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URGENT Update: getting owned.

 
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beekeeper3000



Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:30 am    Post subject: URGENT Update: getting owned. Reply with quote

After a bizarrely calm meeting with my hagwon director, I can now make the following list:

1. She wants to "think" about whether or not she will "let me" go from the contract.

2. If she does, it will be in two months.

3. I need a letter of release by the end of February.

4. I offered to help her find a new teacher. She replied by saying "it's very difficult to find the right teacher." I find this ironic since she hates me; was I hard to find?

5. If no LOR, do I have to go home (as many of the posts these days are indicating) or can I quit (give my 30 days) and make a "visa run" to Japan?

6. I like teaching and I don't want to go home!
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TheUrbanMyth



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:53 am    Post subject: Re: URGENT Update: getting owned. Reply with quote

beekeeper3000 wrote:
After a bizarrely calm meeting with my hagwon director, I can now make the following list:

1. She wants to "think" about whether or not she will "let me" go from the contract.

2. If she does, it will be in two months.

3. I need a letter of release by the end of February.

4. I offered to help her find a new teacher. She replied by saying "it's very difficult to find the right teacher." I find this ironic since she hates me; was I hard to find?

5. If no LOR, do I have to go home (as many of the posts these days are indicating) or can I quit (give my 30 days) and make a "visa run" to Japan?

6. I like teaching and I don't want to go home!


A LOR will no longer do (according to the thread on them). You must make a new E-2 visa application and find a school to sponsor you. You will have to leave Korea within a few days of the school canceling your visa.
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beekeeper3000



Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i don't mean this in a rude way, but what's your source on that? i've read sooooo many things lately about LORs i feel thoroughly confused.
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Milwaukiedave



Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lord o mighty, does the director think you are a slave?

I can't believe what some directors will pull.

What a bunch of ***holes!
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Homer
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 3:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Normally, without a LOR, your visa remains valid until it expires (one year from when it started). Going on a visa run will change nothing as your application for a new E-2 will not work (well it might if you get lucky) as long as the other visa is valid.

This is unless your school terminates your visa when you quit or leave. If they choose not to, you may be out of luck until it experies unless you go to the Labor Board and get them to deal with immigration and invalidate the E-2 (this will work as long as you respected the contractual clauses in your contract that relate to employment termination).

Hope this helps.
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jacl



Joined: 31 Oct 2005

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You're giving her good notice. I wouldn't worry about it. Just tell her that you absolutely need to go by then. You're giving her ample time. Put it in writing and keep a copy for yourself and for her. Have her sign both. Go to immigration and/or the labor board and submit your copy. Make sure you get a letter of release somehow. If you contact immigration and let them know about your honorable leave with your generous notice then it could be smooth sailing for you. You'll get your LOR or whatever. Just be nice to everyone.

Last edited by jacl on Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bulsajo



Joined: 16 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Milwaukiedave wrote:
Lord o mighty, does the director think you are a slave?

Of course she does.

Quote:
I can't believe what some directors will pull.

Why wouldn't they? It's what the law allows them to do- treat their employees like indentured servants.

But I think boards like this- and other sources on working in Korea- make it clear that this is the case.

I know that doesn't make it right, but at least everyone knows (or should know) what they are getting into.

When people ask me what it's like to teach in Korea, and is it worth it, etc. I always think of Clint Eastwood: "Do ya feel lucky, punk?"

Korea is a crapshoot.
You can do lots of things to dramatically improve your odds, but in the end it's still a gamble.


I drew up my own letter of release once (I'm not sure if that's still kosher or whether you are required to use an approved form letter),
worded it so that it looked like the employer was being freed of his/her responsibilities towards me (no longer had to provide housing, health insurance, salary, etc.) and had it translated into Korean.
I had previously told my employer that I was 'leaving' in two months for personal reasons
(I never said 'where' but I let them use their imagination to fill in the blanks, and as I expected they assumed I was leaving Korea, which was not the case),
and waited until I knew they had lined up a replacement.
I brought the letter in and I hinted that I wasn't planning on leaving my apartment until the letter was signed.

It worked like a charm.

Sometime after I had already signed on to my dream job , this school found out I had in fact moved to a different school not far from them, and they tried to raise holy hell and and get me thrown out of the country.
But I had their tojang on a bilingual letter of release and immigration basically told them to go fly a kite.
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jacl



Joined: 31 Oct 2005

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bulsajo wrote:
Milwaukiedave wrote:
Lord o mighty, does the director think you are a slave?

Of course she does.

Quote:
I can't believe what some directors will pull.

Why wouldn't they? It's what the law allows them to do- treat their employees like indentured servants.

But I think boards like this- and other sources on working in Korea- make it clear that this is the case.

I know that doesn't make it right, but at least everyone knows (or should know) what they are getting into.

When people ask me what it's like to teach in Korea, and is it worth it, etc. I always think of Clint Eastwood: "Do ya feel lucky, punk?"

Korea is a crapshoot.
You can do lots of things to dramatically improve your odds, but in the end it's still a gamble.


I drew up my own letter of release once (I'm not sure if that's still kosher or whether you are required to use an approved form letter),
worded it so that it looked like the employer was being freed of his/her responsibilities towards me (no longer had to provide housing, health insurance, salary, etc.) and had it translated into Korean.
I had previously told my employer that I was 'leaving' in two months for personal reasons
(I never said 'where' but I let them use their imagination to fill in the blanks, and as I expected they assumed I was leaving Korea, which was not the case),
and waited until I knew they had lined up a replacement.
I brought the letter in and I hinted that I wasn't planning on leaving my apartment until the letter was signed.

It worked like a charm.

Sometime after I had already signed on to my dream job , this school found out I had in fact moved to a different school not far from them, and they tried to raise holy hell and and get me thrown out of the country.
But I had their tojang on a bilingual letter of release and immigration basically told them to go fly a kite.


That's the way you do it. Bring it to them. If you don't want to make your own, get the proper form and get them to fill it out. You know what it's like waiting for them.
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bulgogiboy



Joined: 12 Nov 2003

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually, my boss called immigration a few days ago and they said there's been a change in the rules. LOR's are no longer valid. You don't need one to change jobs if you finish your contract early but you do need to make a brand new E-2 visa application regardless. You need to submit all your new documents again and do the same stuff as before.

BB
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beekeeper3000



Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

one of the mods at efl-law.com has told me flat out that without a LOR you CANNOT get another E-2. he told me this YESTERDAY.
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bulgogiboy



Joined: 12 Nov 2003

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, it's a little confusing. All I can say is that the communication between me/my boss/and the immigration at Gwangju was clear. He was told that the law has changed, and if you finish your contract early(maybe early or on time doesn't matter either), then you need to do your E-2 visa application all over again, the LOR doesn't apply. There is a chance one of the mods at efl-law could be wrong, and there's a chance Gwangju immigration are talking out of their backsides. But I called up my new employer in another province and he called to another branch of immigration and asked them the same thing, their answer was the same as Gwangju immigration so I'm not sure what to think.

I'll be getting my LOR anyway just in case. The only reason I got my boss to phone up was because I read another thread in which the same thing happened to somebody else in another part of Korea. Otherwise me, my boss and my new employer would have been none the wiser, maybe that's true of most other people just now?
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

beekeeper3000 wrote:
one of the mods at efl-law.com has told me flat out that without a LOR you CANNOT get another E-2. he told me this YESTERDAY.


I'm sure this is right. If you have any questions ask Marc the lawyer on the site that ryhmes with rectum - he's by far the most accurate source of advice I've come across about Korean labour law.
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Homer
Guest




PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Or call the Labour Board and immigration , if you speak decent Korean you will get answers.


If you don't speak the lingo well enough, get a Korean friend to call.[/i]
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