USCIS Announces Expansion of Premium Processing Services to E-3 Visas

USCIS announced today that it has expanded premium processing services to include E-3 visa applications. Premium processing guarantees that USCIS will take adjudicative action on the application within 15 days. If USCIS fails to do so, the agency will return the fee but still expedite the application. Premium processing also guarantees that any RFE or NOID responses will also be adjudicated within 15 days. Please click here to learn more about premium processing.

Premium processing has different costs depending on the type of visa. For a list of the existing visas and their premium processing costs, please click here. E-3 visa premium processing will cost $2500. Premium Processing will begin immediately from today.

The E-3 visa classification was introduced to the U.S. immigration system in 2005. The classification permits Australian nationals with legitimate offers of employment in specialty occupations to live and work in the United States. The requirements for the E-3 visa is akin to the H1B visa (Like the H-1B, the applicant’s proposed employment must meet the standard of “specialty occupation employment” and must obtain an approved Labor Condition Application) by the Department of Labor), but also has notable advantages to the H-1B. While the E-3 visa is subject to a cap of 10,500 visas a year, this cap is rarely met with new applicants. The E-3 visa can also be renewed indefinitely as long as the underlying employment qualifies as a specialty occupation. Additionally, E-3 spouses can get dependent visas and apply for work authorization (unlike H4 spouses). Lastly, the application fees for an E-3 visa are significantly lower than the H-1B filing fees. To learn more about E-3 visas, please click here.