By Hyunjoo Jin, Heekyong Yang and Heejin Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) -Many South Korean workers were sent to the U.S. on questionable documents despite their misgivings and warnings about stricter U.S. immigration enforcement before last week's raid on a Hyundai site, according to workers, officials and lawyers.
For years, South Korean companies have said they struggle to obtain short-term work visas for specialists needed in their high-tech plants in the United States, and had come to rely on a grey zone
of looser interpretation of visa rules under previous American administrations.
When that changed in the early days of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, some workers were denied entry to the United States under statuses that did not fully allow work, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen workers from various companies, government and company officials, and immigration lawyers.
More than 300 South Koreans were among the 475 people swept up and detained by U.S. federal authorities at Hyundai Motor's car battery plant near Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday, in the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security's investigative operations.
Many of the people arrested were skilled workers who were sent to the U.S. to install equipment at the near-complete factory on a visa waver programme, or B-1 business traveller visas, which largely did not allow work, three people said.
"It's extremely difficult to get an H-1B visa, which is needed for the battery engineers. That's why some people got B-1 visas or ESTA," said Park Tae-sung, vice chairman of Korea Battery Industry Association, referring to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.
One person who works at the Georgia site told Reuters that this had long been a routine practice. "There was a red flag ... They bypass the law and come to work," the person said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The arrests shocked South Korea although workers had previously expressed concern that they could be caught in between Trump's immigration crackdown and corporate efforts to protect investments in the United States that are at the centre of ongoing trade and tariff talks.
'I BEGGED THEM'
An equipment technician in South Korea, who previously worked with six of the people arrested, said: "I warned them they could screw up their lives if they are caught."
"I begged them not to go to the United States again," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said he had once obtained a B-1 visa from the United States by claiming he was a supervisor, rather than an equipment specialist.
Another equipment technician working as a contractor with LG Energy Solution said his application for a B-1 visa to work at Hyundai's Georgia factory was rejected earlier this year, without explanation. When he then tried to fly to Mexico and cross the border, he was blocked from boarding the flight in Seoul.
"We thought the U.S. was our ally ... but they are treating me like an illegal immigrant," he said.
LG Energy Solution is working with Hyundai to build the factory.
Officials at LGES were aware of the long-standing issues and some of the companies' employees and contractors were reluctant to travel to the United States for fear of being denied entry, two of the sources said.
"LG Energy Solution has been actively working to resolve visa issues" for its employees and subcontractors, including holding visa briefing sessions through law firms to "prevent legal issues," LGES said in a statement when asked by Reuters about its employees' visas.
In response to Reuters' questions about the allegations of immigration violations by subcontractors at the site, Hyundai Motor referred to a statement that said it has "zero tolerance for those who don’t follow the law" and would investigate the employment practices of suppliers and their subcontractors.
LGES said 47 of its employees were arrested in the Georgia raid, and warned the rest of its workers in the United States to leave or shelter at home.
There was no sign that any Hyundai employee was detained. Most of the people detained were employees of subcontractors, rather than direct employees, LGES and Hyundai Motor have said.
'CUT CORNERS'
The detainees in Georgia are now set to be released and sent home, but the raid casts a shadow over business ties between the U.S. and South Korea, a major source of foreign investment into the United States.
Foreign Ministry official Kim Dong-min told Reuters in July that a lack of proper work visas for contractors forced them to turn to the ESTA to travel to the U.S. quickly, leading some to be denied U.S. entry.
He was speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a seminar on "visa refusals" held by Korea Battery Industry Association whose member companies include LGES and their suppliers.
South Korea has long called for creating a new U.S visa category for skilled workers similar to the ones for U.S. free trade partners like Australia and Singapore, but the move has made little progress.
South Korea's foreign minister departed for Washington on Monday, with visa reforms at the top of his agenda.
While Trump is pushing hard for investment, he said on Sunday that companies needed to hire and train American workers and respect immigration laws.
He also floated the idea that he would look at the possibility of some foreign manufacturing experts being allowed into the country to help train American workers.
U.S. Department of Commerce official Andrew Gately warned South Korean companies and their contractors last year not to "cut corners" in visa applications.
"Please do not put your employees or the employees of your contractors at risk," he said at a seminar in Seoul.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin, Heekyong Yang and Heejin Kim; Additional reporting by Ted Hessen in Washington and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Josh Smith and Stephen Coates)
