Below is one of the letters from our subscribers. Based on this letter, we conducted an inquiry.
“I have two nephews. Both have successfully passed the exams to go to work in South Korea. One went to work in 2022, the other in 2023. But the amount of money paid to the so-called Migration Agency is suspicious. My nephew paid: 13.5 million soums for a plane ticket, $70 for a visa, 3 million soums for education, 450 thousand soums for a medical examination, he also paid for “Izza Plaza” hotel and uniform. In addition, they received another 12 million soums for “migration service”.
When my second nephew flew to South Korea in 2023, they collected 5.5 million soums for the plane ticket, 3 million soums for education, 1.6 million soums for the “Izza Plaza” hotel, 550 thousand soums for medical examination and 12 million soums for “migration service”. How did they get this money from us? We would like them to make it public. Because if they collected it illegally, people after us should not be deceived”.
As a result of our investigation, the table of payments that workers must pay based on the agreement between Uzbekistan and Korea was determined (we received the information from South Korea):
Uzbek translation of this document:
This table shows the amount charged to each job seeker as part of labor migration from Uzbekistan to South Korea and for what purposes this amount is charged. As you can see, the total amount is $859. It includes examination, medical examination, visa fee, adaptation study, air ticket and other expenses.
On EPS.go.kr (a site managed by South Korea’s Employment Service), each worker’s personal cabinet has the following posted: “No payment is required other than official expenses (i.e. passport, visa, air ticket price, job training service)”.
How is it in practice?
Fees imposed by the Foreign Migration Agency on every Uzbek citizen:
· 12 million soums – “migration service”;
· 3 million soums – study for familiarization and adjustment (6-7 days);
· 1.5 million soums – for staying at “Izza Plaza” hotel;
· 5.5 million soums – for an air ticket;
· 550-600 thousand soums – medical examination;
· $70 – visa fee;
· sometimes a uniform and airport shuttle fee is required.
Let’s assume that the amounts in the table we received are indicative figures attached to the agreement concluded between the two countries. But even in this case, some questions arise, and the central question is – why is the Uzbek organization receiving so much money from the people of Uzbekistan? We await the answer to the question from the relevant higher organizations.
Two days after asking questions to the migration agency, the agency began to change its “policy”: the agency is moving workers from the “Izza Plaza” hotel to a place with such conditions. “Completely free”... In fact, 3 million soums were taken from 120 workers (120 x 3 million = 360 million).
Letters to the publication
102 “colorblind” persons or who is Muzaffar from Denau?
- We registered with our friends to take the exam for going to work in Korea in 2022. Our exam dates have also been confirmed (there will be 2 exams). We passed the EPS topic exams (a total of 2,224 men passed). Then our admission dates for the second exam were announced. They only checked our eyes, i.e. color separation (daltonism). I identified all the colors correctly.
We looked forward to the result. About a week before the answers came out, such a note appeared in our personal cabinet:
“You have a problem with your eyes, so you will be excluded”. When I went to the training center, everyone was in the same situation. Only one person does not have such a record. He was from Jarkurgan, and we were all from Denau, Surkhandarya.
I collected all those who have such a record and opened a Telegram group. There are 102 members, all are from Denau.
Interestingly, there were other children from Denau who did not have such a record. I cautiously talked to one of such guys: Where did you study, did you have “someone” to help? “Yes, I paid $12,000 to a person named Muzaffar, as you did not give him the money, you all have such a note,” he said.
We waited for the final result. A week later, the list of those who passed the exam was published on the Labor migration website. 102 men were not listed in it.
We are “colorblind” – we cannot distinguish colors.
All 102 children said that they all had identified the colors. I was also among them. When we called the agency, they said that Korea gave them that list, they knew nothing.
On the same day, we all left for Tashkent.
First of all, we went to the EPS center. The boss is Korean. One of us entered with a translator. All of you are on the “blacklist”, the Migration Agency of Uzbekistan concluded that you did not pass the EPS topic exam.
We went to the agency (these events are happening in September 2022). Officials at the agency said that they know nothing.
Thus, all 102 men from Denau turned out to be “unable to distinguish colors”. We went to the Ministry of Labor and explained that we are not “colorblind”. We were scheduled to come in a week. We returned to Surkhandarya. Realizing that we were deceived, 20 children went to Tashkent again. On September 20 at 20:00, information appeared on the website of the Korean side. It says that we failed the exam.
We were all depressed because we had studied Korean for 5 years. The next day, 102 men and parents gathered in front of the ministry. The deputy minister or some other official came out and said that we had to go to the agency to solve the issue. We rejected this proposal and expressed our displeasure. We demanded proof that we are colorblind.
Then the report on the Korean site changed – the word “defect” in our personal cabinet was missing.
September 20. We were taken to the agency by bus. The head of the agency and an employee of the ministry came and asked us about the situation. Then the head of the EPS center, heads of the agency and the ministerial official entered a room and consulted. After an hour, he came out and said: “You are really on the blacklist, there was a technical failure. We will solve your case in 15 days”.
We refused to depart. The Ministry promised us to find those who did this. Then we returned to our house. After 20 days, there was a change in our private cabinet, we received a phone call. Everything was back to normal.
But who did these things? If we had not united, we would have failed. Together we reclaimed our rights, but what about the rights of others? Air tickets were being sold to migrants for 13 million soums, now they are 5 million 200 thousand. Who will refund overcharges?
There is still one-week training session for 3 million soums. This study is organized just to kill the time. The applicants are afraid of not being able to go to Korea after demanding their rights.
People who migrated with the condition of performing work for $25 thousand
- The status of the Migration Agency has turned into corruption. Especially during the quarantine, they took migrants to Korea. They sold a one-way plane ticket for 12.5 million soums. Even now, there are people who came to Korea with me; they have to pay 20-$25 thousand while working.
Let me count the expenses that I have incurred. The agency’s fee is 12 million soums, 3 million soums for a week of study, 1.5 million soums for hotel accommodation, 350 thousand soums for a medical examination, 50 thousand soums for X-ray of lungs, 12.5 million soums for an air ticket, the cost of submitting documents to the embassy - 100 thousand soums. We also paid for uniforms that cost a penny - clothes made of cheap material, only to recognize workers at the airport, and then no one wears them.
A person named Bobur collected 300-$1,000 during the medical examination. The visa fee is $70. During the quarantine, the vaccine certificate was sold for $100.
2 thousand people were supposed to come on the E7 visa, but no one knew the result. Those who scored 180 out of 200 points are remained, and those who “paid” in 2018 are coming.
Why do Korean employers rarely choose Uzbeks? Because after paying so much money, $1.5 thousand a month will not cover it. They look for another job. Those who pass with money have zero language skills.
They say: “You have a lot of cholesterol in your blood, you have to be treated”. Cholesterol cannot be lowered in a week. So, what would applicants do to avoid getting stuck on a plane? There is a “solution” – ranging from $300 to $1,000...
They announce that “passing the Korean exam does not guarantee going to Korea”. To enter the exam in Korea, $28 was taken from each person, 25,000 people took the exam. But only 2,000, maybe 3,000 people “passed” it.
Migrants who don’t know the language...
- I have been trying to go to Korea for 3 years. The system is corrupt. 6 people from my mahalla went to Korea. They do not know Korean at all, but they are in Korea now. I cannot go because I do not have a lot of money.
The “solution” to pass the medical examination
- I passed the exam in 2018, but I haven’t been able to leave yet. If we ask the agency, they say: “It’s not in our hands, Korea will decide”. But those who passed the exam in November 2022 are also leaving. The migration does not solve the problem, but receives 12 million soums for “migration services”. If the contract is issued, they call for one-week study, force applicants to pay 250,000 soums a day in the “Izza Plaza” hotel, then they charge 3 million soums for the study, but they teach nothing. They conduct a medical examination, half of 100 children will fail. Then they “solve” the issue by paying 300-$400. People who have been sent a contract and a visa are often detained without being sent to Korea, as a result of which the company that sent the visa in Korea is “dismissing” because it is “late”. I personally had such a situation.
There is a “remedy” for everything
- We have visas for Korea, we have passed medical examinations, but 4 flights have flown and we are not allowed on any of them. When we called migration, they said that it depends on the company in Korea. But when we talked with the company, they said that your agency organizes the list of travelers to Korea. An acquaintance of mine had a similar situation, he went to the agency and “solved” it. When I asked, he said that he paid some money.
12 million + 3 million + 1.5 million
- I paid $25 to register as a person who intends to work in Korea in April 2022. The number of registered people was more than 16,000. The exam was held in June and July. I saw the exam process with my own eyes, I passed the exam with 95 points. During the exam, the Migration Agency and experts from Korea conducted the observation. But even there, I saw another person taking the exam instead of someone else. If the person who takes someone’s place belongs to the migration staff, they turn a blind eye to it, if a person who is out of their list comes and does the same thing, they will catch him and draw up a protocol.
Each stage took two to four months. As an example, I saw people who passed the exam in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and entered Korea within a month.
To scan the international passport, you need to come to Tashkent. Taking into account that the foreign labor migration agency has a branch in every region, calling more than two thousand people to Tashkent is a very incomprehensible situation.
Agency employees do not follow work ethics. They can easily mistreat the applicants.
Citizens who pass the stages pay 12 million soums to the agency and 3 million soums for training at the cash desk (it is not possible to pay with plastic at the cash desk).
The compulsory one-week training and familiarization phase takes place at the “Izza Plaza” hotel, located in the Izza block of the capital. Hotel fee – 1.5 million soums. When we arrived, about twenty people refused to stay in the hotel – they have houses in Tashkent city and region. Weekly fee collected from 120 people is a huge amount. After I said that I would appeal to a higher organization, they allowed me to attend from my home.
That is all for now. The fact that the former head of the foreign labor migration agency was imprisoned, replaced by a new head, and the official who was at the top of the system was removed from his position yesterday, gives hope for serious changes in the field. And we will continue to write what is happening inside.
