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
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
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
