By Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s LG Energy Solution was using workarounds to U.S. visa restrictions well before Donald Trump returned as president and his administration launched a massive crackdown that detained hundreds of LG workers, internal documents show.
LG Energy Solution’s reliance on a visa waiver programme started under Trump’s predecessors, reflecting long-running problems South Korean companies say they face in getting short-term visas for specialists they need for their high-tech plants in the U.S.
Company guidelines, detailed in the August 2023 LG documents seen by Reuters, advise employees and subcontractors to use the short-term Electronic System for Travel Authorization waiver programme, avoiding business visa procedures, after many visa applications had been rejected.
More than 300 Koreans, including 250 LG employees and contractors, were detained this month at LG’s car battery venture with Hyundai Motor, in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s biggest immigration raid ever.
The globally publicised raid near Savannah, Georgia, including videos of shackled workers, sent shockwaves through South Korea, a major U.S. investor and one of Washington’s closest Asian allies.
The Trump administration has signalled it wants to revise visa policy to accommodate South Korean investment. But the entrenched use of ESTA waivers, rather than applying for B-1 or other work visas, highlights risks for South Korean companies building factories in the U.S. as they seek to avoid Trump’s tariffs and send more skilled workers to support the expansion, even as Trump tightens immigration enforcement.
The LG guidelines for employees and subcontractors cite increasing U.S. rejections of B-1 business visa requests by South Koreans, recommending instead the ESTA visa-free travel option.
DON’T SAY ‘WORK’
The guidelines provide tips, such as advising workers to dress neatly for U.S. customs interviews, bring invitation letters from their U.S. business partners and avoid saying “work” in the interviews.
“Using the word ‘work’ to describe the purpose of your visit can cause suspicion and lead to U.S. entry denial,” the guidelines say.
They caution against excessive use of ESTA, warning that those who use it to enter the U.S. frequently and stay for two to three months per visit could be denied entry at the airport.
U.S. officials say the detained workers were engaged in activities beyond the scope of their visa authorisation or overstayed their visas. A U.S. immigration lawyer representing some of the detained LG workers has said they were doing legally authorised activities. The workers were released and returned home to cheers and emotional reunions last week.
“We advised employees to utilise ESTA for business trips, given the high rejection rate of B-1 visas at the time and the fact that a B-1 visa denial would also block ESTA eligibility,” LG told Reuters in a statement responding to questions on its guidelines.
“In March last year, we updated our guidelines, advising employees to use ESTA for short-term or one-time assignments of less than one month, and to obtain appropriate visas, such as ESTA, B-1 visa or L-1 visa, for trips lasting between one and six months,” the company said.
ESTA allows stays of up to 90 days, half the limit of the B-1 visa. Both restrict the types of work that holders can undertake and are not meant to be used repeatedly.
About half the detained Korean workers were on ESTA, including 44% of the LG workers, lawmaker Han Jeong-ae has said, citing company data.
REASONABLE BECAME ‘ABUSE’
State Department guidance says temporary business visitors can “install, service, or repair commercial or industrial equipment or machinery purchased from a company outside the United States or to train U.S. workers to perform such services”.
Immigration lawyers say such activities, as well as training U.S. construction workers, can qualify under ESTA waivers and the B-1 visa.
“Employees on business trips are responsible for installing machinery manufactured outside the United States and for set-up to ensure early stabilisation of production processes, as well as transferring necessary know-how to locally hired workers,” LG told Reuters. “These activities fall within the intended purposes of ESTA or B-1 visas.”
Some South Korean workers have used ESTA to stay for up to three months and then visit again to continue their work, which could put them at risk of being denied U.S. entries, immigration lawyers say.
“What began perhaps as a reasonable use of ESTA became an abuse,” said Robert Marton, a U.S. immigration lawyer not involved in the Georgia case.
LG said it has asked the U.S. to “consider creating a new visa type,” given that “B-1 visa and ESTA applications were denied despite being aligned with the intended purpose of travel.”
“Our company hopes that, for the smooth conduct of business, both governments will provide clear interpretations of the scope of work permitted under B-1/B-2 visas and ESTA, and that the visa system will be improved as soon as possible.”
South Korea said on Sunday that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau had expressed regret over the raid and called for Washington and Seoul to speed up working-level consultations to ensure the issuance of visas commensurate with the contributions of Korean workers.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang in Seoul and Ted Hessen in Washington; Editing by Miyoung Kim and William Mallard)
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