Work visa proposal for Irish put forward in US House of Representatives

New legislation has been proposed in the US House of Representatives which could allow potentially thousands of Irish people to live and work in the United States.

The move to add Ireland to what is known as the E3 visa non-immigrant visa programme has been put forward by Congressman Richard Neal, the chairman of the House ways and means committee, who is a Democrat and Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania who is a republican.

Similar bipartisan legislation was put forward in the US senate last March.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told the conference of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in July that he was aware of talks under way in the US congress about a possible immigration package being unveiled before the end of the year.

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In parallel, plans by the Government to offer US citizens the opportunity to retire in Ireland have been revived in recent weeks.

Australian nationals

Mr Varadkar said the Government hoped that such an initiative would “help us to continue to make the case” for US immigration reform that could benefit “young people who would like to work in United States and undocumented Irish already in the US”.

The E3 programme was originally introduced in 2005 as part of a trade deal between the US and Australia. It made available 10,500 visas each year to skilled Australian nationals.

However, Australians have only used roughly half of the available visas during the past decade.

Essentially the proposed new legislation would enable qualified Irish workers to access the unused Australian E3 visas in the future.

‘Specialty occupations’

E3 visas are limited to professionals visiting the US to perform services in “specialty occupations” in a confirmed job from a US employer. Under the agreement reached with Australia, the applicant must have university degree, or its equivalent, as a minimum for entry into the United States. The E3 visa allows the holder to stay in the US for two years with an option to renew.

Mr Neal said: “The E3 visas, combined with these reciprocal arrangements, would provide welcome and long overdue movement of citizens between Ireland and the United States in both directions, which is so important to Irish America, the US and Ireland.”

Mr Kelly said that “with generations of Irish Americans contributing to our country including helping to build and shape my home state of Pennsylvania, it is deeply important to me that we continue to reaffirm the strong relationship between our people and countries”.

“Recognising the numerous contributions Irish-Americans have made to the educational, political and cultural life of America, it is important that we honour their many contributions and continue to support the unique relationship between our shared history and people. I’m glad to join Congressman Richard Neal, co-chair of the Friends of Ireland, to ensure this strong relationship continues for the next generation of American.”

An identical companion Bill was filed in the US senate around St Patrick’s Day by Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Senate majority whip Dick Durbin of Illinois.