Banking in South Korea
You can easily open a bank account in Korea if you have the required documents with you. The necessary documents for opening a bank account in Korea are:
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Working visa
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Passport
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Alien registration card
You will be asked to submit the photocopies of these three documents by the banks in Korea. Some of the recommended Korean banks with which you can have transactions are:
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Foreign Exchange Bank
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Kookmin Bank
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Citibank
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Woori Bank
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Shinhan Bank
These banks are not only known for their superb services but they have service representatives who can communicate in English. You will be given a bank card with the opening of an account which is not actually a debit card for purchasing things. This bank card is to be used only when you want to withdraw money from the bank machines.
You will find bank machines in Korea almost every nook and corner of the country. These machines operate till 11 at night and so you cannot withdraw money at late night. You can also use the bank cards from your home country but they can only be used at the global ATMs. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of global ATMs in Korea.
You can easily send your money to home with a Korean bank account. There are two options:
Transfer the money to your overseas account from your Korean account
Or
Ask Korean bank to sue a check to your country bank via mail.
The first option will be more expensive than the second one simply because you have to pay fees for both the banks in this case. The second option will charge you a minimal service charge of about 15,000 won along with the mailing charge. Some banks are pretty strict about the percentage of money you can send home.
