The US has agreed to allow South Koreans to work to set up facilities at US investment sites under existing temporary visas and open new channels to help its ally send workers to do business there, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry.
But US officials at a working group meeting offered no new answers to South Korea’s argument for wider access to US visas for specialty workers despite reaffirming a commitment to advance trade and investment partnership, the ministry said on Wednesday.
The working group was set up in the aftermath of a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor car battery facility under construction in the US state of Georgia last month, when hundreds of South Korean workers were arrested.
The arrests, which stunned the South Korean government and public, highlighted the lack of access to the right class of US visas for specialised South Korean workers needed at investment sites.
The US side, made up of Departments of State, Homeland Security and Commerce officials, made clear that South Koreans could work to install, service and repair equipment needed as part of South Korean business investment in the US, using the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation visa waiver programme and B-1 temporary visas, the foreign ministry said.
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