Korean Job Discussion Forums

[death from above]

so, i have been in korea for a month now, working the whole time, and i still don't have an E-2 visa.. the school where i work has never had a foreign teacher before, and apparently that requires a different sort of permit.. they have applied for this permit, bribes and all, but it hasn't gone through yet.. obviously, this makes me nervous. so i'm on a tourist visa, no insurance, no pension, no records. maybe this is an honest mistake, a technicality, but the facts remain.

my boss is an american citizen of korean descent, he grew up in Chicago, and i trusted him at first, but now i am beginning to wonder. for example, he post-dated my contract, so it's for a year, not including this month plus however long it takes me to get the correct visa.. there is nothing to prevent him from lying about when i actually started work.. and he withheld half of my first paycheck, which was not in the contract. what's to prevent him from keeping it? if i go the labor board or whatever, will i just be deported?

there are other things too.. he keeps changing the schedule, always adding more.. and what really pissed me off is that he changed my hot korean co-worker's schedule so that she is never there at the same time as me.. i think he thought she was spending too much time with me after work. by all appearances, my boss seems to be a good guy but i am beginning to wonder.. i am not a naive person, but maybe i was naive to trust him.

i am certainly no stranger to playing hardball, but i am a known paranoid.. i'm not sure my boss is out to get me, so i don't want to screw up my relationship with him if it's all in my head. i haven't quite given up on this job yet.. i plan to confront him when i see him on Monday.

in short, i have tried to be nice, but is it time to unmask the Dark Side? what leverage do i have? any advice would be appreciated.

[Freezer Burn]

Well theres a few red flags there mate, your working illegally so you get deported and fined.
You don't have your work visa yet, so why can't you just leave, find another job, if he does the whole 'you signed a contract thing' it will force his hand, you will have to become legal to make the contract valid.
My guess is if he can't get the permit to allow you to teach at the hogwan he's most likely using all he can from you and then discard you, you make him more money than you take off him.
What will happen if you get deported for working illegally, you may get banned for a year, while he can pay a fine and be up and running in a few months, you stand more to lose than he does.

[nrvs]

[pegpig]

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Done.

Sparkles*_*

[Red]

[captain kirk]

Well, man, you've been negligent. If you've got a degree and you're eligible for your E2 you ought to have had your eye on him. If he's lived in America for awhile he's sharp. Maybe sharp enough to be playing you.

In a casual way lazily manning your strings. Worked for a month without the E2 having been processed already is a mad risk. I had that happen last job. The guy said immigration said it was ok so I worked for two weeks was it? The whole time I looked at him to check his mood since he was playing it cool, manning my strings, and simmering away. Finally I got super pissed off because he was flat out disrespectful one night, which just proved that the delays and so on weren't casual but planned. Your antenna/intincts are probably howling at you so you're posting.

It's exhausting but you've got to watch them and keep on your toes. They're trying to nip at your heels herding you and they're serious, the management. Like the situation where I work right now. Two months and they haven't started the medical insurance and pension. WTF's with that? I ought to have been venting like a busted steam pipe about it from the start, but no, the delay is now my fault. Gotta get on that. So you gotta mind you boss. If you feel that he thinks you're a stupid white guy you're probably right. Since he's casually trespassing your rights and the regulations.

By the way the scum boss I mentioned also tried to deduct ten days pay to safeguard himself against my doing a runner. I vented like a busted steampipe about that and refused to allow it. He got all irate (in front of everybody) and said 'all the other teachers have allowed it?!'. So letting your boss hold half a month pay AND letting him delay on the E2 processing? It adds up to you being a pushover and he knows it. He's laughing maniacally driving his big steamroller o'er your ass, that's what he's doing.

[rumpolestitskin]

Be nice to him; Take a photo of him for future use

Tell that you want your money now.

Tell him that your'll fall on your swoard and go to the labor board and phone the US embassy if you have to simply to get him into trouble.

A total stab in the dark but surley the Koreans would deport your boss with hime being an American citizen who was flauting immigration laws. After all he can't hold dual citizenship in korea.

You might also want to phone your embassy, maybe they will do nothing about it, but you never know. Even if tehy simply phoned your boss to ask him about why he was in korea it might put the wind up him.

It's all very unlikely but you never know I guess.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Forget calling the embassy. Supervising dodgy hakwon bosses is not on their class list at international diplomacy school.

I suggest:

1. Monday morning, ask for an emergency meeting. In a non-confrontational way, be very clear that you know working without an E-2 visa is illegal. You know that if you are caught, you will be the one to suffer. Tell him clearly, firmly, but non-confrontationally that you need this situation cleared up by Wednesday. If not, you will be unable to continue working. It's just too risky for you and him.

2. Money.
Tell him that keeping half of your salary was not acceptable. You know you need to make deposits for the utilities and that much is fine but that money goes to the phone company, gas company etc., not him. If he wants, the bills can come to school and you will pay the secretary the money and she will give you the stamped receipt. That way he knows you are paying your bills and are not going to stiff him, but that you are not a child and will not accept the present situation. (You can come up with some other scenario that suits you, but you get my meaning.)

3. This guy is clearly starting a new hakwon. Sympathize with him about the stress he is under and reassure him that you want him, the school and yourself to succeed. But make it clear that the present situation is causing you stress and that you need these problems worked out immediately or they will affect the way you teach and therefore his success. Inform him that since you are currently working illegally and you don't want to, that you are free to look for other jobs.

Good luck.

[dulouz]

If you don't have an E2, you don't have a job. You can leave and get another job when you want.

He likely has some money of yours. You can pull an in country runner.

[death from above]

i guess it's ultimatum time.. yes, i have been negligent. i have been trying experience a new country, learn a new job, learn a new language, and learn a new culture.. as far as the salary was concerned, he said it was staggered, every two weeks.. now that i think about it, it was in front of some 1st graders. what a piece of shit. overall, i knew something was rotten in denmark, i just wanted a 2nd opinion from you guys.. thank you for that.

ugh i feel like such a sucker. i will take a picture of this slick bastad and post it.. and blacklist his school. and so now i'm in the job market..

but let me ask u guys this.. What happened to my diploma and my transcript? does immigration have it or do i need to demand it back?

[pegpig]

[uberscheisse]

in my case i never gave up my degree or passport as my first director didn't want to process my visa 'right away' and had 'contacts in immigration' and everything was OK-OK-OK.

for your passport, all i'd say is that you need some form of international ID just in case of emergency. i think that without an E2, you have to carry your passport with you at all times. as well, it doesn't even belong to you, it belongs to the government of your home country.

as for your diploma... think of a scam. tell him you're considering going to grad school after this contract, and you're contacting a university back home in advance since it's a really competitive enrolment process. you need to photocopy your degree. this one may backfire, ie. he may just photocopy it for you and give you the copy.

in any case, you don't have your documents and you may be screwed that way. the labor board can probably lean on this chump quite a bit, since he's the one doing the procrastinating.

contact the efl-law guy at www.efl-law.com and he'll know what to do.

[dulouz]

If you are an American you are already in violation of immigration law as we only get 30 days. The visa you get is good for 30 days, you are beyond that.

You are in violation of the working-immigration law. You are working without a working visa. Thats a big no no Strike 2

Transcripts are easy to get, diplomas take longer.

Tomarrow at the beginning of class, tell him you the docs now or you are leaving now. Deliver on the threat. When you get the documents, leave immediately. Do not teach one class but tell him you are doing so.


You really are free, there is nothing to hold you. You don't want to be with this guy for a year.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Done.

Sparkles*_*