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ESL Korea FAQ: Q16-26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(16) I'm 45-55, Will That Be A Problem? In Korea usu not (unlike say Japan); there are lots of older teachers around. They may have a definite preference for youth (along with blond and female!) but its a teachers market here, so, no problem as long as you're Nth American. The only thing is it might take you a little longer than average to land a job and you probably won't get one of the better ones. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(17) I Want To Leave My Contract, What To Do? This is a very common scenario. If you want to leave Korea, no problem, just go. You can either do it by the book (if you think your employer will pay your last months salary) or via a "midnight run". If the latter leave on the weekend and tell no one (sometimes people get ratted out). At the airport they will ask about your work visa and you can just say its finished and wave your hand. If they query further (never happened to me) you can say something like its a family emergency. Then you just hand in you Alien registration Card (if you've been over here more than three months) and once you're through customs you're home free. When your contract expires you can freely apply for another job. Now if you want to stay in Korea its a little more tricky. Basically to legally change jobs you need to obtain a "Letter Of Release". However unlike Japan or Taiwan (where you also need a LOR) the Korean employers usu refuse to freely give it. Part of the reason is that theres a shortage of teachers (I wonder why) and so they don't want you to go. Even if they do want you to go they may refuse out of resentment. So if you want a release your first course of action is to get the local Labour board etc to try and appy some pressure on them. Also get the Schools head office to phone if applicable. Usu this won't be enough though and you then have two options: 1) blackmail them and 2) bribe them. Personally I've never tried the former but apparently you can often get them on deducted but unpaid pensions and undeclared earnings from students or in other words tax evasion. Regards bribing them the cheapest way is to get your present and future employers to sort out a compromise. Remember if they hired a recruiter they would have to pay them about one million won so for your future employer to pay a fee for you is no big deal. And also they can save on airfare fees since you're already in Korea. So in practice most people can end up getting their LOR if they want. But the downsides include having a very difficult last month until you can move. And they might not even pay you for that last month. Also having your future boss getting told all sorts of stuff from your previous one doesn't exactly start things on a good footing. Another complication with release letters has been occuring more and more frequently. Some immigration offices (esp Inchon apparently so don't work round there) have been refusing to let teachers transfer even with a letter of realease or at least saying its "difficult" (give me money). Apparently too many hagwon bosses have been complaining about teachers up and leaving. Now technically this is illegal and you're allowed to transfer twice on the original work visa but there you have it. What they're really after is a bribe which is up to you. Otherwise you might want to consider the next way. Another option for those wanting to stay is illegal but some people have got away with it without immigration noticing and that is by just leaving the country, coming back and applying for another job and work visa and then going to Japan once more to pick up the visa. This is illegal though. You not allowed to have two active contracts running at the same time. A variation is to get a new passport with a new identification number. Usu they only cross-reference via the numbers if at all rather than via your last name. For the year 2000 I only ever heard of two people being unable to get a new work visa this way so its fairly easy. Still it should only be considered as a last resort and with a bit of effort you should be a ble to get a letter of release. The last option for those wanting to stay in Korea is just to get a tourist visa and work illegally until your old contract expires. See question 15. You need to know how to do this safely though. See question 20 for details. One thing is if you come backwards and forwards regularly from Japan is that they may interogate you but as long as you don't admit to working they won't do anything. Just say that you have a fiance in Korea or somethin One of the best solutions if you have the money (you're need around US$2000 set up reserves) is simply to leave Korea and go and work somewhere else like Taiwan for a stint. Many people prefer Taiwan so you might want to take a look. If you then decide you want to come back to Korea just wait to your old contract expires and you can return |
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(18) My Boss Won't Give Me A Release Letter, What Can I Do? First you can try and get people to put pressure on him like from the franchise head office or the Foreign Workers Rights (their new page is still under construction) group ph 02 508 1745 (click here), They will refer you to the proper authorities. Still it seems that basically if he doesn't want to give you one he usually doesn't have to. People usually then end up paying him off or getting their next employer to pay it. Some people have tryed blackmailing them. Often they have things to hide over unpaid pensions and taxes which they don't want the IRS finding out about. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(19) How Do I Do A Visa Run To Osaka/Fuokuoka/Tokyo? For a one day visa run you may need to fly to Osaka and coordinate the flight schedules, train schedules etc so it all flows smoothly. A Fukuoka ferry visa run is the cheapest way if you are in Pusan or nearby although it may take more than a day. Remember to change your money before you leave Korea! Its quite difficult to do so in Japan. Many people get caught out and don't see the sign when they leave Korea. See the bottom of the section for addresses and maps. Osaka (return same day): An air ticket to Osaka costs around 250000 won. Change about 200000 won into 20000 yen for spending if you're coming back the same day. You will probably only spend about 120000 won but the rest is in case of emergency if you have to stay the nite in Japan. Its very difficult to change Korean won into yen in Japan. Make sure you don't go on the weekend or a Japanese or Korean national holiday as they will be closed. If you tell them at the check in on the way back that it was just a day trip you don't have to pay the Japanese departure tax. Fukuoka (ferry): This is not usually considered a day trip option like Osaka although I heard of someone who said they had done this three times. You will need to get the early morning ferry if you want to try doing it in a day. Book at least a few days in advance from your nearest tourist information center. The ferry cost for M-T is 140000 and for F-S its 170000. The immigration office closes at 3 or 4:00. When you arrive in Fukuoka at the terminal grab a motel business card (about 5000 yen/nite) and a map which should show you where the consulate is located (near the big sports Dome). From the ferry catch a bus (11/19) to Hakata Station (the last stop). From the Station catch (I think its 39 and 306 but you can just ask) a Fukuoka Dome or Fukuoka Tower or Nishtetsu bus (to the Fukouka Dome on your map- you can't miss it). Remember to change your money and a lot of it before you leave Korea (not at the ferry they will rip you off but instead at a good bank) since it very difficult to change Won in Japan. The American consulate occasionally has to rescue people who didn't bring enough money. For some more info on Fukuoka and visa runs there you might try This Link although its a little out of date. Fukuoka (flying): It costs about 250000 won to fly to Fukuoka. Get there early (like 2 hours) at the airport. When you arrive in Japan go to the information desk for advice on how to get to the consulate and they will provide you with a map. Theres a free shuttle bus from the airport which will take you to the subway to get to the consulate. On the subway go to Togin Machi on the blue line (see the Fukuoka map below). Look for exit 1 which has a sign with "Korean Consulate" written on it. Exit and look for a big dome building. Then look at your map (which you can pick up at the airport) which has the consulate marked on it to orientate yourself and you should have no trouble locating the consulate fairly shortly across the road from Hawks Town. The building itself has a Korean style roof which stands out somewhat from the Japanese buildings. Tokyo (flying): Head into town from the airport and transfer to the grey Hibiya line heading to the Roppongi Station. From there with the map you picked up at the airport or by printing the one below you can make your way to the consulate. Mission Embassy of the Republic of Korea Address 1-2-5, Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Akasaka. Post Code:106 Tel 34527611/ 9 Fax 52326911 |
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(20) Whats The Story About Teaching Privates? A vital area of interest for a lot of teachers. Most do it but its very illegal and not just with privates but also with all part-time moonlighting (at least without immigrations permission in the latter case). Koreans as long as their not teachers by trade can now do private tutoring but still not foreigners. The real question for teachers is what are the risks (for consequences see question 15) and how can they be minimized? Okay, well generally moonlighting for another hagwan is considered the most risky because theres lots more people who know what you're doing rather than say if you're just doing privates. Also you're more likely to be randomly raided by immigration than if you're doing privates or company work (although there are reports of the latter occasionally being hit too). One tip if you're doing hagwan work is never give them your real name or even a picture. I've heard of a couple of people being caught this way because their resume was on file when the hagwon was raided. This paragraphs information is unconfirmed. Reportedly the "high season" for raids is the first half of the year. Also raids are reportedly confined to the largest cities like Pusan and Seoul. As I said I havn't had this bit confirmed in any way. However, even in rural areas they definitely do "checks" of new schools. Never work illegally at a school thats less than 6 weeks old. I was once in a rural area when they came round without notice to check that the new school was all above board. As regards doing privates, for adults its an idea to change venue (eg coffee shops) regularly. For teaching in apartments be nice to the security guards. Apparently they can get 1 mill if they turn you in (this is unconfirmed) although I havn't heard of anyone being caught this way. Don't come with stacks of English books etc, its a dead giveaway. Try to change the time regularly. Have a English-Korean-English dictionary so you can always claim perhaps that you were learning Korean. Lastly there was a report from a guy going out with a friend of a friend from immigration or something that 80% of the people nabbed by immigration were caught by reports from disgruntled ex-girlfriends. So don't tell them anything AND play nice (the girls can easily make it up). It all sounds a bit scary but its really not so bad. See question 15. Basically the upside is much much higher than the downside. You can double the amount of money you can save by doing moonlighting esp in Seoul. Alternatively you can get the same money by legally applying to immigration for permission to do the legally allowable one extra job (costs about 60000 won to apply). Just make sure you didn't sign a contract that forbids this (actually quite common). Then you will need to take a Letter Of Consent from your boss to Immigration and pay them the money. |
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(21) How Much Should I Charge For Privates And Other Part-Time Work? As much as you can! Bear in mind that the prices quoted are just roughly speaking, there are exceptions to the general prices quoted and also that they are changing (going up) as the economy goes up and down. The golden rule is charge as much as the market will bear. For privates there are a few things which may affect how much you can charge including how many are in the classes (more kids means a little bit more money), the lenghth of the lesson (all rates for privates quoted are for one hour lessons, longer than that and the rates go down), (the type of classes (generally business classes pay the best but bear in mind you need to keep them amused and women sometimes have difficulties) and also location. For privates in Pusan you can charge 30-35000/h. In smaller cities you may be lucky to get 30000. In Seoul you can get up to 45-50000/h if you're competant (and Nth American). For part-time hagwon work: in the countries I would avoid, its too risky and smaller town attitudes come into play. In a mid sized city I once asked my Korean co-workers what the story was and they were strongly disapproving. In the largest cities like Pusan and Seoul your co-workers may even help you find privates or other extra work! Part-time work in Pusan usu runs at about 15-35000/h. Company classes generally run at 30-35000 in Pusan. During the summer hagwon work can drop as low as 15000 which just isn't worth it considering the travelling time and the extra risks you're taking considering its illegal nature. On average say 20-25000 fo hagwon work in Pusan. In Seoul the average is more like 35000 for hagwon work even in summer (seems to be lower in summer presumably because theres more recent grads on the scene). |
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(22) What Exactly Is A Release Letter? Its a letter from your boss that you need to obtain before you can legally change jobs in Korea. All it has to state is that your boss releases you from your contract on such and such a date so that you are free to sign another one. Make sure that the letter is stamped and preferably notarised. Actually different immigration branch offices have slightly different requirements about release letters. Some don't require it to be stamped. Others are very strict and require a phone call and/or fax from your boss to confirm the letter. If you're concerned you can ask at your local immigration office (best to take a Korean friend along to interpret) about what they require. Once you have obtained the release you're going to have to do a visa run to Japan to pick up your new work visa if you have already signed a new contract. If you havn't got a new contract you are given something like 5-7 days by immigration to leave Korea after terminating your contract. Then you can just come back on a tourist visa and look for another job | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(23) Whats The Story About Recruiters? Often people think recruiters are quite dodgy and they're right. Some of them are complete ripoff artists and are best avoided. Generally speaking the Korean ones tend to be less reputable (Lees ManPower is one that comes to mind) but remember that even the best of them have financial influences at work. They usu get around 1 mill won per full-time placement from the school, so you shouldn't pay anything. One area where these mercantile motives show up is that even the better ones have rather rosey homepages about Korea. Remember the adage "buyer beware". Their is an advantage with using recruiters and that is of course they help you find a job by increasing the number of job offers you will get. I've met directors who are completely internet illiterate and who had never heard of internet job sites like Daves Cafe and rely on recruiters.. The thing with recruiters really though is that people often take the wrong approach to recruiters, ie they treat them as sources of information. As noted above the information may be less than complete since they are not really there to serve you but rather to make money. So instead they should be only be used as sources of contacts if you want to avoid heartache. Everything important that they tell you should be verified esp by talking to the other foreign teachers already at the school. If you follow this idea you will be as safe as if you just dealt with hagwon owners directly. After all directors have just as much incentive to lie as recruiters. So in a simiiar fashion you have to verify everything important that hagwon directors say with the other foreign teachers already working there. In short its no more risky to usu a recruiter than not to use one. |
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(24) How Big A Percentage Of Hagwons Are Actually "Bad" And How Many Are "Decent"? Well it seems to have improved a lot in the last year (2000) or so. You hear teachers saying this year that finally they were "lucky" and found a good school after 3-4 years. This is often said by people who didn't do much moonlighting. However for those who do a lot of free lancing they have probably noticed that actually a lot of the eye-popping ripping off has decreased and things have improved generally. Salaries eg just keep rising and rising, at least in Won terms. What happened? Well this is just a theory but here goes: after the Asian crisis a hell lot of teachers left but the directors just kept on with their unscrupulous practices as usual. A common complaint at the time was of excessive overtime because of a lack of teachers and even sometimes without getting paid for it. Perhaps eventually they woke up to the fact that they might have to start treating the foreigners slightly better (but lets not go too far!) to keep them on. Then the economy picked up, which combined with the Crisis induced shortage of teachers pushed up the salaries. Hence both working conditions and salaries have improved. Does this explanation fully hold together? Perhaps not, but its the best I can do. However I think its true that things are better in terms of pay and honoring contracts. Just look at the history of the graylists. Things used to be worse. So returning to the original question and the current question it depends what you mean by "bad" and "decent". We are going to have to make a lot of estimates here as hard statistics are pretty hard to come by. The number of great places to work, defining "great" as where the person is having a ball is pretty small I think although a persons temperament is also an important factor in their happiness. The number that you would want to resign the contract for another year, is probably a very small percentage, perhaps less than 10%. How do I come to this conclusion? Well this ones not just based on my experience. Its based on the observation that very few people resign. Then I take into account that there are other reasons people might not want to resign like perhaps they just want to keep traveling and I come up with an estimate of under 10%. And what about the percentage that are bearable for year? Well lets say a lot less than 50%. Why? Well because most people don't actually complete their year contract for one reason or another. The average length of time people stay with one contract is probably less than six months! What about specific issues like cheating on taxes, illegal contract clauses, lying, substandard housing, not being able to freely get a Letter Of Release, unpaid severence, and finally getting screwed every which way? i) I'm not sure what the legal rate of tax is but I've seen rates vary from 3% to 15% (at Pagoda) for basically the same income level. Seven percent is average. Obviously they can't all be the correct rate. At the higher rates you could perhaps get a rebate if the director was amiable to the idea but not likely. ii) Illegal contract clauses are almost universal. They all have some illegal provision like illegal deductions for telephone, less than the legal 10 days vacation (in addition to the 12 or so statutory holidays), penalties for early cancellation of the contract etc. iii)Lying to some degree or the other is the norm. Just check with the foreign teachers and make sure its not excessive. iv) Substandard housing is normal. This just isn't as rich a country as Canada or even Australia/New Zealand. Still the majority of places should have things like a bed, hot water, kitchen facilities. v) Not being able to get a LOR is pretty common, I would guess over 50% of the time you have to threaten legal action, bribe them etc to get it. vi) Unpaid severence/airfare probably only applys in a minority of cases these days. vii) Being forced to do excessive amounts of over-time. This isn't nearly as common as it used to be following the Asian crisis when they had a severe teacher shortage. Now theres almost a surplus of teachers applying. Eg more and more places are going Nth American teachers only, whereas just recently (say at the start of 2000) there were hardly any places advertising with such restrictions. In Jan 2001 quite a few schools even ask for a TESOL cert which used to be unheard of. So maybe 10% of places might have a problem with over-time but bear in mind that it can be a subjective thing as to how much is too much. viii) Having money owed on wages applys only in a minority of cases these days. This doesn't count cheating over tax rates etc which is almost universal. ix) Other problems like threats, physical violence etc are fairly rare. x) So what about those hagwans whose mission seems to be to apply most of the above and f*ck you over a barrel? Based on my and others free lancing experience I would guesstimate that these days its down to about 1 in 7. |
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(25) If Koreas So Bad Why Go There At All? Basically theres two reasons: (a) they pay airfare etc so even those freshly graduated but DIRT POOR can make it over and (b) it actually has great money making potential. Lets look closer at the former and then we will touch on latter at the end. A lot of these people coming over are poor students with not much cash, plenty of debt, not much in the way of qualifications and little or no experience. So where do they go? Korea! Can't afford an air ticket? No problem we will pay for it or reimburse you. Need a fixed salary so you can make repayments on those student loans? No problem, even if the hours are down. Need an advance because you don't have enough money for the first month? Usu no problem. Don't have enough money to put a deposit down and pay the first months rent? No problem we will supply free housing. Only qualification you've got is some unrelated liberal arts degree? No problem as long as you can speak. Don't have any experience? No problem, you can get it here. These can be fairly common handicaps for fresh graduates. Now how many other countries are this accommodating? Basically none apart from Korea. Taiwan might come the closest. You don't need experience, a BA is sufficient and they may possibly pay for airfare but none of the other things typically apply. Want an advance on the first months pay? Can't afford the deposit on the apartment? Go home buddy. Of course there are exceptions now and again but I'm talking as a general rule. What about Japan? Few of these things will apply in Japan. The big three chain schools there like NOVA are an exception (they will set you up in an apartment etc) but theres a reason for that. They're complete sweatshops and will work you like a dog. They don't care if you quit in six months or whatever (as most do), some say they like it if you do, because theres always fresh new teachers waiting to take your place. So what about the rest of Asia? Forget it, you just can't make any money in countries like Thailand, Indonesia and in Hong Kong and Singapore you will need some real qualifications as well as experience. As for the rest of the world Europe requires at least a CELTA cert, usu at least a years experience and they may not even pay enough to pay off your student loans. In the Middle East you can still get some good well paying jobs (even through the average standard of living isn't that high anymore because of the rising population) but you will need good qualifications and lots of experience. So even people who are looking to work in Turkey or Japan or wherever often start with Korea to get some experience for their resume (Turkey) or some savings (you will usu need a few thousand dollars to get set up in Japan). So what is Korea? For people who don't want to stay it can be an ideal stepping stone to wherever you want to go that will equip you with the necessary money and experience to pursue your goals. And lastly, for those who can handle putting up with all the xenophobia etc, Korea is generally speaking the best place for saving money in the world for your average BA holder. Want to just work in the ESL scene for one or two years to get those student loans out of the way? Thats why people come to Korea. By "roughing" it (substandard housing etc) for a couple of years you can actually save money even if nominal salaries are lower here than what you would get paid eg teaching back home. Now Japan is still the best place to make money if you're working the top end of the market at a University or whatever but for the average worker (with just say a BA degree) in the ESL scene Korea is the most lucrative destination although Taiwan can pay even more at their top end (they have a much wider salary range but on average it generally works out to be less than Korea). See the link The Japan Myth for a deeper look at the comparative monetary motivation for working in Korea compared to Japan/Taiwan. |
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(26) How Does Korea Compare To Taiwan And Japan? Why are we comparing Korea to Taiwan/Japan? Because they are the only three countries (not counting HK and Singapore) in Asia you can save any real money. So which is the most popular destination with most teachers? Definitely Japan. Its the only first world country of the three and is the most advanced generally. Their supermarkets have the most variety of food, theres more to do there etc. However unless you work your arse off or you have good ESL qualifications you won't save much money there, its just way too expensive (see The Japan Myth for details). Still its worth checking out. Of the three countries its the only place I could contemplate spending a long time living in. So what about Taiwan? Generally teachers way prefer it to Korea although there are many advantages and disadvantages to each. If you look at the Korean Forum on Daves Cafe compared to the international forum you will see that Korea gets a hugh amount of complaints whereas Taiwan hardly gets any. Basically it all boils down to a certain attitute that many Koreans have which could be likened to a chip on their shoulder that Taiwanese people just don't have. Hence even through most Koreans are actually much friendlier than Taiwanese, people prefer to be in Taiwan where they don't get the same racism and abuse. So why don't people come to Taiwan instead of heading for Korea? Well as mentioned in the previous question theres good reasons why people go to Korea and that is because its the easiest place to save money for your average BA holder and even if you're typically a poor student thats no problem because they will pay for your airfare over and set you up in a free apartment etc. Your options will depend on your financial situation. |
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(27) When And How Can I Pursue Legal Action? Firstly you can check out an English version of the labor law on the ever helpful Pusan Web. Secondly lets distinguish between threatening to take your hagwon to court (including writing up legal letters etc) and actually going through with it. The first part is quite common and an often effective way of securing release letters etc. The actual going though with it I've never done but I gather its a long drawn, drawn out,expensive, painful, and often fruitless experience. Why? Long because the legal process can take months. Expensive because you have to cover your legal fees. Painful because of all the emotional pressure you will be under. Often fruitless apparently because even if you eventually win the compensation may not be much more than your legal fees and there have been reports that sometimes the compensation never even gets paid out. Why? Who knows, maybe they just get a blip on their credit rating, more likely they bribe the officials involved. Their are two main things that you might look at pursuing legal action over: getting a release letter and getting your money either from your salary or more commonly getting severance pay. Release letters are notoriously hard to obtain freely. Apparently theres some law whereby if you give two months written notice you're automatically entitled to it. Somebody successfully reported getting immigration to force their hagwon boss to give them the letter this way. Most contracts have a clause wherby if you give just like a months notice you can be released so theoretically this should suffice but I've never heard of immigration successfully coming down on a hagwon boss through this although it may have been done. Immigration tends to be a bit erratic though and its becoming more common for immigration to refuse to let you transfer jobs even with a release letter. Unless you bribe them that is. The other reason you might want to look at your legal options is for unpaid salary, severance pay, and/or airfare. To see how somebody successfully obtained their money go to this how to guide: How to Collect Severance Pay in South Korea. Note that you don't need to still be in Korea to pursue legal action although it helps a lot. Just remember not everyone was as successful as that teacher and try and eliminate all your other options first. Heres a list of lawyers and legal authorities you can go to for advice and action: Ministry Of Labor. Has a list of all the local branch phone numbers you can call. You will need a Korean friend to help. US Embassy. They have a long list of lawyers. Association of Foreign Workers Human Rights Ph: 02-7955504 Foreign Workers Legal Clinic Tel: 02-508-1745 Yoksam-Dong, Kangnam-Gu Monday-Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 9am-1pm Foreign Worker's Labor Counseling Office 3F, Jeo-Dong, 1 Ga 27-2, Jung-Gu, Seoul 100-031 Ph: 02 7792049 Sunday - Friday 1pm - 6pm Seoul Bar Association Foreign Workers Law Office Tel: 02-3476-8080 (extention 5) Near Socho Station (Green line -2) Exit 7 Mondays and Thursdays only. Bar Association Counseling Foreign Workers: Ph: 02 5210030 Friedrich, Ebert, Stiftung Ph: 02-745-2648 Fax: 02-745-6684 |
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