Hi there

My partner and are Australians currently based in Sydney. We have always dreamt of living in New York and with the new E3 visa available to Australians we've decided to go for it. We are arriving in May to look for jobs (we are both in the advertising industry - he's an art director and I'm a suit). We're hoping to get them asap and then leave the US to go and get the E3 visa. I'm just wondering if:

* anyone has been through the process of getting the E3? Esp in advertising?
* if anyone has any tips, how long it takes on average to get the visa, a job ,etc
* are New Yorkers open to employing Australians under the E3 visa?
* what the advertising industry job market is like?

Sorry this is so long winded! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.

Hi Kate,

My husband and I have E3 visas although we are not currently in the US, we are in South Korea where he is finishing a contract at the end of May.

We were in the US a few years ago on different visas and when they expired in May of last year we applied for our E3s as we intend to return to New York to work again in the near future. Ours is a different situation as my husband is an IT contractor and we registered our company in the US while we were there (Delaware of course) and we are employed by our company so I can't really give advice about obtaining a job but I can tell you how long it took to get a visa. Once you have a letter of employment you apply to the US Consulate in Sydney, this can be done online, and they will tell you what you need to bring and make an appointment, usually for the next week. When you go make sure you have everything they require. They will post your passport back to you within a week or if you are in a hurry you can usually pick it up after 2 days. So the whole thing should only take around 2 weeks at the most.

Thanks Marea, appreciate the help.

I was very interested in the post about an IT contractor forming a company and then becoming its employee. Didn't this raise eyebrows during the application process? I'm currently on an L1A visa with a multi-national but they are making me redundant; one option is for me to do IT contracting

I should have been clearer, we are not employees as such, we are the directors of the company and the principal owners. It has been a registered company in Australia for nearly 20 years. I don't know what an L1 A visa is, it sometimes depends on what country you are from as to what sort of visa you can get.

L1A is for executives of multinationals. Since I'm leaving the company, the visa is no longer valid for work. Like E3, it's tied to a particular company and in the case of L1 non-transferable. I am an Australian. Whether you are directors of your own company or not, doesn't an E3 require a job offer, real job, real salary? Otherwise how do you file the Labor Certification process?

Yes it does require a job offer, my husband has a contract with an American company.

Hi Kate,

I am in same sitaution now. I have worked for The Campaign Palace in Sydney and EURO RSCG in London. I'm looking for employment in the US now under the E3 visa.

Did you have any luck finding work in New York in advertising?

If so, would you mind offering me some advice?

Thanks,

Luke

Just an update on this : current processing times for the e-3 visa (May 2011) are 4-6 weeks.
Very surprised that they allowed the director of a company to get an E-3 visa with his own company, but this is a bit of a novelty visa in US migration terms so there was unlikely to be any precedent.

Note you can get sponsored for an E-3 visa by a Professional Employment Organization or Contractor Management Company and do freelance work if that is your desire. We've got more information about freelance consulting on the E3 visa on our site if you are interested.

There are many other things to consider as to the nature of your job when it comes to the E3 visa especially at it relates to specialty occupation and bachelors degree conditions for E3 visas.

It has been known there is potential to start a company and so called have that US company sponsor you but there is a lot more checks with that these days so you have to be very careful b/c if you go to administrative processing or worse outright denial, that can hinder your chance for future US visa applications.

Cj

dear sir

what is E3 VISA FEES TO SOUTH KOREA, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IMMEDIATELY

I just noticed this topic again. I wasn't clear enough, our company is contracted to an American Company. There have been some instances of companies being established just to sponsor people and they charge a monthly rate for the time that the person is in the states. The US government is aware of this and has cracked down on this practice.

Bala, the E3 visa is only for Australians to go to the US.