Korean firms breathe sigh of relief after Seoul-Washington visa talks

A signboard stands at the construction site of HL-GA Battery Company's electric vehicle battery plant in the U.S. state of Georgia, Sept. 11. Yonhap

Korean firms are preparing to normalize their investments in the United States after Washington reaffirmed that temporary business visitors holding B-1 visas, as well as those who enter through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waiver program, can install, service and repair foreign-purchased equipment at their companies' U.S. plants.

The U.S. government clarified the policy on Tuesday (local time) during the first working-level meeting with Seoul on the visa issue.

The meeting was arranged after the U.S. detained more than 300 Korean workers — who mostly held B-1 visas or entered through the ESTA program — following an immigration raid last month at HL-GA Battery Company's plant construction site in Georgia, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution (LGES).

“We thank the government for its prompt support,” LGES said in a statement. “In line with the recent agreement between the two countries, we will make thorough preparations to normalize construction and operations at the U.S. plant.”

Hyundai Motor is considering revising its guidelines for employees dispatched to the U.S., after a thorough review of the U.S. government announcement.

Samsung Electronics, which has made major investments in the U.S., is also expected to update its employee guidelines. Following the Georgia immigration raid, the tech giant advised employees traveling to the U.S. through the ESTA program to avoid staying in the country for more than two weeks.

Korean and U.S. government officials attend the first meeting of the Business Travel and Visa Working Group in Washington, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the USA

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two governments also agreed to open a so-called Korean Investor Desk within the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, which will help address visa issues faced by Korean investors in the U.S.

Despite these steps, concerns remain among Korean businesspeople over the U.S. visa system.

A Korean travel agency that organizes annual trips to the CES trade show in Las Vegas advised journalists planning to attend the tech fair in January to apply for the I visa for foreign press, which requires at least a month to be issued. Before the immigration raid, most Korean journalists covered the event through the ESTA program.

Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association and CES organizer, also reportedly encouraged Korean firms during a seminar in Seoul last week to apply for visas as soon as possible, though he told Korean reporters that a situation similar to the Georgia immigration raid is unlikely to occur at the trade show.

Korea and the U.S. have yet to agree on the creation of a dedicated visa for highly skilled Korean nationals.

Unlike other major U.S. trade partners that benefit from dedicated visa categories, Korea still lacks such a framework. As a result, Korean firms sending supervisors to their U.S. plants have had to rely primarily on H-1B specialty occupation visas, which are issued to only 85,000 people worldwide each year through a random lottery.