Immigration bust of the week

Our Bust of the Week award goes to the hardworking men and women of the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency in Suwon, who rustled up nearly 50 illegal teachers. Prize catches include a Columbian, a Panamanian, and one particularly enterprising Bulgarian.

Stories like this give us a peek into ESL trends. Looks like the market is white hot, if some schools are even taking chances on South Americans. Of the 40+ busts, half were from English-speaking nations but the largest demographic was 17 Chinese teachers, perhaps confirming reports that Immi is targeting them.

This report comes to you from the Hankyoreh, who did our translation work for us.

A 38-year-old Bulgarian who came to South Korea on a tourist visa in July 2001 found he was treated special here, at least compared to other illegal aliens, especially those from Southeast Asian countries, who have to work for lower wages and live on the run from the law.

The Bulgarian was hired as a “native lecturer” at a foreign language school in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, and earned about 2 million won (US$2,160) a month. He lacked formal qualifications and came from a non-English speaking country, but he got his teaching job because he can speak some broken English and is white.

Two other foreigners - a 27-year old from Columbia and a 32-year-old from Panama- were also hired as as English teachers for the same reasons, though they are illegal immigrant workers.

Illegal aliens who have found teaching jobs in the greater Seoul region sometimes pay 25 to 30 percent of their income to the middlemen who find them their jobs, in order to stay relatively “safe” from legal authorities. Some are caught, of course, and deported to their respective countries. On May 9, the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency (GPPA) said it found 46 illegal immigrant workers who were teaching illegally at foreign language–including English and Mandarin Chinese–institutes on tourist visas. In addition, police arrested 56 South Koreans, who hired the foreigners or found them their jobs, on charges of violating immigration-related laws.

The foreigners were able to hide their lack of English skills by teaching just the alphabet or counting numbers for children in kindergarten-level classes, police said.

Kim Su-gwang, head of the police agency’s investigation for foreign crimes, said, “Those foreigners came here after watching Internet ads luring them with money and tourist opportunities in exchange for language skills.”

“The case shows you a lot about South Korean English education,” Kim said.

Of the foreign language teachers arrested in the latest roundup, there were 17 Chinese, 10 Canadians, 7 Americans, 4 New Zealanders and 8 foreigners from non-english speaking countries.