Government to Assess Impact of U.S. 'H-1B Visa' Fee Surge and Communicate with U.S. Authorities

Concerns Over Impact on Korea-U.S. Visa System Improvement Talks

On September 21, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it is currently assessing the details and impact of the U.S. government's significant increase in H-1B visa fees and will initiate communication with the United States.

On the 8th, citizens lined up in long queues at the U.S. Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, to obtain U.S. visas. Photo by Yoon Dongju

Previously, on September 19 (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to raise the H-1B visa fee from the current $1,000 (approximately 1.4 million won) to $100,000, which is 100 times higher.

There are concerns that the ongoing negotiations between South Korea and the United States to improve the visa system, prompted by the recent detention of Korean nationals, may face difficulties, as this move demonstrates the United States' hardline visa policy. However, some observers predict that there will not be significant obstacles, as the top priority in the bilateral talks is expected to focus on improving business visas for short-term dispatched personnel.

The government is reportedly working to establish a new visa quota (E-4) for Korean professionals. Initially, there were discussions to include not only high-skilled professionals but also skilled workers, but this is a legislative matter to be pursued in the long term.

The H-1B visa, commonly referred to as a "professional visa," applies to specialized occupations in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The number of annual issuances is limited to 85,000 through a lottery system, and the proportion of Korean recipients has been low from the outset.