Number of nonimmigrant U.S. visas for Koreans drops by nearly eight percent

The United States' issuance of nonimmigrant visas for Koreans fell nearly 8 percent from a year earlier in 2025 following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, data analyzed by a lawmaker's office showed Sunday.

The office of Rep. Hong Kee-won of the ruling Democratic Party said it recently reviewed U.S. State Department data on visa issuance per country and found that 68,130 nonimmigrant visas had been issued to Koreans last year, down 7.95 percent from the 74,015 issued in 2024 during former President Joe Biden's administration.

The number fell across most categories, including the B-1 business visa and the B-2 tourism visa.

During the months following last September's surprise detention of hundreds of Korean workers in Georgia, however, the numbers appeared to grow, according to the lawmaker's office.

In December, Korea and the U.S. launched a visa support desk at the U.S. Embassy in central Seoul to help Korean companies investing in the U.S. with smoother entry procedures.

The State Department data showed average monthly B-1 and B-2 visa issuances fell from 1,273 in 2024 to 1,212 in 2025 before increasing to 2,027 in January and February of this year, Hong's office said.

Still, F-1 international student visa issuances for Koreans dropped significantly from a monthly average of 1,195 in 2024 to 965 in 2025, and 273 in January and February 2026.

“Though this phenomenon is global due to the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies and the reduction is smaller for us than it is for other major countries, if the situation is left unattended, it will cause considerable harm to many students preparing to study in the United States,” Hong said.

“There need to be efforts to normalize these visa issuances by operating all available diplomatic channels with the United States.”

Yonhap