More Than 8,000 Illegal Immigrants Arrested

by dave Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:38 pm

By Kim Tae-jong (Ministry of Labor Website - Press Page)

Police have arrested 8,035 violators of the Immigration Law during a 70-day crackdown started April 1. They have detained 148 and booked 7,887 without physical detention, the National Police Agency said Monday.

Chinese nationals made up the largest portion of the foreigners arrested, totaling 2,744. The most common offence was illegal marriage to obtain Korean citizenship, which made up 45 percent of the total cases.

Other major illegal activities include document forgery for visa application, which accounted for 14.5 percent. Unqualified native English and Chinese-speakers made up 8.3 percent. Most of them entered Korea on tourism or student visas, which do not allow them to work here.

"Due to the English education fever here, a lot of foreigners, especially from English-speaking countries, are often found working illegally here without the proper visa," a police official said.

Among the arrested were 187 people from Thailand, 90 from Vietnam, and 37 from Russia.

Police plan to send those with other nationalities to the Ministry of Justice for sanctions. They can face deportation, depending on the seriousness of their illegalities.

Police also said illegal immigration crimes were becoming ``smarter,'''' compared to traditional document fabrication.

Some Koreans went through illegal fingerprint fabrication surgery to enter countries they had been deported from. Some Chinese used DNA test forgeries to be categorized as ethnic Korean-Chinese for easier admission, police said.

Some immigration brokers systematically helped Chinese obtain forged DNA results and documents to make them appear to be the biological relative of a Korean, allowing them to obtain Korean citizenship.

by amie sison Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:55 pm

the crackdown has its own advantages and disadvantages.

some of illegal workers here contributes on thier economy. especially on the industrial company. they know how to do the work with out the help of supervisor. they create twice or thrice the number of new employees. too bad if it will suddenly disappearred.

by josephpatrol Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:54 am

Pinoys urged to take advantage of jobs in Korea(gud news or bad news?)

SENATE committee on foreign relations chairman Sen. Manuel "Manny" Villar has urged the foreign department (DFA), the labor department (Dole), and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to take advantage of new job opportunities in South Korea.

Villar made the call as he said the DFA and DOLE-POEA should open a special window in their respective offices that will only attend to Filipinos applying for jobs in South Korea to expedite the processing of their papers.

He said the "express window" would see to it that Korea-bound OFWs would be able to process their pares with out the hassles of red tape and other forms of clerical delays.

"The race for the Korean job market is a race for time. Whoever finishes first get there first," Villar said.

The senator issued these statements after a group of Korean companies declares a job opening for at least 20,000 Filipinos.

Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (KFSMB) chair Young Soo Kim said the new job orders were in anticipation of the eventual deportation of illegal workers, including Filipinos, in South Korea as a result of their amnesty program for illegal aliens.

But in return, the Korean business group has asked local recruitment agencies to help their government locate the undocumented Filipino aliens in their country.

Kim said their group might even hire more than 20,000 OFW's if the deportation process is hastened with the help of Philippine-based recruitment agencies.

Villar likewise noted that the DFA and POEA could even put up a "universal" window that would solely and exclusively cater to Filipinos seeking employment in South Korea.

Villar likewise cautioned the concerned agencies against fly-by-night recruitment agencies which will troop to the countryside to offer imagined job openings in Korea to unsuspecting probinsyanos.

"The DOLE and POEA and even the law enforcement agencies should be on alert on the surfacing of unscrupulous recruiters who will present themselves as official agents or representatives of Korean companies," he said.

Villar, nevertheless, called on the Philippine labor and political attaches in South Korea to re-negotiate the amnesty plan for illegal Filipinos by working for their legal re-assimilation into the Korean workforce than settling for deportation.

He stressed that Korean companies could still get their highly -skilled workers from the estimated 30,000 Filipinos illegally working in south Korea by allowing them to secure legal papers and legalize their stay.

"I believe it is more cost-effective and faster if the illegal OFWs in Korea would be given a fair chance to turn legit than deporting them," Villar stressed.

He said the Pinoy illegals in Korea will surely have more advantage since they are already familiar with the work rules and ethics, culture and even the terrain of South Korea.

"Under the amnesty plan, you just provide employment to 20,000 new workers but suffer the 30,000 Pinoy illegals through deportation. Anong trabaho ang ibibigay natin sa kanila, samantalang may trabaho na sila doon. What they need is just to be legalized," Villar stressed.

by candy Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:26 pm

ang galing naman,salamat po sa info.atleast kahit papano nalaman namin na may nagmamalasakit pa palang politician sa ating mga kababayan na OFW dito sa south korea.Salamat ulit.