Many Korean students who just received their BAs, MAs or PhDs in the United States report that even though they return to Korea, “there are no jobs for us.”

In recent times, it is the biggest concern among Korean exchange students here. At present, the numbers of South Korea’s highly educated are increasing so rapidly that the number of job offerings far outweighs the demand. In past decades, studying abroad was seen as a good background for job seekers. Now, however, the situation has changed. Koreans and many graduate students want to stay longer in the United States. There is also an increase in the number of students who are dreaming of getting working papers and staying here following completion of their programs.

According to Korean immigration law experts, “there has been an increase in students who want to stay in America longer in the past two to three years. They are trying all sorts of methods to get to stay here. Some students even give up trying to get employment in their field of study – to be able to remain in the United States. Some would rather take any job here than go back to Korea. Many are trying to get a green card.”

Most Korean exchange students try to open their own businesses utilizing their professional skills, but others prefer to put their savings towards the process of getting an E-2 visa. [The Treaty Investor visa or E-2 visa permits citizens of certain countries, including South Korea, to reside in the United States through an investment in the United States. The investor must come to manage or oversee the investment.] Some students simply give up their field of study, and settle for employment in places like a chicken factory – just to get a visa.

“In the past,” Soo-eun Nam, an immigration lawyer said, “most Korean exchange students threw themselves into H-1B visas (Professional Employment visas) through Optional Practical Training (OPT) [a temporary employment authorization that gives foreign students an opportunity to apply knowledge gained in the classroom to a practical work experience off campus] and got their resident cards. These days the number of investment visas is increasing very rapidly among Korean exchange students in fields as varied as banking, restaurants, or other service industries. In the past, 90 percent of Korean exchange students applied for and received H-1B visas, while now about 20 percent of students who have funds sufficient to enable them to open their own businesses are trying to change their student visas into E-2 visas for this purpose.”

Nam also said, “Now the window for employment visas is very narrow; quotas for H-1B visas are quickly exhausted.”

Even though many exchange students have tried to use their studies to upgrade their levels, and found employment in their professional areas within the mainstream American workforce, there are still some who decided to change directions and join or open businesses in Korean society.

The reason for the current popular “staying lag” among Korean exchange students is that they think there is no vision for the future in Korea. According to one survey, 70 percent of Korean companies in South Korea have no preferential treatment policy for experienced foreign-educated students. And according to some statistics, within Korean companies, there is no distinction seen in a foreign MBA, just as there are no special benefits for those who have studied abroad. There is even evidence that employees trained in languages overseas are not given any special treatment or higher salaries, commensurate with their studies.

In fact, the employment rate between experienced foreign-educated employees and Korean-educated domestic employees is virtually identical in South Korea – with 18.97 percent for the first, and 18.73 percent for the latter. What is different is the annual net income of Korean-educated domestic employees: surprisingly, it is lower than that of the foreign-educated Korean employees. For example, the annual salary of 15.92 percent of native domestic employees is 20,000,000 Won (about $20,000), while 21.59 percent of foreign-educated employees make the same amount. But the highest salaries – over 40,000,000 won (about $40,000) as annual salaries – are given to native domestic employees: seven percent versus three percent for the foreign-educated.