i agree with all the comments except the implication that foreigners are supposed to put up with abuse simply because they are foreign. if he was abused by his employer then the employer is indeed a scumbag.

> "Basically what I'm asking is what happens if you find out that
> your employer is a scumbag and you want out? What are your options
> then?"

> Reply: If you find out after you took a job that your Korean employer
> is a scumbag, then the scumbag is you for not talking to other esl
> teachers working at the school before you took the job and make sure
> that the school was good.

> Anyway, I suggest you China, they only check criminal backgrounds and
> no previous schools problems as I know. Japan and Korea share info
> about teachers if requested, mostly the ones deported.

> I really hope that you realize that you are in somebody else country
> before you call locals scumbags. Bad start.

> Good luck.
> PS: no offense to you with my english grammar, english is just my
> second language.

My best feedback to you: Take the first plane out of Korea. if you cant afford the ticket, then ask your embassy for assistance or beg Korean customs to deport you. I hope you appreciate my help and hope other teachers here wake up and help to clean this situation. I'm tired of living and seen like a second class worker, all because teachers in these forums supporting bad teachers. Enough said.

Thomas
ESL teacher happily married with kids to a Korean woman and new school co-owner

Good point Hangul,

I want to add that jobs in Korea that look too good to be true e.g. 2.5 million won, one late afternoon shift, 5 days a week, middle of Seoul, single apt, etc...., most of the time are just a bait from low-life English language centers to attract naive teachers.

My 2 cents:

* Beware of schools hiring directly without a recruiter in between. Most schools are too busy (if they are making wons) to spend much time screening and hiring teachers. The reasons some schools do this is 1) because they don't have $ to pay the recruiter and 2) because recruiters know them as a non-reliable school (if the teacher goes to a bad school and quits, then the recruiter does not make any $. Most schools now ask between 3 to 6 months of money back from recruiters in case the teachers quit or are fired. In other countries like Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, the money back from the recruiter to the school is sometimes a full year).

* Follow the advice of Hangul and talk ON THE PHONE with other ESL teachers at the school before you sign or agree to any contract. Try to talk to more than one ESL teacher. Scumbag directors are scumbags all the time and everywhere, so the other teachers at the school will know this.

* Try not to get jobs while you are in Korea where you have to work in more than one different school.

* Be careful when any school tries to fly you in quickly to Korea without the E2 visa procedure, promising a Japan visa run after. Most of the time there is no E2 visa at all during your contract with the school.

* If you have the bad luck to be working in a bad school, that threatens you with a breach of contract case if you quit, be diplomatic instead of fighting legally (you will lose anyway). If the school owes you money, then settle for a good letter of realease and reference and FORGET about the money. It would cost you more money being without a job or working illegally because of the breach of contract case. Do not help the school to get a replacement teacher: you don't want another ESL teacher to go through the same bad esperience you had.

* Try always to make around the same salary than the other ESL teachers at your school. If you make alot more than the others, your chances of problems with the school and the other ESL teachers will increase (source of most of problems and physical fights).

* If you are already in Korea, be aware that you don't have much of an advantage over other teachers in Canada and elsewhere who never went to Korea. Good schools often ask for teachers abroad; they prefer newcomers to teachers that have already been teaching in Korea.

* Listen to your ESL teachers friends for advice, but follow your own instint and heart choosing the right job. This point is important because the more you wait for a "golden job" to appear, the more money you lose.

* If you have a MA, lots of experience etc. do no look at other esl teachers as inferior; you are just the same: a temporary worker.

* Open your mind and look at other places than central Seoul close to the other ESL teacher's gangs and the bars. Try other cities and towns in Korea. Always go to work where YOU ARE WANTED, even if that is any of the towns of the south where there are no ESL teachers.

* Looking for an ESL teaching job in Korea is a FULL TIME JOB, so please don't sit waiting for an email or phone call from a recruiter or school. You have to GET IT, contact as many schools and recruiters you can.

* Happy teachers in Korea are not always the best paid, but the ones that are in good schools.

Best to you all.

Im an American working in South Korea. Ive got some problems with my employer, and Im thinking about going elsewhere. I just want to understand my options. In South Korea you get a work visa that lasts 1 year. One of the things that really irks me about South Korea is that if you want to quit your job and get another in SK, then you have to get a letter of release from your 1st employer in order to work legally or you have to leave the country and wait until your 1-year work visa expires before you can reenter. Well, as Im sure you can imagine, there are a lot of employers that dont provide these letters of releases like they should, so the teacher either has to put up with his employers b.s., try to fight the system legally, which is often futile, or pack his bags and leave the country. Is a letter of release required to change jobs in the following countries? Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Turkey, Indonesia, UAE, Oman, other countries in the Middle East, and Germany? Can a teacher just quit a bad employer and start working for a better one? Do you have to leave the country? Basically what I'm asking is what happens if you find out that your employer is a scumbag and you want out? What are your options then?

Also, how common is it to work in these places illegally? How much do you get fined if you get caught working illegally? How long do they prohibit you from reentering the country if you get caught working illegally? Thanks in advance for the help.

P.S. I realize no one will have info on all of these countries. Just post about where you know about. Thanks again.