E-3 Visa – “Australian Visa”

The E-3 visa is exclusively reserved for Australian nationals. The visa allows Australian Professionals to come to the U.S. to work in a specialty occupation, similar in many aspects to the H-1B nonimmigrant  worker visa.

The new E-3 visa classification is limited to 10,500 Australian nationals annually. E-3 principal nonimmigrant aliens must be coming to the United States solely to perform services in a “specialty occupation”. This term is used and defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act in the same context as the H1B visa program, and will be interpreted in accordance with the criteria used for H1Bs. The category has requirements with respect to the education of the beneficiary and the job duties to be performed which mirror the H1B requirements. It thus will be helpful in some situations where the H1B otherwise would be the logical category.

To be eligible, the Australian citizen must possess a bachelor's degree or higher (or its equivalent) AND the specialty occupation must require the theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge.

The E-3 Visa allows the spouse and/or children (under 21) to accompany the Australian national when entering the U.S. The spouse and children do not need to be Australian nationals, only the principal foreign national must meet this requirement. In addition, the spouse is eligible to apply for work authorization. This is a significant benefit not available to many nonimmigrant dependent spouses. The work performed by the spouse of an E-3 does not have to meet any particular requirements. Additionally, the spouse and children are not counted against the 10,500 annual limits.

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