Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Qinella]

Here's my situation. Preface info: my visa expires 3/14/06. I started teaching on 3/21/05, so my director thinks my contract ends 3/21/06.

Six months ago, I wanted to take a few days off for vacation. My director seemed really anxious about the idea and told me he'd planned on giving it to me at the end of the contract. Okay, no problem, I thought. I didn't really need a vacation, but just wanted time to explore Korea a bit more in depth than what weekend excursions would allow.

So here we are at the end of my contract, and I finally get ahold of my director to have a talk. He pulls out a calendar and points to 3/21 of this year, then counts backwards 8 days (I'd taken 2 days previously). This puts him on 3/10 (Friday). "There, that's your last day" he says. I say that isn't exactly fair. My visa expires 3/14, so technically 3/14 or 3/13 is the last day of my contract. He retorts that I started on 3/21 of last year, and thus 3/21 of this year is my last date. I grimaced, my face turned red (sure sign of anger) and told him he was being unfair. There's no way I could possibly work until 3/21, and 9 months ago I asked him five times if he wanted me to extend my visa so I could stay past 3/21, which he refused each time. Now all of a sudden he's trying to run fast and loose with the vacation time. In my opinion, the last day of my contract should be 3/13, the day before my visa ends, and the vacation time should be calculated from there.

The problem, however, is that he's been slacking (of course) on finding a replacement for me. His recruiter just started looking a few days ago, and I live in a small city that isn't likely to attract many bites. So I feel like he's taking out the consequenses of his procrastination on me. I should be finished on 3/03, and have a full week off to travel, as I'd planned to do. Now, I get to work almost until my last day here, which blows monkey nuts. However, up until this point, he's been the best employer I've ever had, and I've had a lot of jobs in the past, so I'm willing to sacrafice a little for him. And he did offer to pay me extra money, which I refused.

I'm curious about others' experiences with this. How is the last day of your contract typically negotiated? My contract was actually signed on 2/16/05, which really only confounds the situation more. How's it been for you?

Q.

[ontheway]

Hi Qinella,

My experience has been that the 1 year contract is based on one year of working time and not your visa date. Your visa will expire so you need to go to immigration and extend your work visa. Did you get a new job yet? Did you set a start date for that? If so then you could be in a bind with your new boss. If you don't have a new job, then it seems that you could be flexible here, help out your boss and gain some other advantages. You will need an extension agreement with him to extend your visa for those extra days, and can insist on other things in the agreement.

Hope this works out for you.

ontheway

[Qinella]

[memorabilis]

Woudn't your contract finish on 03/20? If you started on the 21st, then 365 days after would be the 20th. Mine started on the 2nd of Jan and ends the 1st of Jan 2006. It's only a day, but it would be one day extra of vacation time.

[vdowd]

Thought I would chime in. Just had a friend with the same situation. He date on ARC expired before the contract date due to an error on the date of her ARC (7 days off). She asked about it several times, even at immigration 2 times, and was told there was no problem.

She went home for vacation near the end of her contract. When she tried to return, she was told that her ARC had expired and she could not enter the country to work. After much upset, talks with school, consulate and immigration, the final results was (drumroll): She could not enter Korea to complete her contract; school decided therefore not the pay her for the final month she had worked, no severence, and immigration admitted that this had happened before (oops, so sorry) - total money out of pocket - over $5 million Won.

And because she was deemed to have not completed the contract, immigration is thinking of not allowing her in the country for another year as a penalty.

Taking a holiday at the end of a conttract is one ways some school avoid paying severence because they can say you did not finish 12 months of the contract. Do not wait for your Director to take you to immigration for an extension to 21st. Do it yourself and pay the 30,000 won to update your ARC card.

Hope others can confirm that bad things can happen to good people. But you can never trust immigration or the school to not change their mind or to care about you.

V

[denverdeath]

Yes, go to immigration (with your contract) and get the extension (I recommend to the 21st to keep your boss happy). The ten days' vacation should not include weekends, but again, it's better to keep things civil at this point to make sure that you get your final pay, severance, etc from your boss. While you're on vacation, travel a bit, get the new workplace finalized, and make sure that your current boss pays you all that you're supposed to get. A new school will have to wait an extra week or so...negotiations will have to change...if the new school doesn't understand that, tough for them (according to the original dates on your ARC, you wouldn't be able to work for a new place until after the 14th anyway).

[ilovebdt]

I went to immigration about this very thing yesterday. My ARC expires Sept 10, but my contract expires Sept 11. As someone else said, immigration determine your stay from when you entered the country. I arrived on the 10th of Sept, so I get a year from that date.

To get an extension what I was told was to go to immigration 2 months before my ARC expires with the right docs and 30,000 won.

Ilovebdt

[Qinella]

Well thanks for the advice, everyone. It's too late for me to extend my visa this time, but for my next contract I will definitely do it in order to avoid a similar headache.

Cheers,
Q.

[ontheway]

Q

You keep saying it's too late to extend your visa, but I'm not sure why. You didn't sign a new contract yet, so you have no obligation to start anywhere yet. And you can extend your visa anytime before it expires, beginning 30 days (someone above was told 60 days) before expiration. That is, before 60 days would be too early to extend. Now is not too late, it's the right time to do it. Maybe you have some travel plans made already.

Extending would solve your contract completion problem and give you a chance to make sure you get your one year bonus and final month's pay without any trouble. You could write in an early pay date for some of the money in the extension agreement. Your boss is in a bind so you could get your bonus before completion etc. by helping him out and agreeing to stay.

[Qinella]