English by the Hour
It is 100% illegal for foreigners on an E-2 or E-4 Visa to teach English lessons to anyone outside of their schools and be paid for it. With that being said, do people do it? Allll the time.
I believe that this is illegal due to the fact that you could easily come here and ditch the school you were working for to make a lot more money elsewhere. This effectively screws over those who spent good time and money to get you here, so the government stepped in to help out the local businesses.
Although it is illegal, I believe that sometimes a blind eye gets turned. There is a website, workinplay.co.kr that helps people find jobs and private lessons. It has been reworked so its all up to date. Also, Dave's ESL cafe has a Korean Job Board which also will sometimes yield some possibilities. The great thing about these jobs being taboo is that if you're lucky enough to find one they usually pay pretty well. I've had 3 separate temporary lessons in the past, and they've paid $40-$45 an hour.
There really is something to be said for getting paid to talk. Literally one of my lessons was just to have coffee with a woman who was in her 40s and just wanted to conversate. I've had to do some planning beforehand, but not much, and definitely not enough that warrants getting paid as much as we do. Makes it hard to think about leaving this type of job, that's for sure...
If you decide to take a private lesson, just be lowkey about it, don't tell many people, and do not let anyone at your school find out.
I believe that this is illegal due to the fact that you could easily come here and ditch the school you were working for to make a lot more money elsewhere. This effectively screws over those who spent good time and money to get you here, so the government stepped in to help out the local businesses.
Although it is illegal, I believe that sometimes a blind eye gets turned. There is a website, workinplay.co.kr that helps people find jobs and private lessons. It has been reworked so its all up to date. Also, Dave's ESL cafe has a Korean Job Board which also will sometimes yield some possibilities. The great thing about these jobs being taboo is that if you're lucky enough to find one they usually pay pretty well. I've had 3 separate temporary lessons in the past, and they've paid $40-$45 an hour.
There really is something to be said for getting paid to talk. Literally one of my lessons was just to have coffee with a woman who was in her 40s and just wanted to conversate. I've had to do some planning beforehand, but not much, and definitely not enough that warrants getting paid as much as we do. Makes it hard to think about leaving this type of job, that's for sure...
If you decide to take a private lesson, just be lowkey about it, don't tell many people, and do not let anyone at your school find out.