Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
With the exception of residency visas, which allow the holders to seek jobs and hop from
employer to employer freely, most visas in South Korea are tied to a specific employer and
have to be renewed each year. Moonlighting for other employers is not generally permitted,
but more than a few people do it anyway.
In the event that you do decide to change jobs in South Korea, you'll need a letter ac-
knowledging and accepting your resignation from your original employer (your new bosses
may be able to help you get this) and for your new paymasters to apply for another visa on
your behalf, at which point the old one will be canceled and a new one will replace it. This
sometimes involves a trip to a Korean consulate abroad to secure the new visa there. If you
resign from a position, your employer will usually cancel your visa, and you'll have only a
couple of weeks to leave the country.
Foreign workers are entitled to the same rights and protections as their South Korean coun-
terparts, which should be outlined in any contract with an employer. These include mater-
nity leave (90 days), child-rearing leave (30 days), and severance pay of about one month's
salary for every year worked, issued on leaving the company. The law also stipulates that an
employee should be paid at least once a month without fail and that employers must enroll
their workers in the national pension, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and in-
dustrial accident schemes, the costs of which are shared by both parties. Taxes should also
be deducted from your pay packet on a monthly basis, and a tax return filed around the be-
ginning of each year.
Any problems with overdue wages, wrongful dismissal, or simple questions can be dir-
ected to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which runs hotlines in English and several
other major languages, or the Seoul Bar Association, which provides free legal consultation
for foreign workers and can also assist with action if needed.
Workplace discrimination is an issue that South Korea has yet to tackle as zealously
as other countries, though some change is afoot—age discrimination in hiring has been
banned, for example, though enforcement is another matter. In cases of serious discrimina-
tion or harassment, the National Human Rights Commission is generally viewed as the best
agency to contact.
