Washington has officially agreed to permit South Korean workers traveling on short-term business visas or through a visa waiver program to construct factories within the United States, as announced by the South Korean government on Wednesday.
This resolution was forged in Washington on Tuesday, where officials from both nations convened to address visa complications stemming from a large-scale immigration raid on an electric vehicle battery factory under construction in Ellabell, Georgia. The September 4th raid led to the arrest and detention of 317 South Korean nationals, who were reportedly handcuffed and chained, sparking outrage from a key U.S. ally.
South Korean conglomerates, Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, had deployed hundreds of engineers to assist in building the joint venture factory. These engineers frequently entered and exited the U.S., primarily utilizing short-term B-1 business visas or the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waiver.
However, U.S. immigration authorities contended that these Korean workers were operating illegally, leading to their arrest. After spending a week in a detention center, all but one of the individuals were repatriated on a chartered flight.
Following the raid in Georgia, South Korea had issued a stern warning, indicating that its businesses would be reluctant to invest further in the United States unless the existing visa obstacles for their engineers were promptly removed.
During Tuesday’s discussions, the U.S. explicitly confirmed that workers holding B-1 visas or utilizing ESTA would be authorized to “install, service, or repair” foreign-purchased equipment intended for the construction of South Korean facilities in the United States. This clarification was detailed in a news release from South Korea’s foreign ministry.
The ministry also reported that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau expressed Washington’s welcome for international engineers contributing to the development of South Korean plants. Furthermore, Mr. Landau committed to establishing a dedicated desk at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to streamline the visa application process for these professionals.
These assurances are anticipated to encourage South Korean companies to once again deploy engineers, allowing them to resume construction work at the Georgia plant site.
“In light of this latest agreement between the two governments, we are committed to making thorough preparations to proceed with the construction and operation of our plant in the United States,” LG Energy Solution stated on Wednesday. The majority of the workers detained during the September 4th incident were engineers affiliated with LG or its subcontractors.
Beyond ESTA and B-1 visas, some South Korean companies engaged in U.S. factory construction had previously resorted to using B-2 tourist visas. They cited a perceived shortage of available long-term work visas for their engineers, even as the U.S. actively pressured South Korea to commit hundreds of billions in investments for new factories and leveraged potential tariff increases on Korean imports.
Some of the workers who were sent back from the United States recounted being so deeply affected by their ordeal that they expressed no desire to return to their positions. Others indicated a willingness to go back and complete the plant’s construction, provided both governments could effectively resolve the ongoing visa issues.