Legal Immigrant and Illegal Immigrant in South Korea - Research Paper Example

Introduction Immigration has over a long period been a major dilemma especially for wealthy and developed countries such as US, Korea among others, as people from poor and underdeveloped countries seek to migrate in search of greener pastures. The US for example has been fighting illegal immigration especially by people from areas such as Mexico among others, necessitating for action through legislation of laws aimed at deporting these immigrants. Korea also has continued to experience an influx of legal and illegal immigrants over the last few years but this has constantly been due to the fact that citizens are refusing to take up manual jobs and instead, they look for office and other white collar jobs (Abella 18). This paper will discuss the status of both legal and illegal immigrants in South Korea. Legal and Illegal Immigrants in South Korea South Korea is deemed to be a homogenous country, meaning that foreigners are continuously tracked and their information stored for the purpose of preventing entry of immigrants without the knowledge of the authorities. This is as opposed to the US, which is a multiracial society, which is comprised of people of all origins such as African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, whites among others. It therefore becomes difficult in this country to know when and where to find illegal settlers due to the country’s richness in diversity and due to the possibility of these people passing off as legal Americans. In South Korea for example, as at the year 2003, there were approximately 400000 registered immigrants, who at that time constituted a significantly low percentage of approximately 1% of the country’s total population, which is approximately 48 million (Smith 11). However, the number of illegal immigrants in this country has been growing upwards as per 2002 reports, which indicated that the number had risen from approximately 100000 people in 1998 to approximately 290000 people in 2002. However, recent statistics indicate that foreign nationals in the country have increased significantly to approximately 1 million in the year 2007 (Smith 33). The influx of immigrants in South Korea has been due to lack of enough man power to work in industries that require manual laborers such as manufacturing, textile and construction industries, which are considered by local people as dirty, dangerous and demanding (Park 2004). As a result, the government allows local companies to outsource labor from other countries, mainly in South and Middle Asia. It is observable that most of the immigrants are from countries such as China, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Bangladesh among others (Park 2004). In order to be considered as a legal immigrant and to be allowed to work in the country, one has to register under temporary labor programs. However, these programs initially accommodated only those people with skills such as researchers, and language teachers among others, who were allowed to work for a specific period of time after which they had to go back to their countries. On the other hand, this scheme did not recognize unskilled immigrants and as a result, most of the immigrants came into the country holding tourist visas and found themselves jobs in the local industries through brokers after which they refused to leave even after their visas had expired. To solve this, the government initiated several other schemes in order to motivate illegal employees to register with the authorities after which they would be recognized as legal immigrants thereby protecting them from deportation. These schemes included; industrial trainee scheme, employment management scheme and the employment permit scheme (Park 2004). However, these schemes failed to reduce the rising number of illegal immigrants due to the fact that they only allowed these people to work in the country for a maximum of three years, after which they would have to return home for one year so that they can be readmitted. According to reports, these schemes are viewed to be oppressive as they also require these people to stick to one employer during their stay in the country. Employers therefore use this policy to make the lives of the immigrants difficult, by either withholding salaries, deducting heavy cuts from their salaries as well as collecting hefty amounts of cash by brokers in the recruitment agencies, who assist legal immigrants to acquire employment (Abella 32). How Illegal Workers Suffer in South Korea It is true to say that people migrate to foreign countries probably due to lack of employment in their home countries and the perception most people have that working abroad will enable them earn enough money to sustain their poor families. This is why most people migrating to countries such as South Korea will do everything they can to avoid returning to their homes. In the end, they end up becoming illegal immigrants working illegally for companies that are out to employ people who are willing to provide cheap labor (Bohning 16). In South Korea for example, illegal workers are known to be subjected to what can be perceived as human rights abuse. This is due to the fact that most of them are subjected to working conditions similar or even worse than those of the legal citizens but with a much lower pay. They work for long hours without compensation in form of overtime but due to the fact that they cannot report to the authorities due to the fear of being arrested and deported, they continue to suffer in the hands of their employers. It is estimated that these and legal immigrant employees earn approximately 60% of what other Korean employees are paid and to make the matters worse, this money is paid at the employer’s convenience (Bohning 22). This means that one cannot plan his or her budget accordingly and if he or she gets tired of living in the country, it becomes difficult to afford air ticket to return back home. Under such conditions, their travel to work in this country becomes pointless as they cannot even sustain themselves if they decide to deduct some money from the meager salaries so as to send it to their families. Instead, their families end up becoming more poor than when these people would have stayed with them as they could have found something better to do in their countries where their rights would not be denied (Johnson 54). In case one takes the challenge of reporting this to the authorities, the chances of being mistreated become a real threat to them. The Korean authorities are reported to be so much unfriendly to immigrants regardless of their legal status such that they will publish job opportunities in the print media with the intention of trapping these people. Reports from victims of these cunning immigration officers testify that the authorities are so hostile towards them such that they inflict pain and physical torture by restraining them with devices such as handcuffs as well as treating them as criminals even though more than 50% of the people sampled had never involved themselves in any form of crime (Smith 61). Female detainees suffer humiliation and sexual abuse in these detention centers after they are arrested and the major problem is that they cannot defend themselves due to the fact that they are in a foreign land where there is no family to look out to for help and legal assistance (Abella 66). This also happens in the work place, whereby illegal workers have to endure pain and suffering in order to please their employers so that they can prolong their contracts. Some of these employers confiscate travel and identification documents from their employees so as to make them their slaves (Smith 36). As it is known, slaves are subject to their overseer and as such, they are required to do everything they are told without questioning their orders. Without identification documents, it becomes impossible for a person to emancipate himself from such atrocities inflicted on them by their employers, especially domestic workers, who are made to live like prisoners in the homes of their masters. Several people especially house girls have been reported dead as a result of injuries sustained from physical abuse by their masters and to make matters worse, no legal action is ever taken against the offenders (Johnson 100). It is for these reasons that people are constantly advised against travelling to countries such as Korea and others in search of employment especially if they are promised beautiful remuneration as this will always end up being tragic or in the least, disappointing. They should take up the responsibility of conducting sufficient research on their destination countries before embarking on travelling. As earlier stated, these immigrants are not allowed to work in the main sectors of economy, which require skilled labor especially due to the fact that native Koreans have already filled those vacancies as that is the kind of jobs which they participate in. As such, the dirty and dangerous jobs are the ones which accommodate immigrants. Construction for example is one of the major categories of dangerous work which employs these illegal immigrants (Bohning 58). As it is widely acknowledged, people working in these industries are prone to fatal accidents arising from cases such as falling from heights, malfunctioning of machinery and equipment which may injure the employees, falling objects such as stones, metal or even being injured as a result of accidents arising from human error and judgment. As a result, these companies are required by law to provide their employees with medical and insurance cover so as to enable them be compensated in case they suffer injuries while at work. However, it is observable that South Korean industries do not provide these covers to immigrants as they do to their own nationalities due to the fact that immigrants are viewed as people who are inferior and thus do not require humane treatment. Due to this, it is possible to find illegal immigrants, especially since they cannot claim benefits through the legal systems in place, dying from injuries or even becoming crippled after suffering fatal accidents. If this happens, it is highly probable that their families back home would never come to know of what happened to their loved ones as they would not have anyone to inform them on what happened to them. The companies that employ them consider this as a liability, which they will always disassociate themselves with (Bohning 71). Differences and Similarities between Immigration Systems in U.S and South Korea The immigration requirements for persons intending to relocate to America and South Korea exhibit various similarities and differences. For example, a person may gain citizenship in both countries by either marrying a person who is a citizen in the countries or having one parent who is a citizen. This process is known as naturalization and in a country such as South Korea; it has facilitated the immigration of a significant number of foreigners. In the year 2003 for example, it is estimated that approximately 6000 people were admitted into the country after having married a person who is a citizen (Smith 62). Most notable is the fact that most of the immigrants who benefited from this policy are women of Vietnamese and Chinese origins, who marry Korean men. On the other hand, a similar number of people have also acquired Korean citizenship as a result of having a parent of Korean origin. The same year recorded a significantly high number of approximately 1500 foreigners most of whom were children sired by people of Korean origin, who migrated to countries such as China and Japan in the colonial period (Smith 78). However, a person desiring to become a South Korean by the virtue of this principle must be capable of proving his or her ties with the Korean blood. This is as opposed to the US, which generally accepts children even those who are adopted as long as the adoption has been finalized. Similarly, it is possible to acquire citizenship in both countries by proving that you have the desire and the will to comply and maintain cultural and nationalistic values either of the US or South Koreas (Johnson 70). In light of this, one is required to have stayed in the countries for 5 years and above and with no criminal records. Also, one is supposed to undertake a test on language proficiency and wide knowledge of cultural and historical aspects of the country one is intending to relocate to, and which must be passed. In the US for example, one is required to show excellent knowledge on English i.e. reading, writing and speaking in English while in South Korea, one must be able to read, write and speak in Korean and English, which are the major languages used to communicate. However, it is observable that becoming a US citizen is much easier than in South Korea based on the fact that there are more means to achieve it. For example, a person residing in the US may have the opportunity to serve the US military and when he or she does this, he gains an advantage over other non-American citizens wishing to acquire US citizenship. Indeed, such a person may claim citizenship after serving in the military for a short time of approximately 90 days while civilians must fulfill the 5 year stay in the country (Johnson 210). This principle is seen by many as a way of rewarding people for their courage to fight for a country that is not theirs. In fact, this gesture may be extended to other close family members if the authorities deem it necessary. Similarly, if a person is sure that he is able to invest in a business that is capable of employing 10 US citizens and above in areas with low employment rates, he is easily awarded permanent resident status. It is estimated that the investment should range from $500000 to $1m, which is not a common practice in the South Korea (Johnson 221). Conclusion The immigrants in South Korea have been facing a lot of challenges due to poor formulation of policies to govern and protect their rights. The employment permit systems have created loopholes for private companies to acquire services of illegal immigrants, who overstay the time limited by their visas as the EPS requires one to go home for at least 1 year after working for 3 years in the country, which does not go well with immigrants. The systems also motivate brokers to extort money from immigrants, for the sake of renewing their working permits and this has contributed highly to the deterioration of the immigrants’ economic status, forcing them to opt to working and living in the country illegally, which also brings more problems and oppression by those companies that accept to offer them employment. The government should relax its harsh policies towards immigration or else advise its people to change their attitude towards manual jobs, so that they can grow their economy without necessarily having to allow immigrants in the country altogether. Works Cited 1. Abella, Manolo. Foreign Worker Issues in Korea. Mimeo, 2002 2. Bohning Rodger. Undesired Jobs and What One Can Do to Fill Them: The Case of the Republic of Korea, Mimeo, 2000 3. Johnson, June. Global Issues, Local Arguments: Readings for Writing, Longman, 2009 4. Park, Young-bum. South Korea: Balancing Labor Demand with Strict Controls. December 2004. Hansung University. 6 December 2010. 5. Smith, Marian. Korean Immigration, Mason Crest Publishers, 2003 Read More