E-3 Employment Visa

The E-3 program is the immigration component of the U.S. Australia Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. nonimmigrant classification used for this work authorization is the E-3. Information about E-3 procedures is available on this U.S. State Department page under the E-3 heading.

Stanford employees using the E-3 program should plan to travel to Australia to apply for initial status, and to change or extend status. Users may apply at any consulate in Australia where an appointment is available. If a department wants to file a petition with USCIS on behalf of an employee, the H-1B is more appropriate. The effort of compiling an E-3 petition defeats the intended convenience the Agreement intended to provide.

Note that the E-3 status is not "dual intent." Admission to the U.S. is contingent on (among other things) the presumption that the applicant plans to return to the home country at some point in the future.

E-3 status in not compatible with tenure-track faculty appointments or plans to immigration to the U.S. (i.e. become a "permanent resident" and hold a "green card.") H-1B is the preferred status for intending immigrants.

Labor Condition Application

An E-3 visa application at a U.S. Consulate requires an Labor Condition Application (LCA). Departments request this document from Bechtel by completing a Workflow transaction for E-3 status in Axess. Bechtel processing time is four weeks.

Departments and other hiring units will be assessed an institutional fee of $200 for each E-3 submitted. This fee is in effect for all requests. No check is required for this fee, which is collected by entry of a PTA in Workflow (must be a non-sponsored PTA). No refund of the institutional fee will be provided for an E-3 for which an LCA has been submitted.

As with the other LCA-supported classification, H-1B, only 100% FTE employment is possible in the E-3 program at Stanford.

Prospective Stanford employees present the LCA along with their nonimmigrant entry visa application materials to the U.S. Consulate. When making the appointment at the U.S. Consulate for the E-3 visa interview, the "receipt number" is the LCA number located on every page of the LCA. The number begins with "I-203-".

Physician Licensure

Prospective physician faculty coming to Stanford in E-3 status should apply for California licensure or exemption before lodging their entry visa applications at the U.S. Consulate in Australia. California licensure or exemption can take weeks or even months to be cleared. Please contact the California Medical Board for more information. LCA procedures require Stanford to develop a prevailing wage applicable to the position. LCAs also must contain specific location information for the employment activities, which can make placement at other Stanford sites impractical. (Bear in mind that O-1 status is considerably more flexible for physicians in this respect than visa classifications that are supported by the LCA, including E-3.)

Workflow Request in Axess

Once a Stanford department decides it wants a prospective employee to come to Stanford in E-3 status, a representative of the department or hiring unit will make their LCA request in Axess Workflow. The representative may need Workflow authority and or training before logging into Axess.

If the department representative is familiar with Workflow from other visa types (such as H-1), the same steps are used to initiate a transaction for an E-3 LCA.

Bechtel will notify the department representative who submitted the Workflow transaction when the certified LCA is ready.

Application at a U.S. Consulate in Australia

Bechtel will print and sign the LCA to provide to the department; the department will then provide it in hard copy to the prospective employee. Along with the certified LCA, when applying for the E-3 visa the applicant must present to the U.S. Consulate the following items:

Evidence of Australian citizenship
The academic credentials required for the job (diploma in the field appropriate to the job); and,
A cover letter (see template below), including an explanation of how the position qualifies as a specialty occupation. Bechtel does not prepare or review the letter.

Components of the letter

The consular officer has only anecdotal knowledge of what workers in various occupations do, so describe the specific tasks of the E-3 worker related to the occupation listed on the LCA. Explain why the job Stanford is offering requires the worker to possess at least that much education and/or experience. It’s fine if it requires more, even much more.

Describe what credentials the worker possesses and how they meet the requirements of the position.

Be clear about salary, benefits and the exact location where the work will take place, including multiple sites if that’s the case, as long as the sites are all listed on the LCA. If the person will be on campus, the sites will be either 300 Pasteur Drive or 450 Jane Stanford Way with departments noted.

The E-3 letter also should specify how long the period of admission requested will be. The E-3 program allows a period of admission up to two years, and most applicants are eager to be admitted for that amount of time, if for no other reason than to maximize perceived benefit. Remember that this is a temporary classification, not intended to permit employment of an indefinite term. If the work anticipated is something that can be accomplished in less than two years, it’s important not to attempt to disguise that.

If the applicant’s degree was not earned in the U.S. or Australia, an equivalency will need to accompany the materials. An equivalency can be obtained from a professional evaluation service.

An experience requirement can also be imposed if the Stanford job is one that inherently requires it, as it appears in the Stanford Job Library (authentication required). In either case, experience in the specific occupation has to be documented by a former employer who can describe exactly how the applicant acquired the experience, over what period of time, giving a job title and name of the employing company.

Suggested Format/Text Of E-3 Letter

[Address]

re: E-3 petition for (Please pick one of the following):

initial employment, consular processing
extension of petition and employment, consular processing

sub: [name of E-3 beneficiary] employer: Stanford University

[date]

Dear Consular Officer:

Enclosed please find Stanford University’s petition on behalf of [name of E-3 beneficiary] to fill the position of [job title]. (Note: Job title must match job title on LCA.) Upon approval of the attached visa application, the beneficiary will seek admission at a U.S. port of entry and promptly [begin] (Note: for extensions, the word "begin" should be replaced by "continue") at Stanford according to the terms and conditions described in the petition. Stanford wishes to employ [name] from (start date) to (end date), a period of no more than two years. The annual salary for the position is $X [Note: this must match the salary on page 3 of the LCA].

Stanford University is a private research and teaching institution located south of San Francisco, California. The university is organized into seven schools, in addition to numerous research centers, institutions and laboratories. It employs about 17,000 people in various professional disciplines, teaching and support/administrative positions. Stanford is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and manages in excess of $1.25 billion in research funding and $37.8 billion in endowment support.

[Describe the department, lab or venue where the work will take place, giving general information about the kind of work performed, research carried out and the purpose, i.e., what is the objective of the work.]

[Describe the specific job the employee will carry out. Be sure to use the same title that was submitted via the workflow Employment Visa Request form and is on the LCA. Be sure to describe the job in terms of a body of specialized knowledge, explaining methodologies used to do the work, research or teaching, skills required, tools used and so on. State the term of appointment or hire and the salary; again, this information must be consistent with that provided earlier.]

[Describe how the employee is qualified to fill the position, giving education level, field of study in which the degree was earned, where the education was gained, any training or skills the employee has that are used in performing the job, and other evidence that the employee is specifically qualified to do the work. This may include mention of publications or other professional accomplishments]

Stanford affirms that it will comply with the terms of the Labor Condition Application for the duration of the authorized period of stay. Stanford will be liable for the reasonable costs of return transportation of the beneficiary abroad, if the beneficiary is dismissed from employment before the end of the period of authorized stay.

Sincerely,

[Name and title of supervisor; include phone number and email in signature block]

Address to Use for Australians applying at a U.S. Consulate in Australia

U.S. Consular Officer

Nonimmigrant Visa Section

U.S. Consulate, (name of city)