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Pension Refund and checking your balance
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katinkorea



Joined: 10 Nov 2006

PostPosted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was just reading over some of the threads and I came across one that said Canadians need to have worked in Korea for a minimum of one year to get their pension back -- is that true??? Please tell me it's not true! : (
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm Canadian. I doubt the one year thing is true. I got a refund for just 4 months at a school in 2006. One year contract and all but only worked there 6 months or so. I was not pleased the pension office (Godeok station) had no record of past employment/payments beyond that job. I figure former bosses probably just stole my money.

(PM if you need to know more.)
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Young FRANKenstein



Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

katinkorea wrote:
Please tell me it's not true! : (

It's not true.

There is no minimum time you have to work here to get the refund. Even if you only worked here long enough to get one month of salary, it is your pension money, and you may take it with you when you leave.
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Ced



Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: Korea

PostPosted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not to sound like a moron, but is this getting refunded medical insurance? I'm a NZer. We don't have pensions, or is this a US name for medical insurance?
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Curious George



Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Location: Seoul, Korea

PostPosted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay here is the deal with pension refunds and Korean Health Insurance.

The Korean law states all foreign teachers get these benefits no matter what. It doesnt matter if the school has 1 foreign teacher or 10, by law the schools must pay into these schemes.

If you are American or Canadian you do get a pension refund when you leave Korea.

If your employer is trying to tell you that they dont have to pay into the pension fund or get you insurance because they only employ 1 or 2 teachers is total crap. They are just cheapo bastards trying to use you. It did used to be this way before, but they have since change the law and now it is mandatory for every single foreign employee.

This is the reason I refuse to work for a hagwon ever again in Korea. Because 90% of hogwan owners screw over the foreign teachers to one extent or another.

(Another big scam is they take out way too many taxes and pocket the difference or take out taxes and then dont pay them to the government, leaving the teacher liable for ALL taxes again if the Korean government finds out. If you are getting paid in cash or do not get a paycheck stub from a bank ie. NOT a word document typed on your hogwan owners own computer, then you are probably a victim of this fraud as well).

I dont care how nice your hogwan owner is or how honest you think they are. I guarantee you that most hogwan teachers are getting scammed one way or the other whether it be on taxes, health insurance, or pension.

If your employer cannot PROVE it to you with official bank or government documents that they are doing these things then they are probably not. You can verify if they are paying into these benefits by finding out the local office in your area and calling them and providing your Korean Arc card information.

If they are not, then you can force them to pay into it. Of course this will cause a huge mess and probably get you fired very quickly.

How do I know all this? Because it happened to me at a very dodgy hogwan in Jeju last year. If you threaten the hogwan owner to report them if they are smart you can get them to give you a release letter for your work visa and then just go get another job. If they refuse to give you this letter with their chop on it, then report them and they will get into big doodoo with the korean authorities and be forced to pay fines and possibly even loose thier hogwan. This is a whole other topic though.

I have digressed greatly from my original intent in this post so now I will shut up, heh.
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gelynch52



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:26 pm    Post subject: Does anyone KNOW FOR SURE? Reply with quote

Does anyone know for a fact, not conjecture, if there is any circumstance under which a company with 20 employees can refuse to participate in the pension plan? I'm told by my school manager that they do not participate. The school has also told a co-worker that they do not need to for some reason since they are a school. The place is a foreign language institute with students both in and outside the building. Many classes are held at company offices under contract with a major Korean manufacturer.

I would welcome direct replies to: [email protected]
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highland01



Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Location: Tokyo

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have left Korea to take a job in Japan. When I left Korea, I arrived in Japan as a tourist, and needed an onward ticket to satisfy Japanese immigration. So, I did not have a one-way ticket from Korea. Thus, I didn't go to the pension office to start the process as I didn't have the proper documentation to show I was leaving Korea.

1) Does anyone know of the process to apply for a pension refund from abroad? (I am Canadian, and have paid into the national pension plan... got the receipts each fall to show my balance)

2) How much time to I have to apply for this? (left at the beginning of March, 2007)
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b_canadian_eh



Joined: 21 Jul 2006

PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey,

My wife and I have 2 months remaining in Korea and I am trying to wrap my head around how to get our pension back. I have been reading through all the posts and I still have a couple questions that I would love to have answered.

1. We normally pay our pension on the 10th of the month and we are leaving on the 9th. Would we still be paying pension on the last day and if so would we get that back too?

2. Exactly what banking info is needed? We had some problems transferring money from our bank in Korea to our one in Canada because it is a small co-op... will we have the same problem here?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!!
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Tokki1



Joined: 14 May 2007
Location: The gap between the Korean superiority and inferiority complex

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 4:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's what I always do:

When I plan on taking an extended vacation, I go to the pension office with my air ticket and fill out the forms. Yes, you can do this as many times as you want. I've 'left' Korea many, many times.

They always ask me for my Canadian bank info, and I always tell them that I want the lump sum deposited into my Korean bank account (yes, Korean bank account). When you think about it, this makes no sense, since I'm supposed to be 'leaving' Korea. They never argue. They don't care. They take the Korean bank info.

As a nonresident of Canada for tax purposes, I obviously have no Canadian bank account.

So, if they press me I explain that I have no Canadian bank account and that I'm going to have my friend withdraw the money and send it to me. I usually just come back into the country a month or two later and the money is there, or during longer vacations I have a friend use my bank card to withdraw the money in case the account closes for some reason.

I've done this many times, and I've also sent money home to friends who have left and done the same thing, leaving their ATM card and pin with me. (Er...make sure you trust the person doing this.)
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monkinwonderland



Joined: 17 May 2007

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 9:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Getting near the end of my contract, and I'm starting to get nervous.
My boss has always seemed like a straight forward and honest guy, but this thread has made me paranoid.

I am wondering if he has not been paying into my pension, then am I just screwed? Even if he's turned in, will I just never see this money? I stand to get a pretty decent amount returned.

Secondly, and this has me worried now, he takes out 5% a month for taxes, but he's never shown me a breakdown. I know the pension should be 4.5%, right? I don't really care if he's skimming .5% off the top, because it's not really worth going after, but would 5% cover my pension and all the other taxes I should be paying (not incl. medical)?
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archer904



Joined: 04 Sep 2006

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:15 pm    Post subject: Getting pension once out of Korea Reply with quote

I had to leave Korea in a hurry and had no time to contact the pension office before leaving.

I am a US citizen.

How do I go about getting my pension refund now that I am in the USA?

I have a Korean bank account still active and can have the money deposited in it, then have a friend there wire it to me. The question is, how do I get the ball rolling on that? Through the local consulate?
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ttompatz



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Does anyone KNOW FOR SURE? Reply with quote

gelynch52 wrote:
Does anyone know for a fact, not conjecture, if there is any circumstance under which a company with 20 employees can refuse to participate in the pension plan? I'm told by my school manager that they do not participate. The school has also told a co-worker that they do not need to for some reason since they are a school. The place is a foreign language institute with students both in and outside the building. Many classes are held at company offices under contract with a major Korean manufacturer.

I would welcome direct replies to: [email protected]



There is NO circumstance that a hakwon, public school or public university can avoid NHIC medical or NPS pension.


The ONLY exception are the PRIVATE UNUVERSITIES and they must either join in OR provide a private pension that matches the national one for benefits and severance.

And as a PS to the above, if you are working "on location" outside your hakwon and DO NOT HAVE it marked on your ARC by immigration you are working illegally and in violation of your visa.

Specifics are on their respective websites AND you can also call them.,
Pension is 1355 from a land line and 02-1355 from a cell phone.


highland01 wrote:
I have left Korea to take a job in Japan. When I left Korea, I arrived in Japan as a tourist, and needed an onward ticket to satisfy Japanese immigration. So, I did not have a one-way ticket from Korea. Thus, I didn't go to the pension office to start the process as I didn't have the proper documentation to show I was leaving Korea.

1) Does anyone know of the process to apply for a pension refund from abroad? (I am Canadian, and have paid into the national pension plan... got the receipts each fall to show my balance)

2) How much time to I have to apply for this? (left at the beginning of March, 2007)


Specific information and forms are available on their website (for obtaining your refund from abroad).

scroll down the list of forms to the correct form (it was #3 at the time of this posting).
http://www.nps.or.kr/jsppage/english/agreement/agreement_03_01.jsp

archer904 wrote:
I had to leave Korea in a hurry and had no time to contact the pension office before leaving.

I am a US citizen.

How do I go about getting my pension refund now that I am in the USA?

I have a Korean bank account still active and can have the money deposited in it, then have a friend there wire it to me. The question is, how do I get the ball rolling on that? Through the local consulate?


See the reply above but you have to scroll down to #4 for Americans.
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Sophocles



Joined: 15 Mar 2007
Location: MetroSeoul

PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, how about this one: my first employer of one year paid pension but my second employer of one year did not.

What's this going to do for me? Are they going to give me a hard time about it?
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CGriswald309B



Joined: 23 Jan 2006
Location: Busan, SK

PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, I have a question that I don't see addressed here (maybe I missed somthing).

I finish my contract at the end of August and then I'm gonna travel for a month. Does that mean I need to sort out my pension money before I leave for my holiday? Just to clarify, I finish on August 27. I'm flying to Bangkok on the 28 and returning to Busan on the 30 of September.

Thanks in advance!
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Sine qua non



Joined: 18 Feb 2007

PostPosted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just applied for my lump sum pension refund, and thought I'd relay my experience.

I walked into the office on the 6th floor of the Yongpoong Building (above the Youngpoog Bookstore at Jonggak) with all my paperwork. Even though I live in the countryside, it didn't matter that I went to that office as opposed to the one close to where I live.

There was a roving "customer wrangler" (you know, like one of those guys at every bank branch who has no other job but to stroll through the lobby and occasionally pull out the number slips to give to the next customer that walks in). I walked in, looked for an English language form at the form counter (didn't find one), and whitey wrangler came over and directed me to the whitey help desk (the National Pension clerk who speaks English).

I told her why I came, and she printed out a 6-8 page bilingual application and hghlighted the few sections I actually had to fill in (a total of about 3 minutes of writing).

As for my documentation, she wanted: plane ticket (e-mailed "E-Ticket" was acceptable), ARC, passport, and my Amercian bank information (a voided personal check seemed to be best).

She took/copied my documentation and application and said the lump sum should arrive in my US bank account within 2 weeks.

Also, she told me how much money would be sent to my account. And, she listed all my contribution periods, so I could confirm that I had been paying into the pesion since I've been here.

By the way, I have been here for about 6 years. For the first 5 years, the universities I worked at all required me to pay into the pension. The last school I have been working at (presently) requires me to pay into a private pension, but not the national pension. Therefore, even though I am still under contract here and still have a couple of paychecks still to come to me, since I am not part of the national pension at this school, and since I am finished paying into the national pension, it seems that I am able to receive my lump sum refund within a couple of weeks (rather than having to wait until the end of my contract in September).

Also, the pension clerk didn't have any information about any contributions made for my by the hagwon I worked at for 6 months in 1997. I thought I was paying into it, but evidently not.

All in all, the refund application was a quick and painless experience.
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