I'm am on the E-3 visa which is only for Australians. It is easy to get and lets me live and work in the US, and my spouse can work too. It is a non immigrant visa, just for living and working. No path to immigration. It needs to be renewed every few years and can be renewed indefinitely. I get an SSN and resident alien status while on the visa. I've been emailed by my employers immigration lawyers to request for information for h1b application. Should I bother? I am still undecided about whether I want to settle in the US permanently. What do I stand to gain and what do I stand to lose if I get on that visa?
Is this Australia E3
Can you provide more information on what your other visa offers? Expiry, path to immigration, how frequently does it renew, etc. That will allow people to compare your situation with H1b.
Chile or Singapore?
Updated post with info about my current visa.
Most folks here know well about Chile Singapore and Australian carve outs. Be specific, since folks can tell u exactly what would be useful to you.
Fine done
I don't think we need more white. If you're a PoC or an aborginal, try applying
Don’t unless you are sure. I did it and totally regretted it.
Why?
Let’s just say that there are complications if you give up the green card and want to reapply it again in the future. Not to mention the long and drawn out process. Definitely much easier to just keep extending visa unless you are 100% sure that you want to stay here for good.
So here is the thing, you can actually still apply for GC on an E3 visa. The only risk is if they reject you, you have to leave the country since you violated your visa requirement. Although with Trump, USCIS has gotten a lot more strict so this may no longer be possible. Talk to your company lawyer on their thoughts.
The company lawyers are the ones inviting me to do this.
Mine also started with that and decided I wasn't worth wasting an h1b application on :), decided to go straight with E3 instead.
Move to h1b at the first available opportunity.
Why
Australian? Go for the special one, H1b is a lottery.
What?
H1b has more applicants than visas allocated. So they get granted based on lottery.