E-3 Visa Guide (for Australians)

A plain-English overview of the E-3 classification for Australian construction professionals. Not legal advice.

Photo: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (source).

This page is general information, not legal advice. It is not a substitute for the official rules, and it is not a prediction of anyone’s application. Always read the official pages: USCIS, “E-3 Specialty Occupation Workers from Australia” (last reviewed or updated 29 July 2024), and the US Department of Labor’s E-3 programme overview and Fact Sheet #62Y. For how a Labor Condition Application is filed, see FLAG, Labor Condition Application. The Department of State also maintains an E-3 page for Australians in specialty occupations.

HeatherDaniel International is a recruiter. We can talk you through how this usually comes up in practice for cost and project professionals.

At a glance

  • Who it’s for. Nationals of Australia only, coming to the United States solely to perform services in a specialty occupation.
  • How long you can stay. An initial period of two years. Extensions may be granted for up to two years each. USCIS says there is “no maximum number of extensions, with some exceptions” — see the official page. This is a period of stay, not a processing time.
  • Family. A spouse and unmarried children under 21 are entitled to dependent E-3 classification. Spouses of E-3 workers in valid E-3 or E-3S status are considered employment authorised incident to status. Children of E-3 workers may not be employed in the United States.

Who the E-3 classification is for

USCIS states, at the top of its page, that the E-3 classification “applies only to nationals of Australia.” You must be coming to the United States solely to perform services in a specialty occupation. A specialty occupation, in USCIS’s wording, “requires theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of a bachelor’s or higher degree in the specific specialty, or its equivalent, as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the United States.”

To qualify, USCIS says you must demonstrate, among other things, that you:

  • are a national of Australia;
  • have a legitimate offer of employment in the United States;
  • possess the necessary academic or other qualifying credentials; and
  • will fill a position that qualifies as a specialty occupation.

A UK, Irish or other non-Australian passport does not open this route. Those readers should look instead at our E-2 Visa Guide, or at other classifications on the official sites, with a qualified adviser.

The employer’s Labor Condition Application

Before a petition is filed with USCIS, or a visa is obtained through the Department of State, the Department of Labor says the employer must submit a Labor Condition Application (LCA, Form ETA-9035E / 9035) attesting to compliance with the E-3 programme. LCAs must be filed electronically through the FLAG system. They “must not be submitted more than 6 months before the beginning date of the period of employment.”

FLAG and USCIS both describe the wage rule: the worker is to be paid the higher of the actual wage (what the employer pays to others with similar experience and qualifications in the same job) or the prevailing wage for that occupation in the area of intended employment. USCIS also says the Form I-129 supporting documents should include an LCA filed to support an E-3 classification, academic or other credentials, and a job-offer letter or other documentation establishing that you will be engaged in a specialty occupation and paid that higher wage. If required, they should also include the licence or other official permission to practise in the specialty occupation.

Fact Sheet #62Y (November 2023) sets out further employer duties administered by the Wage and Hour Division: among them, offering the same working conditions and fringe benefits that are offered to similarly employed US workers; notifying employees or their bargaining representative; giving the E-3 worker a copy of the LCA; and not allowing the worker to pay an early-cessation penalty. The same fact sheet says the H-1B programme’s portability provisions are inapplicable to E-3 workers. Do not assume that H-1B rules apply here. The fact sheet itself says it is general information and is not to be considered in the same light as official statements of position in the regulations.

We do not publish processing times for an LCA, a petition or a visa, and we make no promise about how quickly any case will be decided.

The annual limit

The Department of Labor states, on both its E-3 programme overview and the FLAG LCA page, that current laws limit the annual number of qualifying foreign workers who may be issued an E-3 visa to 10,500 Australian nationals seeking temporary work in specialty occupations. For the cap itself, DOL points to USCIS and to the Department of State’s consular pages for Australia. Check the official sites, and a qualified adviser, at the time you need the answer, to see whether the cap is open.

This is a statutory limit, not a processing time.

Period of stay — not a processing time

USCIS publishes a short table: the initial period of stay is 2 years; extensions may be granted for up to 2 years per extension, with “no maximum number of extensions, with some exceptions.” See the official page for those exceptions.

Fact Sheet #62Y says the period of employment is up to a maximum of two years, and that renewals beyond that period require the filing of a new LCA.

USCIS also says that, to change employers while remaining in the United States, the new employer must obtain a certified LCA and properly file a Form I-129, and that the petition “must be approved before you are authorized to work for the new employer.” USCIS may consider you to be maintaining E-3 status, after employment ends, for up to 60 days during the period of petition validity (or other authorised validity period).

The Department of State’s E-3 page states that you must intend to depart the United States when your E-3 status expires.

Family

USCIS states that an E-3 nonimmigrant worker’s spouse and unmarried children under 21 are entitled to dependent E-3 classification. “Children of E-3 workers may not be employed in the United States.” Spouses of E-3 workers in valid E-3 or E-3S status “are considered employment authorized incident to status.” As of 30 January 2022, USCIS and CBP began issuing Forms I-94 with the admission code E-3S for spouses. Spouses are not required to file Form I-765 to be employment authorised, but may file it in order to obtain an Employment Authorisation Document.

If you are already in the United States, or still abroad

USCIS says Form I-129 is used to apply for a change of status to, or an extension of stay in, the E-3 classification from within the United States. Fact Sheet #62Y says Australian nationals seeking E-3 visas must have a job offer from a US employer and can apply directly at a US Embassy or Consulate abroad. If the applicant is already in the United States in valid nonimmigrant status, they may apply for a change of status with USCIS.

How this relates to the work we recruit for

A specialty occupation, in the official wording, is built around a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in the specific specialty. Many of the quantity-surveying, cost-management, estimating and project-management seats we advertise are degree-level professional roles. That does not make any given vacancy an E-3 seat, or mean that a given employer will sponsor. It does mean the question is worth asking, with the official definition in front of you, and with a qualified adviser if you want an answer that applies to you.

Browse the live vacancies.

How we can help

If you are an Australian construction professional looking at a move, a useful first step is to read the vacancies that actually match your level, and then to talk through cities, timing, and whether an E-3 route is even in play.

We can't give legal advice or file anything for you, but we can talk you through roles, cities and timing. Book a call. Not seeing the right role? Send us your CV.

Browse current vacancies.

Sources

Hiring UK or Australian cost and project talent in the US? Talk to us.