International students turn to extra jobs, illegal gigs to meet funding demands

K-campus

Published: 05 Mar. 2024, 17:46

International students turn to extra jobs, illegal gigs to meet funding demands

International students attend the "Study in Korea" education fair [SONG BONG-KEUN]

Universities are chasing after international students to make sure they meet the minimum bank balance requirements for student visas, with some financially struggling students prioritizing part-time jobs over studies and even dipping into illegal activities.

Pyeongtaek University's International Student Counseling Center contacts its 126 international students every week, double checking if the students have at least 10 million won ($7,490) in their bank accounts.

Meeting the minimum bank balance threshold is one of the student visa requirements, with students from countries such as Uzbekistan and Vietnam required to keep the money in their accounts for at least three months.

International students accepted to degree programs at a university in greater Seoul are required to show proof that they have at least 20 million won. Students enrolled in regional universities need 16 million won and language study students need 10 million won.

Tough punishments

Failure to meet the requirements and being caught by immigration can get their student visas canceled.

Making sure the students abide by the regulations is also an important factor for universities. Universities with an international student dropout rate that’s higher than 10 percent are prohibited from accepting international students for a year by the Ministry of Education.

Pyeongtaek University was one of the universities subject to the restriction, not being able to admit international students between 2021 and 2023. The restriction was lifted this year.

"Universities have no choice but to check and dismiss students who don't meet the minimum bank account balance requirement,” said a spokesperson for Sunchon National University. “There’s also cases in which those students just disappear and become illegal immigrants, and the university has to take on the consequences.”

According to the Ministry of Justice, 667 international students were caught by the immigration office for not meeting the minimum bank balance requirement or forging documents within the past five years. Among them, 68 had to leave Korea, with the rest facing lighter penalties such as fines.

The bank balance requirement was eased starting July last year, with universities now assessing it in won instead of dollars. For instance, students accepted to degree programs at a university in greater Seoul used to show proof they had $20,000 in their bank account, which required students to have a higher amount of 26.7 million won instead of the current 20 million won requirement.

High thresholds

But some say the requirement itself is one reason why some students are lured into the trap of becoming illegal immigrants.

Starting a new semester abroad isn't the most affordable experience, with many needing to use the large amount of money in their bank accounts.

"Students violate the bank balance requirement because they have to send money home because their father is sick or if their families need money to fix their house," said Jeon Jung-sook, a professor at Pyeongtaek University.

"There was a Vietnamese student studying international trade who had to send money home to pay for her sister's wedding, and she had to go back just two semesters before graduation because of that."

"That's something I still think of because the student tried hard for three years to get a degree in Korea, just to have years of hard work come to nothing," said Jeon.

Jeon also came from Vietnam to study in Korea, completing her bachelor's, master’s and doctorate at Pyeongtaek University. She acquired Korean nationality in 2006, and now works as a professor at her alma mater.

Hanshin University, forcing 22 Uzbek students to leave Korea in November last year, also stated the students had to leave because they didn't meet the minimum bank balance requirement for a long enough time.

Erkinjon Shokirov's wife, Odyinoy Shokirova, was one of the students that had to leave.

According to Erkinjon Shokirov, his wife initially had the required amount in her account, but thought it was ok to withdraw the money because she already paid a year's worth of tuition and dorm fees, which was around 10 million won.

More work, less study

Those who do need money, while not being backed by scholarships and other financial support, turn to part-time jobs.

Foreigners on the D-2 and D-4 student visa can legally work 20 to 30 hours a week depending on their degree program and Korean proficiency, although they need to get approval from the university and immigration office.

"I work at a gopchang [tripe] restaurant on weekday nights and at a convenience store on Sunday to pay for my tuition and living expenses," said Le Thi Thuy, a junior at Pyeongtaek University. "I heard I should never take out money from the account I use to prove my bank balance, so I don't touch that at all."

Tan Vu luong, a senior at the same university, also works part-time at a Korean BBQ restaurant and as an assistant at the university dorm.

There were 21,437 international students who were working part-time jobs after getting approval in 2023, according to the Justice Ministry. The figure is up 51.5 percent on year

Obstacles still exist, with language study students prohibited from working during the first six months they are in Korea.

International students are only allowed to work in certain sectors, such as translation, restaurants or tourist information centers. Working as a tutor or in the delivery sector is not allowed.

'The system is making them become illegal immigrants'

In need of money, some turn to illegal activities.

“I would work at restaurants during the semester, but also work at meat processing and bread-making factories during the vacation,” said a 27-year-old student who graduated from a vocational university in Jeonju, North Jeolla, wanting to only be identified as Luna, a pseudonym. “We technically can’t work at factories, but there’s a lot of struggling international students who secretly work there because they pay daily.”

“In Myanmar, civil servants get paid 300,000 to 500,000 kyat per month, which is around 200,000 to 300,000 won, but we can earn more than 2 million won a month if we work part-time here.”

There were 1,306 students who were caught by the immigration office for illegal employment practices in 2023, up 27.4 percent on year.

The problem doesn’t stop there. With students devoting most of their time to working part-time jobs and less on their studies, many fail to land a job in Korea and return to their home country after years spent studying in Korea.

According to the Education Ministry, 8.2 percent of the 27,321 international students who graduated from vocational universities and undergraduate and graduate degree programs in 2022 got jobs in Korea.

Another 11 percent pursued higher degree programs, while 28.6 percent went back to their home countries. The ministry wasn't able to discover the whereabouts of 52.2 percent of the students.

“There aren’t many career opportunities for international students even if they graduate from universities here, and the system is making them become illegal immigrants,” said Kim Do-gyun, former head of the Jeju immigration office.

Staying post-graduation

To prevent international students from falling into the loophole, the government once discussed offering the E-9 visa to international students who graduated from Korean universities.

“International students that graduated from a Korean university have a certain level of Korean proficiency and have experienced Korean culture for two to four years,” said a spokesperson for the Korea Immigration Service. “So we once discussed offering them a visa that allows them to do simple jobs after graduation, while helping them acquire visas that allow them to have professional jobs during that period.”

Another policy is the F-2-R regional specialized residency visa, which offers university graduates a five-year stay if they decide to live and work in areas designated by the government.

Although new visa policies are created, some say Korea needs to offer more promising opportunities.

“There is the need to amend our immigration policies so that international students can easily settle down in Korea after graduation. Encouraging international students to work illegal part-time jobs will ruin the reputation of Korea’s education,” said Lee Chang-won, a researcher at the Migration Research & Training Centre.

“But if we continue to use international students to just fill our short-term labor demand, studying in Korea could merely lead to temporary employment rather than offering a genuine educational opportunity.”

BY SON SUNG-BAE, LEE YOUNG-GEUN, LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]