient hired hand. However, it's easy to get a job and who knows if the market will get tighter with more Americans arriving since the U.S. economy is in a slump. Everyone has feelings. But how would you feel if you needed to get back into Korea and weren't allowed in because immigration is miffed. Living and working in Korea is hard and it takes control and restraint to make it day by day. But it's real money here, and you can goof off on a vacation at the end, feel better, and have the option to come back. I know, people say you can run, wait out the contract period, and work again. But then, what is immigration for, but to protect the hagwon owners. So they must keep records. Why take the risk. How you're feeling and the conditions you describe are pretty much standard, nothing personal, though it feels that way. It isn't. It's bigger than that. I'm implying racism, being a 'foreign contract worker', and being at the bottom of the totem pole in the workplace (some places disguise this better than others). But the money's good, right? Adjust your reactions, control your reactions, reduce your reactivity. It's part of the territory, and conditions won't improve by being in a funk/irate, that's for sure. Life is strange, when you're a stranger. The truth hurts and is ice cold. But if there are sharks around do you panic. If work becomes 'untenable' do you throw a teenage hissy fit and bolt. The Koreans don't care about me, waughhhh! They don't care about you; who are they, anyway?
Nobody important if they don't appreciate you, right? So act, pretend, get by. Or risk being shut out from the money.

[Anda]

You have two weeks in which to leave Korea if you walk out on a contract provided the time is left on your contract after that you are fineable by the day. For that two week period you need to let immigration know where you are staying otherwise you are up for a fine for not letting them know of your change of address.

If you say take the Bettle (hydrofoil) from Busan and hand in your alian card on the way out then you can come back into Korea the same day by the Beetle on a tourist visa. Then you can find a new job and apply for another E2 and provided you are applying under a different immigration office you will probally get it. Just answer all questions honestly to immigration as they are not fools.

[Monty_]

Surely booking your ticket direct from the airline via the internet would be the best way to do it (and avoid the school finding out). Ive booked plenty of e-tickets via the net and just checked in as usual at the airport.
Also, it would save you trooping up to Seoul.

[Tiger Beer]

Just as a few asides..

When you just 'quit' your school.. its hard to know what happens.. if they report it to immigration.. then you'd better be out of the country quick. As I believe your visa expires if the school calls in and reports it. (I'm not sure how long you get once they call it in like that)..

So if you do do that.. maybe try to leave on a Friday or something and hit Busan with a ferry to Fukuoka.. once you come back its unclear if you'll be back on tourist visa or if you are just back on your same ol' work visa. I use to think I was on a new tourist visa afterwards.. but now I'm not too sure if I was (having done that in the past) - not from a runner - but from giving a notice and all of that.

Other times.. if you don't do a runner.. often times the school doesn't even report it... this is more common when you agree to leave at the end of the month. Most likely you're school will just assume you are gone and not bother bothering immigration with your status, etc... and actually, you could technically just 'hangout' for the length of the visa.. however.. its nothing you can really check on and its an enormous risk. For example, I quit a contract job once, and I was trying to do visa runs.. but apparently I could have just been there the entire time with the previous work visa as it was never cancelled. However, how do I know and how do you check up on it? You really can't. So of course its better to turn in the stuff, leave, get a new visa of some sort or whatever.

Also, if you are signed a contract at one place.. and you don't get a letter of release from that school.. then another school cannot sign you on and pass through the paperwork until the previous visa expires. Once that visa expires, you are capable to sign on with anyone you so desire once again. (This is regardless if its cancelled or not.. totally dependent on the 'letter of release' before you can sign on elsewhere)..

[Homer]

Most of the advice on here is sound Penguin.

Do the right thing, ask for a letter of release and give notice.
If that doesn't work, go to the labor board. You have options well before doing a MR.

[Tiger Beer]

I agree.. give a notice.. and get the letter or release. Explain you have some urgent reason to get home.. you need to be there for awhile.. but you might be back six months from now or whatever.. and you need to get a letter of release as well..

[captain kirk]

It matters a lot what month you're at, and you haven't said. For example, I've heard immigration has a policy where letters of release aren't accepted until ten months of the contract period has elapsed. And the usual excuse, 'financial reasons', isn't accepted to grease a letter through before that ten months has elapsed. Only EFL law knows for sure. Go to pusanweb and scroll down to EFL law. 'EFL law guy' will provide an informed opinion.
Do you know about the 'six month mark'. Until then you don't deserve/aren't required to be given 30 days notice or, in lieu of that, a full month's pay along with wages owed until then, and on the spot upon being summarily dismissed. I like that, 'summarily dismissed', ie. tossed out like a sack of trash.

[Tiger Beer]

[Drakoi]