As the Donald Trump administration sharply raised the issuance fee for the professional work visa H-1B to more than 1 billion won—100 times the existing amount—concerns are emerging that the activities of domestic corporations in the United States will contract. Large domestic corporations need to dispatch specialists because they operate research labs, subsidiaries, and production facilities in the United States.
On the 19th (local time), President Trump signed a proclamation raising the H-1B visa issuance fee from the current $1,000 (about 1.4 million won) per person to $100,000 (about 140 million won).
The H-1B visa is issued to workers engaged in specialized occupations across fields centered on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Once granted, the visa allows a basic three-year stay, which can be extended thereafter. Applying for permanent residency is also possible.
The Trump administration's decision to significantly raise the bar for issuing H-1B visas is seen as stemming from the perception that the entry of foreign nationals on this visa has reduced employment for U.S. workers.
The H-1B visa has mainly been used by U.S. cutting-edge IT corporations to recruit top overseas talent. Leading big tech companies—Amazon, Microsoft (MS), Google, Apple, and Meta—have used this visa to hire large numbers of STEM workers from India, China, and elsewhere. Some analysts say the Trump administration expects that sharply increasing H-1B fees to reduce overseas hiring could lead to more hiring of Americans.
However, many point out that the policy will make investment difficult not only for U.S. corporations but also for foreign corporations that have entered the United States. Corporations that operate research labs and factories in the United States are better off obtaining as many H-1B visas as possible because they need to bring in specialized personnel from their home countries for long-term assignments.
Multiple domestic corporations, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, have built large-scale production facilities in the United States and established research labs and subsidiaries. Since the launch of the Trump administration, they have been expanding investment to reduce the tariff burden, but with a sharp increase in H-1B visa fees, the expense burden has grown for dispatching the necessary specialists to the United States.
Samsung Electronics has Samsung Research America (SRA), a research and development (R&D) organization, in Silicon Valley, California. The site conducts research across a wide range of fields, including next-generation communications, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and healthcare. Samsung Electronics is building a semiconductor plant in Taylor, Texas, following Austin. For collaboration with local personnel and the construction of advanced facilities, it needs to dispatch domestic specialists for extended periods.
Hyundai Motor Group likewise operates research labs in Michigan and Silicon Valley in the United States. It also has several local subsidiaries, including Motional, which researches autonomous driving; Supernal, which handles urban air mobility (UAM; Urban Air Mobility); and the robotics corporation Boston Dynamics. Its affiliate Hyundai Steel also plans to build a steel mill in Louisiana, targeting commercial production in 2029.
LG Group likewise has affiliates such as LG Electronics and LG Energy Solution that are operating R&D centers in the United States or building new factories. In addition, SK and Hanwha also need to continue sending specialists from Korea for businesses such as semiconductors, batteries, energy, and shipbuilding.
Even before the fee hike was announced, the H-1B visa was issued to Korea in a woefully small quantity, causing difficulties for many domestic corporations. The annual number of H-1B issuances is about 85,000, but it is said that only about 2,000 Koreans receive one per year.
A business community official said, "After the recent arrests and detentions of domestic workers at the Hyundai Motor–LG Energy Solution joint plant in Georgia, the sharp increase in H-1B visa fees has further deepened the concerns of domestic corporations seeking to invest in the United States." The official added, "Even if the United States increases Korea's H-1B allocation, the additional expense of more than 1 billion won per person will inevitably burden corporations."
The government said it plans to assess the impact on domestic corporations following the announcement of the U.S. H-1B visa fee hike. It currently understands that corporations are mainly dispatching domestic personnel for short-term work and that the allocation of H-1B visas itself is small, so they are not suffering immediate major damage.