H1B Visa Program at Center of Hyundai Plant Immigration Raid
It looks like Korea’s “Bali-Bali” culture led to the Hyundai and LG workers not wanting to wait and go through the H1B visa process:
Many of those reportedly entered the US using B1 visas — issued for business purposes, such as attending meetings or signing contracts — or through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization visa waiver program for short-term stays. US immigration officials said that was the central issue in the raid.
Foreign nationals must acquire an appropriate visa such as the H-1B, L1 or E2 to legally obtain employment at workplaces located in the US. But as those visas can take months to obtain and their numbers are capped, they are often deemed impractical for companies that need to dispatch workers frequently or on short notice. Industry officials also complain that wait times for all types of visas have lengthened since the start of the Trump administration.
According to Korean media reports, the US allocates annual H-1B visa quotas to certain countries with which it has free trade agreements, including Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Chile and Australia. Despite having a free trade agreement with the US, South Korea does not receive a quota.
In response to the concern, an official from Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, who requested anonymity, noted that H-1B visas are distributed through a lottery. The official said that the ministry has repeatedly urged the US government and Congress since 2012 to create a separate visa quota for Korean professionals, such as via the proposed Partner With Korea Act.
You can read more at the link, but I wonder how many of the jobs the detained Joreans were doing could have been done by Americans?
but I wonder how many of the jobs the detained Koreans were doing could have been done by Americans?
@GIKorea keeps ignoring the simple fact: there were no skilled construction workers in Georgia to get the job done.
Like the rest of the rabid MAGA crowd, he insists these factory jobs should go to “Americans.” But how do you hand out jobs that no one there can actually do?
If Trump really wanted his supporters to have good, high-paying jobs once the factory was finished, he could have told the government to issue H-1B visas for the skilled Koreans who could build it.
Instead, all he cared about was bragging on Fox News that he landed Korean investment.
Even China treats foreign investors better.
Maybe it’s time Korean companies put their money elsewhere—let the MAGA crowd get what they asked for, and rot in the poverty they created.
Since @GIKorea needs further education;
At Hyundai’s Georgia battery plant, the detained Korean workers were mostly performing highly skilled construction and technical roles—such as installing electrical systems, setting up battery production lines, and handling precision mechanical work.
These tasks, which made up roughly 70–80% of their roles, could not have been done by local American workers without extensive training.
Another 5–10% involved supervising and training local crews, while only about 15–20% consisted of general labor that Americans could handle.
In short, the vast majority of the work required expertise that was simply unavailable locally, underscoring why the ICE detentions caused significant disruption to the project.
Pretty shocking how America leads the world in so many things with no skilled workers.
Running electrical wires probably had the Americans stumped.
There isn’t much electricity in America.
It has become very very difficult for a graduating engineering student to get employment now. It is even difficult (almost impossible, I’m told from friends with children in the engineering fields…these are students with very high grade point averages, they didn’t just get by) for engineering students to get internships before graduating…which seems to be the only way to get enough experience to find employment after graduation. My oldest son tracks this pretty closely…he graduated about 4 years ago with a degree in Industrial engineering, and works as a civil engineer (military…he was ROTC). Back then they were hiring. Everything has gone south since…very fast.
As a side note, they don’t need pilots anymore either. Two years ago they couldn’t get enough, and the airlines all had their own training going. Now, out of 100 graduates six might get on with a major airline.
I just kept hearing the little birds crying “cheap! cheap! cheap!”
Construction workers in Georgia? Whoever heard of such a thing?
If Americans could not do the work as Korea Person claims than the company should have had no problem getting an H1B visa approved. The fact they did not apply demonstrates the company’s concern that it may not get approved because to get an H1B visa you have to prove an American could not do the job. The most likely reason they wanted Korean workers was for lower costs and convenience, not because they couldn’t find Americans to do the work.
Americans could not do the work as Korea Person claims than the company should have had no problem getting an H1B visa approved.
No doubt @GIKorea won’t listen to reason—just recycling the same MAGA garbage in a desperate attempt to pin the blame on Korea.
If this is truly how MAGA thinks, then fine—Korea should halt investments in MAGA-land and let them stew in their own poverty.
And since @GIKorea needs more education: here’s a lesson straight from Chosun Ilbo, Korea’s own conservative right-wing paper.
https://www.chosun.com/english/world-en/2025/09/08/2XH6FYW44BGEBMKMD2ZOI44GXE/
South Korea is one of the top investors in the U.S., yet it receives only around 2,000 of the 85,000 annual H-1B visas, with no separate quota. In contrast, the U.S. allocates annual H-1B quotas to five countries with free trade agreements (FTAs): Canada and Mexico (unlimited), Singapore (5,400), Chile (1,400), and Australia (10,500).
Although related bills have been proposed in every U.S. congressional session since 2013, they have repeatedly failed to pass.
That ~2,000 is just a lottery. Korea has an FTA with the U.S. and pours in billions as one of its biggest investors, but still gets no dedicated quota.
So @GIKorea, is MAGA’s grand strategy really telling Korean companies to pray to the visa lottery gods? Truly world-class brilliance!
Lets look at some facts.
The problem here is there are two issues that are being intentionally mingled… and they are both filled with lies in the media and the Korean government response.
1. Korea needlessly and sneakily imported Korean workers at Korean prices to do jobs there are plenty of Americans capable and willing to do. There is no need for work visas becasue there is no need for those workers.
2. There is a need for some Korean managers, supervisors, and engineers to oversee many aspects of factory construction. And there is an easy legal pathway for this.
The H-1B visa and obtaining it is completely unrelated to this conversation, as it is a tech visa with a minimum requirement of a college degree and is not for construction workers or factory managers.
(And since Koreans are abominable programmers, there is no need to give Koreans any of these visas, which it appears, in a rare moment of competence, the American government is aware of.)
As there are MANY foreign nationals working for their branch offices in America, it turns out that it is very easy for them to get a proper work visa, especially for established Korean companies like Hyundai and LG.
The L-1 Intercompany Transfer Visa is exactly designed for foreign professionals to set up and run things like this foreign factory… and, the worker can even get a green card, as America doesn’t mind snaking this level of professional.
All of this is a non-issue.
Korean companies intentionally violated American immigration law to save labor costs on construction. This should cost everyone involved a lot of money to discourage this behavior.
If Korean management didn’t get the correct visa, it was likely due to incompetence. The punishment should be minor, more hassle than financial, as these people are easily eligible for a work visa.
Don’t let media lie to you.
Korean companies intentionally violated American immigration law to save labor costs on construction. This should cost everyone involved a lot of money to discourage this behavior.
It is actually more costly for Korean companies to send a Korean employee to the United States than to hire a local.
For local employees, the cost is limited to wages plus standard benefits.
For Korean employees, however, companies must provide additional overseas allowances to bring compensation in line with local standards. They are also responsible for covering international travel expenses.
Furthermore, when a Korean employee takes leave—typically every four months—the company must again pay for round-trip airfare to Korea.
There are deadlines and no local workers. Then the only choice is to send over Koreans even though there is no savings in cost.
Don’t let media lie to you.
Now that I’ve quoted Korea’s own conservative right-wing media, @setnaffa and the Setnaffarians are scrambling to escape the mess they created—by throwing that very right-wing media under the bus.
A perfect fit for those who would gladly sell out their own country to Moscow and Beijing.
The truth is trickling out.
Korea is trying to blame America and visa inefficiency… while avoiding the discussion that Americans can do almost all the jobs the Korean workers were doing. The visas are not an issue.
Nobody is talking about some of those workers not even being part of the team… but being unrelated Korean illegal aliens who were hired because they are korean.
But the real story is coming out.
The imported Koreans were paid Korean subcontractor wages plus a daily stipend. This was cheaper than American workers.
More importantly, importing illegal korean workers avoided any American union involvement and entanglements with US labor law.
But who cares about the real reasons.
Only results matter.
They will have to hire American if they want to finish the factory.
Cry louder, Korea Thing.
They will have to hire American if they want to finish the factory.
What makes you think they will finish the factory?
“What makes you think they will finish the factory?”
An elementary school level understanding of economics.
When you invest 4.3 billion dollars with a plan to make substantially more than that, the million dollar profit concerns of your subcontractors is not even in the equation.
Next question. Anyone?
An elementary school level understanding of economics.
Then you obviously don’t know about cutting losses and moving on.
Looks like you’re terrified your MAGA buddies won’t get the high-paying jobs those factories would have created—if only your other MAGA pals had thought it through.
Bonus information: Three workers have died (so far) in constructing this factory. In Korea, if a worker dies, somebody in management is likely to go to jail.
This feels like a story that is going to get more and more slimy as details ooze out.