Severance, Exit allowance, Pension and Moving On

It's that time of year, folks. After two years in EPIK, it's time to pass GO, collect $200 and keep on going.

The DMOE sent out the following email which caused much a-fluttering:

Hi - 

If you are receiving this email, you have requested copies of the documents that are necessary to continue employment in Korea after your current contract with the DMOE has ended, or have indicated that you have secured employment elsewhere in Korea through communication with the coordinator's office. As you are probably well aware, we are not permitted to distribute the exit allowance to those NET's that continue employment in Korea after the end of their contracts, whether it be at another MOE or POE, a private institution, or university (article 11, clause 4). Essentially, if you are changing your visa while staying in Korea to reflect new employment, then you are not eligible to receive the exit allowance. At this point, we have asked our financial officer to withhold sending the total amount to your school until you are able to submit substantiating evidence that you will be leaving the country. You will need to submit a copy of an itinerary or plane ticket in your name that shows the date of departure as anytime after the end of your contract (or before, if you are using vacation days to leave early). You may feel free contact us individually if you feel you have a special circumstance that does not allow you to submit said documentation. 

Please understand that this is an incredibly difficult rule to enforce on our end. While we are well aware that merely requesting copies of documents doesn't automatically mean that you will be securing employment, it is the only objective method that we can use in order to enforce this particular rule in the contract. We would appreciate your cooperation in order to give you the allowance if eligible. 

Thanks,

DMOE Coordinators.

TL;DR:

1. If you are leaving the country, you get the $1300 exit allowance. If you're transferring your visa to another employer, you don't.

2. To get your $1300 (if you're eligible), send them the receipt of a ticket (plane, ferry, tuktuk, whatever) in your name, leaving the country. 

I took a closer look at our contracts and the above is in there, so there's not really any way around it. 

However, I also found this:

3. Everyone, regardless of what you're doing next, who is ending their EPIK contract, is eligible for severance pay. 

From the DMOE:

Information regarding the severance pay went out in the "end of contract details" email that we sent out when you renounced your renewal contract. I will provide you with the link again. Severance pay is roughly equivalent to 1 month's worth of salary for every year that you have completed. Note that the entire sum is taxed. Your admin office may be able to give you the exact sum total. I might suggest that you ask for a breakdown of your last payments for your records.

So let's break that down. On payday, February 25th (more or less), you should receive the following:

1. February 2015's paycheck (according to the pay scale, your usual amount).
2.1 month's salary (of the amount you were paid in your FINAL year) for each year of your previous consecutive EPIK contracts. (e.g. 2013 + 2014 = 2 months worth of 2014 paychecks)
3. (- taxes)

If you have not yet received your renewal bonus for re-signing for 2014, you should definitely remind your school about that and receive that too. 

As far as I can tell, renewal bonus and severance are NOT the same thing. If your school carried over your renewal bonus to pay it with your severance, it should NOT be deducted from your severance.

So, if you're leaving Korea, your paycheck for February should be about $5000-8000 (depending on your pay scale level and how much taxes are). If you're staying but moving to another job (not EPIK) it should be about $4000-6000. If you're moving to another POE/MOE, you should receive $4000 ~ 6000 + $300 (settlement bonus) from the new POE/MOE. 

On top of that, Australians, Canadians and Americans are eligible for a full refund of their pension payments as follows:

You have been contributing 50% to your pension fund, while the DMOE has been matching that and paying 50% as well up until now. You will be eligible to get a 100% refund ONLY if you are from Australia, Canada or U.S.A., according to the national treaties. You must physically go to the National Pension Office in person, up to one month prior to your departure from the country to request your refund. After the last day of your contract, your school will report the termination of your contract to the pension office. After the school's report and the Immigration Service's confirmation on your departure are complete, your application for the refund will be processed. Please refer to the website for the National Pension Corporation for detailed information about the Pension Plan and the application process for your refund (http://www.nps.or.kr - English website available). Also, a telephone consultation service is available at 02-2176-8702.

*Please note: while you can physically submit your application for renewal up to one month prior, your refund request can only be processed starting the day after your contract ends, and it usually takes about one to one and a half months after your departure has been confirmed by the Immigration Office for the funds to be deposited into your account.*

Required Documents
Passport
Alien Registration Card
Flight Ticket (departure date must be indicated) - flight confirmation/itinerary printed from the internet is acceptable.
Bank Account Number (domestic or international - international may require your bank's swift code)

*Please note: The DMOE does not provide pension payments. Your payments will come from the National Pension Office.*

You lucky bastards. 



I hope this is clear... If not, please go ahead and spam the coordinators' inboxes.

Getting a phone and a bank account without your co-teacher, in Daegu

As I've said before, my co-teacher is ridiculously busy. I also may have mentioned how expensive that first week in Seoul was, and how I brought enough money to last a month but didn't really count the weeks properly, or factor in the expense of a week-long party. 

Anyway, last week I found myself down to my last ₩50 000 and the lack of a phone on top of that was making it very hard to coordinate with my friends, and co-teacher. As it stood, I would send her an email and then hope that she would check it and reply, and then I'd have to be home and near my laptop to see it... Eh. Not great.

On top of that, being that broke meant that I was avoiding spending money like the plague. Taking the bus downtown? Oh, don't mind me. I'll walk. It's only a 40 or so minute walk, after all. I even figured out how to get free food 7 days a week: 

Monday - Friday: Eat in the school cafeteria. Eat a lot. Eat until you're stuffed. At least you won't have to have dinner. Make sure to store all the free cake and treats you get in your school. 
Saturday: Eat your week's stash of freebies. 
Sunday: Not religious? Who cares? Go to church. They serve a full lunch, such as Bulgogi. 

Cake and a Ferrero Rocher? Breakfast of champions. The best free staffroom food so far has been a burger and a coke.

Alternatively, make friends with a co-worker and let them treat you to a five course meal.

So, walking everywhere and eating for free, and trying not to spend all my money on beer, I've been able to stretch out that last ₩50 000 and live quite comfortably. But I want a bicycle, and I needed a bank account before payday, and, well, there's a reason EVERYONE has cellphones these days. They're quite handy. 

My co-teacher had tried to take me to the bank, but they wouldn't accept my ARC certificate of application, even though they were supposed to. They said they wouldn't accept it without picture ID, and my co-teacher took that as a flat-out no. I wasn't so sure, but I didn't want to be with Daegu Bank anyway, because I want to travel all over Korea and having an account with a national bank is a bit more convenient. Also, I had heard about all the perks foreigners get with KEB, like the cheap rates for sending cash home, and I have a big loan to pay off. Not to mention online banking in English. 

So I took a walk to the nearest branch of KEB during my lunch period. It was a 20 minute walk. It looked much closer on the map. Whoops. I got there, and the very nice clerk told me that they couldn't do anything without TWO forms of picture ID as well as my ARC, and all I had was my passport. So, not one to give up, especially after teaching a week of "Never Give Up", I took a cab home, fetched my South African ID, took a cab back, and got a bank account. 

Except they couldn't give me a card or online banking until my ARC arrived. Well, I was willing to wait for that. At least with a bank book I could get a phone.

How to get a smartphone in Daegu, without a co-teacher

1. Email Eliza at auikorea (at) gmail (dot) com. She speaks fluent English and she will save your life. Ask her for any information you want, and set up an appointment. My lovely friend Rene had heard about her on an online forum, and she'd gotten several phones from Eliza. 
2. Make sure you have a bank account. Even if you don't have a card yet, or any money in it, you just need an account number and your bank book. 
3. Visit Eliza (near Kyungpook University Hospital) at this building.

It's on Google Maps.

Stuff you should take with you:

ARC card or certificate
Passport
ID
Bank Book
Some money (About ₩60 000 , although you probably won't have to pay anything).
A book to read, or something to keep you busy. It takes her a while to set everything up. 

4. Once you're inside the building, head to the right, to the elevators. Take one of the three elevators on your right. The ones on the left don't go to the 10th floor, which is where you're going. 

5. Step out of the elevators and go into this office:

It looks like this inside: 

Have a seat, chat to Eliza, and drink some tea while she sets everything up for you. 

She'll lead you from there, and then, you can enjoy your shiny new smartphone. I got an amazing discount, and my monthly bill is about ₩55 000, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than you would pay for a Samsung Galaxy S3 in most other places. Eliza gives you the discount, and she also throws in a bunch of freebies. She's lovely.

You have to sign a 24 month contract, but if you're only planning to stay for one year then contact her before you leave so she can organise to transfer your contract to someone else, so she doesn't lose money and you don't have to pay a huge fine for ditching your contract. Basically, don't screw her over.

No queues. No upfront fees. No language barrier. This was the best thing ever, and I could never have done it without my friend Rene's help.

My phone once belonged to Edward Cullen. 

Now that I have my phone, I took lunch today to go back to the bank and update them on the existence of my ARC card (it arrived on Monday) and my phone number, without which my dad couldn't send me money. I got back to the office and set up online banking, at which point I discovered...

I have been paid early! I gave my bank book to the admin wizards the day I got it, and they made a copy and put it on file, and paid my settlement money sometime between then and now. So this whole week, I've been living on free staff room dduk, when I could have been eating steak every night. It's like the worst episode of Secret Millionaire ever. 

I could have been using that money to fill out my pants

Just in time, my bills have arrived, so there goes a chunk of my money already. Except, it's Korea. So my bills are only $7 and $30 each, for electricity and gas. And that's ridiculously cheap, when you're a millionaire. So I don't mind. 

Applying for the visa

My contract arrived this morning, during my mom's birthday lunch. As soon as we got home, I downloaded and filled in every remaining form that I need to fill out, including the SARS stuff for the tax exempt status.

Now it just needs to be sent off. Hooray!

My recruiter provides a very helpful guide for filling in the visa form, although the section numbers don't quite correspond because they just released a new visa form. A skype call later, though, every tangle was sorted.

The Great Contract Debacle of 2013

My contract was apparently sent to me on Friday, and after being 'put in a bag' in Cape Town on Friday, the tracker has turned up no new info.

So I called the post office. I was put on hold briefly and passed along to another post-fairy, who gave me another number to call. That person gave me another number to call as well. The third number I called has apparently gone out to brunch or the beach and might be back later. Maybe.

I'm leaving the country in 2 days' time.

I think this might be the start of another debacle.

Once it does arrive, I'll have to sign it, throw in some other documents like my passport and a passport photo, courier it to Pretoria, wait for it to come back with a visa in it which will then be couriered to me at a small ski resort at the top of a mountain in France.

My nerves are completely shot.

Current count of people I have spoken to on the phone: 8

Finally spoke to a human being with some initiative who stood up and asked the guy who wasn't answering his bloody phone (21 attempts). My parcel is currently being processed by customs and should be delivered tomorrow morning. 

My contract is in the mail!

Come on, come on...

You've got 9 days left to get to me, before I go overseas and things get unnecessarily complicated.

Edit: Spoke to my recruiter last night and he is couriering it to me today, which means it should be here either tomorrow or on Monday. YAY!

Time to:
 - Download and fill out the residency form for SARS
 - Check that I have everything I need for the visa application
 - Complete the pre-orientation course. I'm find it repeats a lot that I did in Linguistics 1&2, PGCE and TEFL, so it's a bit of a pain, but I'll be done with the boring bits soon and can move on to the Korean culture, history and language bits, which I'm more interested in.
 - test-pack my luggage
 - Work on my basic Korean skills, which I've been slacking on a bit
 - Buy gifts for staff and students at the school

I'm also doing pretty well on my diet and exercise plan - only 2kg to go before I'm the weight I said I was on my application. Being over it is not an uncommon problem, but I've heard of people being sent home because they lied about their weight. I didn't have a scale, so I guessed, and was off by about 5kg. I am quite keen to get in shape, so this seemed like a good goal to start with. If you're interested in stalking my health kick, I'm sweatywaygook on Fitocracy. And that's all I'm going to say about that, in this blog. I might talk about keeping fit in Korea when I get there, but less about me, more about the facilities or things I try.