16
VISAPosted by Kofi 🇬🇭 Ghana · 1 month ago
What actually happens if you work without the permit?
not planning to, but i keep hearing people do it and nothing happens to them.
is that true or do people just not talk about the ones who got caught. what's the actual risk
is that true or do people just not talk about the ones who got caught. what's the actual risk
9 comments
OFFICIAL ANSWER
TaehyunALLO TEAM
Operations & Local Support · Seoul
Both things are true: most people do not get caught, and the ones who do face consequences serious enough that it is not a sensible bet.
What the actual risk is:
1. Fines. For the student, typically 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 won depending on how long and how much. For the employer, considerably more — which is why decent workplaces will not hire you without the permit in the first place.
2. Visa consequences. This is the real cost. Illegal employment goes on your immigration record. It can mean refusal of your next extension, cancellation of the current visa in serious cases, and a departure order. A record like that also affects future Korean visa applications — including if you later want to return for a degree or a job.
3. Entry bans. For repeat or larger-scale cases, bans of one to five years are applied.
How people get caught, in practice: labour inspections at the workplace (routine, not targeted at you), a tax or insurance filing that names you, a dispute with the employer where you have no legal standing, or an injury at work. The last one is the ugly case — with no permit you have no workplace insurance, no recourse, and reporting it exposes you.
And the quiet asymmetry: the person who worked illegally for eight months and was fine talks about it; the person who lost their extension does not post about it. Selection bias is doing a lot of work in what you have heard.
The permit itself is not hard. After six months, a confirmation letter from your school, an application at immigration, and you are legal — 20 hours a week during term, unlimited during vacation. The people risking their status are usually the ones who did not want to wait the six months.
Our team prepares the permit paperwork with our students when their six months are up, because the process is genuinely easy and the alternative is not worth it.
What the actual risk is:
1. Fines. For the student, typically 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 won depending on how long and how much. For the employer, considerably more — which is why decent workplaces will not hire you without the permit in the first place.
2. Visa consequences. This is the real cost. Illegal employment goes on your immigration record. It can mean refusal of your next extension, cancellation of the current visa in serious cases, and a departure order. A record like that also affects future Korean visa applications — including if you later want to return for a degree or a job.
3. Entry bans. For repeat or larger-scale cases, bans of one to five years are applied.
How people get caught, in practice: labour inspections at the workplace (routine, not targeted at you), a tax or insurance filing that names you, a dispute with the employer where you have no legal standing, or an injury at work. The last one is the ugly case — with no permit you have no workplace insurance, no recourse, and reporting it exposes you.
And the quiet asymmetry: the person who worked illegally for eight months and was fine talks about it; the person who lost their extension does not post about it. Selection bias is doing a lot of work in what you have heard.
The permit itself is not hard. After six months, a confirmation letter from your school, an application at immigration, and you are legal — 20 hours a week during term, unlimited during vacation. The people risking their status are usually the ones who did not want to wait the six months.
Our team prepares the permit paperwork with our students when their six months are up, because the process is genuinely easy and the alternative is not worth it.
Was this helpful?Updated 1 month ago
9 comments
Sign in to join the conversation.
You can still post anonymously after signing in.worked illegally for 4 months, nothing happened. then a friend got caught in a labour inspection at a restaurant he'd worked at for 3 weeks. 1.5m fine and his extension got refused. it's a lottery, not a safe bet
27
the inspections aren't looking for you specifically. that's the point. you can be careful and still be there on the wrong day
9
that's the honest version i was looking for. thank you
8
the employer gets fined much harder than you do. that's why anywhere decent asks for the permit. if a place doesn't ask, ask yourself why
18
and if they're happy to break that law they'll happily not pay you either. no recourse without a permit
7
injury at work with no permit is the nightmare scenario. no insurance, and reporting it exposes you. nobody thinks about this until it happens
13
the permit takes one visit and a letter from your school. people risk their whole visa to skip a six month wait and it's just not rational
11
the six months is the annoying part, not the paperwork. but it's six months
5
survivorship bias is the whole thread. people who got away with it post, people who lost their visa went home quietly
8
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