Advice...

Posted: 2005/02/04  By: S.T.P. (Views:2521)

I talked to a few people re your friends dilemma and surprisingly, one thing that came out was
that to a great extent, it depends on which imm' office your friend goes to, to be
harassed/interrogated. The second thing is that there's a fishy pattern involving imm' that
your friend needs to look at SERIOUSLY.

The interview itself...

Personally I think your friend should take her passport because it has the other differing
kinds of visas which show a commitment to Korea as opposed to a selfish Canadian that's here to
quickly make and take money out of Korea. In doing this and proving that shes been farmed out
via head office, the burden of guilt shifts from your friend.

In saying that though, there's a few things to remember- she can't let imm' take her passport
because it's not hers to let imm take- if your friend gets the infamous grouchy senior imm'
officer at Mokdong (that hates foreigners) your friend should call her embassy right away to
correct any illegal actions and strongly suggest to her ambassador that the offensive
immigration official in Mokdong should be mentioned to the Blue House. His actions are illegal
if there's something suspicious about the `documentation' issued with a `fine' or, if imm'
witholds (confiscates) a passport.

Secondly, your friend needs to question why imm' suddenly showed up at that branch on that
day?? Is there a chance that imm' were mysteriously informed in order to coerce your friend to
either stay or pay a huge fine that sucks back all wages earnt??

Immigration do that a lot...well they did until the Korean Human Rights Commission came into
being.

Your friend needs to stand back and think about this from outside of the pressure cooker that
imm has created here. If your friend smells a rat, then your friend needs to jump on a plane
and do a day trip to Japan; come back with a tourist visa and show up for the scheduled
interview, free of any `ownership'.

If your friend can get documentation from head office of the chain that your friend was just
being farmed out at their beckoning, then the crime falls on the main centres head, and not
your friends. If the main centre wont issue this, find out or discern why that is exactly.

I sense your friend is being played like a disposable pawn in a game of financial chess.
There's a smell of colusion and manipulation here...this has come about right when your friend
has indicated a desire to leave; why is that?

If your friend gets stuck with a hefty fine that `must be paid' by your friend alone,

she needs to recognize that this is game played by imm' and the employee to scam

"illegaly" earned money from her.

If it comes down to that, that's what the new Human Rights Comission (next door to the U.N.
HR Comm' nearby city hall) was created for.

Immigration absolutely hate the Human Rights Commision

P.S. If your friend is fined, try to ascertain the reasoning behind it- there's a claim that
"imm' go after privateers in hokwons because the hokwons with freelancers

can undercut the overheads of hokwons that provide real housing etc"  

In this case though your friend is being farmed out from main office...does that give the
hokwon a financial advantage over its fellow franchises? Or an advantage over other hokwons in
the neighborhood perhaps??

look at the angles subjectively