Korean employees who had been detained by U.S. immigration authorities arrive at Incheon Worldwide Airport, Sept. 12, eight days after being arrested at a Hyundai Motor Group-LG Vitality Answer battery plant development web site in Ellabell, Ga. Korea Occasions picture by Choi Joo-yeon
The U.S. Embassy in Korea launched a devoted help desk to help Korean corporations investing in the USA, Friday, a transfer that follows the detention of greater than 300 Korean employees at a battery plant development web site in Georgia in September.
The Korean Funding and Journey (KIT) Desk is designed to streamline visa processing and scale back entry issues for company vacationers heading to U.S. undertaking websites, in keeping with Korea’s Ministry of International Affairs.
The launch ceremony was attended by Second Vice International Minister Kim Jina and Kevin Kim, the appearing U.S. ambassador to Seoul.
Situated on the primary flooring of the U.S. Embassy, the KIT Desk operates via cooperation among the many State Division, Commerce Division, Division of Homeland Safety and U.S. Customs and Border Safety. Devoted workers have already been assigned to help Korean corporations.
The desk has been working on a trial foundation since October, and has reportedly centered on offering help to main conglomerates with giant funding plans in U.S., together with Samsung, Hyundai, SK, LG and Hanwha.
This initiative is among the key outcomes of two rounds of Korea-U.S. working-group conferences on visa points, held on Sept. 30 in Washington and Oct. 22 through video convention.
The working group was shaped following an unprecedented immigration raid at a development web site for a Hyundai-LG Vitality Answer battery three way partnership in Georgia, the place greater than 300 Korean employees, most of them subcontractors, have been taken into custody. They have been launched after a couple of week following frantic negotiations between Seoul and Washington.
This episode triggered public anger in Korea and raised issues that it might dampen Korean corporations’ funding within the U.S. The U.S. administration has since agreed to enhance visa programs to handle these issues.
“By shut communication with the U.S. facet, we’ve improved the general visa system,” a international ministry official stated on situation of anonymity. “One main enchancment is that every one enterprise vacationers for Korean corporations investing within the U.S., together with subcontractors, can now apply for visas collectively via an built-in course of.”
Beforehand, workers of huge corporations and their subcontractors needed to apply for visas individually, and subcontracted employees usually confronted stricter scrutiny. In some circumstances, they have been denied entry upon arrival.
Korean employees at a Hyundai Motor Group-LG Vitality Answer joint battery plant, who had been detained at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Folkston, Ga., are launched on Sept. 11. Korea Occasions file
Beneath the brand new system, main Korean buyers will seek the advice of with the U.S. Embassy on the personnel they want and file group visa functions together with subcontractors.
One other enchancment is the addition of detailed annotations on B-1 visas issued to Korean employees. These notes specify that the holder is a reliable employee, record the Korean firm for whom they work for and state the undertaking’s anticipated completion date.
Such detailed annotations are reportedly a particular measure provided solely to Korean vacationers.
“We’ve got repeatedly requested elementary enhancements from the U.S. facet throughout working-level conferences, together with establishing a visa system tailor-made for Korean funding initiatives and amending related U.S. legal guidelines. Nonetheless, such authorized revisions require approval from the U.S. Congress, past the authority of the administration,” the ministry official stated.
“These new measures are the utmost doable progress throughout the scope that doesn’t require legislative change,” he added.
The most recent developments comply with the U.S. authorities’s resolution final month to extend its capability on the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to course of extra enterprise visas for Koreans, aiming to conduct greater than 5,000 extra interviews above regular ranges. This resolution is alleged to have been made independently, not on the request of the Korean authorities.
