Do I have to have a bank account to get paid by my PS?

[hchong1]

Hello everyone. I flew into Korea on the night of the 26th of February and am living in Beop-won, Paju-si (VERY rural area). A few days ago, I finally figured out how to get to Immigration and applied to switch my E2 Visa to an F4. I was told to come back on March 20th to get the F4. So I have two questions:

1.) When I come back on March 20th to get my F4, do I have to apply again for my ARC, which would have me coming back another 3 weeks later after March 20?

2.) Without my ARC, I cannot open up a bank account. So does that mean I do not get paid until I get my bank account? I am still awaiting my 300,000 won settlement and airfare refund, which would be nice to have rather soon, since I am fast running out of moolah.

I am just worried that I have to go a month and a half without an ARC and getting paid.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Deesh]

Hi, I'm not sure about your first question, but most PS contracts state the 300,000 and airfare reimbursement should be paid within 1 month. Check your contract but I suspect that even if you don't have a bank account within a month, your school still have to give you the money. A similar situation occurred with my first PS and my school gave it all to me in cash.

[bobrocket]

When I opened my account I didn't have an ARC, I just used my passport for I.D.
Who said you can't open an account?
I had issues setting up payments because they didn't have my ARC on file but all I had to do was take it in after I got it back

[glb0b]

It depends on your school as to whether you can get paid before having your ARC. I had a bank account but couldn't get paid until they had my ARC. Other people I know got paid before having their ARC but they had a bank account.

[plchron]

If you are public school than you can open a bank account with only your passport and get paid. Same with Hagwons, but they make up random 'rules' just for the hell of it or because they don't know any better.

[Davey]

Hello everyone. I flew into Korea on the night of the 26th of February and am living in Beop-won, Paju-si (VERY rural area). A few days ago, I finally figured out how to get to Immigration and applied to switch my E2 Visa to an F4. I was told to come back on March 20th to get the F4. So I have two questions:

1.) When I come back on March 20th to get my F4, do I have to apply again for my ARC, which would have me coming back another 3 weeks later after March 20?

2.) Without my ARC, I cannot open up a bank account. So does that mean I do not get paid until I get my bank account? I am still awaiting my 300,000 won settlement and airfare refund, which would be nice to have rather soon, since I am fast running out of moolah.
73
I am just worried that I have to go a month and a half without an ARC and getting paid.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

1) They'll give you a new ARC to reflect the change in visa status.

2) It's theoretically possible to open a bank account using your passport, but not all branches will allow it (go figure). Your best bet would be to go to KEB's MAIN branch in your town (call KEB to find out where, look for the number on its web site) or any other bank's main branch should do it (NH's number is 1588-2100, ext 730).
 
Note that if you open a bank account with your passport, you'll need to go back to the bank and tell them to link your account to your ARC number once you get it. You'll also need to notify the school, too. For example, if you opened an account using your passport, but registered for online banking using your ARC, then online banking won't work because there's a mismatch (passport vs ARC). Just remember it all has to match, and you should make everything match using your ARC instead of your passport ASAP.