Irish Citizens Get Access to Unused Australian E-3 Work Visas
H.R. 7164, passed by the House of Representatives recently, proposes to provide Irish workers with access to the coveted E-3 visa program. The bipartisan Bill seeks to provide Irish citizens with access to any unused E-3 visas from the prior fiscal year. Currently, E-3 visas are only available to Australian citizens.
The Bill is a revision of H.R. 7100, introduced in late October, which sought to permit Irish citizens to compete directly with Australian nationals for the 10,500 E-3 visa slots. After an aggressive pushback from the Australian High Commission in Washington D.C., Representatives Sensenbrenner and Neal restyled the proposal as H.R. 7164, preserving Australia’s right of first access by only permitting Irish nationals to apply for remaining visas from the 10,500 allotment of the previous fiscal year. The Bill was passed by the House yesterday, and now heads to the Senate. For more information, read on here.