As about 300 Korean workers who were working at the joint battery plant construction site of Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution in Georgia, United States, were arrested and detained by U.S. immigration authorities, it emerged that, compared with Korea's standing in the United States, the number of visas issued to Korea is far lower than that of competitor countries.
Korea's investment in the United States last year was 63.4% of Japan's and 62.1% of India's, but the number of visas Korea received was only 57.8% of Japan's and 7.2% of India's. In the business community, voices are calling for the issuance of a Korea-only employment visa (E-4) in light of this incident.
On the 11th, according to the U.S. Department of State's country-by-country visa statistics, the visas issued to Koreans last year totaled 12,205, including 2,289 specialty occupation employment (H-1B), 16 nonagricultural temporary workers (H-2B), 126 intra-company transferees (E-1), 6,778 employees of treaty investors (E-2), and 2,996 general intra-company transferees (L-1).
By contrast, Japan received a total of 21,102 visas, 1.73 times more than Korea, and India received about 169,309, roughly 14 times more.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Korea's investment in the United States last year was $36.38 billion, which was 63.4% of Japan's $57.462 billion and 62.1% of India's $58.539 billion. In the field of "greenfield" investment—where land is purchased in the United States, a plant is built, and operations are run—Korea ranked No. 1 as of 2023. According to an analysis by the Financial Times (FT) of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) data, Korean corporations invested $21.5 billion in the United States in 2023 through greenfield projects.
Projects carried out by Korean corporations in the United States also hit a record high of 90, up 50% from 2022. This includes the $4.3 billion joint battery plant investment by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution, where the arrests and detentions occurred.
Until now, a considerable number of corporations conducted business in the United States using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which waives visa applications for short-term tourism within 90 days, or the short-term business (B-1) nonimmigrant visa. That is because work visas take a long time to issue, and many applications are denied.
The business community is asking for clarification of the rules regarding the B-1 visa. According to the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), B-1 visa holders may install and commission equipment manufactured or purchased overseas at U.S. worksites and provide education and training to local employees. This means that when Korean corporations build plants in the United States, they can supervise and train construction site workers.
It is known that some of the workers arrested and detained this time were also B-1 visa holders. That is because Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the Department of Homeland Security, which conduct immigration enforcement, applied a narrower scope of use for the B-1 visa.
An industry official said, "It was thought that with a B-1 visa you could install equipment locally and perform maintenance, but this incident has increased uncertainty. The government needs to work with the United States to clarify the scope of B-1 visa use."