US Non-Immigrant Visas Issued to South Roreans Down 8% Last Year... Sharp Decline in Student Visas

The number of non-immigrant visas issued to South Koreans has dropped by about 8% following the launch of U.S. President Donald Trump's second administration.

On September 22, the office of Representative Hong Ki-won of the ruling Democratic Party, who serves as the ruling party's executive secretary for the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, released the results of its own analysis of U.S. Department of State visa issuance statistics by country.

According to the lawmaker's office, the number of U.S. non-immigrant visas issued to South Koreans stood at 74,015 in 2024 under the Joe Biden administration, but fell by 7.95% (5,885) to 68,130 in 2025 following the transition to the Trump administration.

The issuance of B1 and B2 visas, which are for business and tourism purposes, decreased from 15,275 in 2024 to 14,555 in 2025.

E1 and E2 visas issued to corporate expatriates and investors also dropped from 6,432 to 5,667 over the same period.

Student (F1) visas for international students in the U.S. and J1 visas required for participating in exchange student and internship programs shrank from 14,339 to 11,589, and from 9,017 to 7,593, respectively, over the same period.

However, looking at the monthly data, there was a trend of improvement in some visa issuance figures following the incident in September of last year where more than 300 South Korean workers in Georgia were detained and held en masse over residency status issues.

Following the Georgia incident, a South Korea-U.S. visa working group was launched, and as one of its outcomes, a dedicated visa window for South Korean companies investing in the U.S. was opened at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul last December.

Accordingly, the monthly average issuance of B1 and B2 visas increased from 1,273 in 2024 and 1,212 in 2025 to an average of 2,027 in January and February of this year, according to the latest statistics.

Despite this, student (F1) visas showed a downward trend, averaging 1,195 per month in 2024, 965 in 2025, and 273 in January and February of 2026.

Even when adjusting the period to account for the characteristic low volume of F1 visa issuance in January and February, the monthly average of F1 visa issuances dropped from 679 between November 2023 and February 2024 to 482 between November 2025 and February 2026, marking a clear downward trend.

In particular, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a rule on July 16 limiting the period of stay for international students to four years, this trend is likely to continue going forward.

In response, the government is raising issues during various exchange processes and has reportedly reported to the National Assembly that the decrease in non-immigrant visa issuances for South Korea is relatively small compared to major countries such as India, China, and Japan.

Representative Hong Ki-won stated, "This phenomenon is a global trend that occurred amid the anti-immigration stance declared by the Trump administration. While the decrease may be smaller compared to other major countries, if we continue to leave the situation unattended, many students preparing to study in the U.S. will inevitably suffer significant damage." He added, "We need to mobilize all available U.S. diplomatic channels to ensure that the issuance of related visas is normalized."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.