Explainer: Why South Korea Wants the United States to Change Its Visa Policies

Upgraded 12 September 2025 at 15:03 IST

Following a huge migration raid in Georgia South Korea’s Call for U.S. Visa Reform. South Korea’s foreign minister who went to Washington today to go over a brand-new kind of visa for competent employees associated with commercial tasks.

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A chartered aircraft carrying South Korean employees who were apprehended in a big migration raid recently|Image: Reuters

SEOUL: South Korea has actually increase require modifications to the U.S. visa system so that its employees can check out for longer durations after a migration raid at a battery plant in Georgia resulted in the detainment of numerous its residents.

The 2 nations are taking a look at developing a working group to think about a brand-new kind of visa for Koreans, according to South Korea’s foreign minister who checked out Washington today.

South Korean business have actually ended up being significant financiers in the U.S., constructing factories that typically need extremely technical capability that are challenging to discover in the United States.

Unlike some nations such as Australia, Canada and Mexico, South Koreans do not have access to unique treaty work visas.

“There’s really no mid-term business visa for Korean businessmen to work in the U.S. for several months,” stated Kim Yong-sang, a Seoul-based legal representative specialising in worldwide conflicts at Yulchon LLC

Rather, sources have actually stated workers of South Korean business frequently utilize either the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), a kind of visa waiver that permits stays of as much as 90 days or B-1 visas – a short-term visa for some business-related activities.

Both of these visas restrict what work can be performed in the United States, which has actually suggested that some South Korean employees have actually been depending on grey locations in U.S. visa enforcement.

There’s likewise been a “lack of coordination between federal and state immigration policy,” stated Jihae Han, a U.S. lawyer at Maru Law Firm. “Many U.S. state and local officials are unaware of how complex and serious the visa bottleneck is.”

South Korea has actually promoted years for an expense that would develop or broaden visa classifications to accommodate competent South Korean nationals who require to check out the United States for longer durations.

That costs has actually had problem making it through Congress since visas are connected to migration, among the most delicate topics in the United States, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.

U.S. migration authorities at first trumpeted the raid at the Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution battery task website. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has actually likewise indicated it acknowledges the significance of South Korean financial investment and the abilities of the nation’s employees required to get plants functional.

Trump previously today provided to enable the employees to remain in the United States to train Americans.

The employees might go back to the U.S after resting in the house, South Korea’s foreign ministry stated.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated on Thursday that Hyundai need to have called him to protect the best visas.

“I called up the Koreans, I said, oh, give me a break. Get the right visa and if you’re having problems getting the right visa, call me,” Axios estimated him as stating in an interview.