Anastasiaf

Good day!
We just started to look for to move to US on working visa.
We are family with 3 kids two of them are school aged children.
Are there Australian families living in CA on this sort of visa?
It would be great to know about living costs, school costs, before we will make a move over there.
Can we buy a property being in E3 visa?
Thank you.
Anastasia

Noorah101

Hi and Welcome to BE.

It's really impossible to talk about California as a whole unit regarding living costs and schools. It's HUGE!! First you need to know which city you'll be going to within California, and then people can advise on which areas of that particular city are good for schools, housing cost, etc. It even varies widely within each city.

Rene

Anastasiaf

Thank you ,Rene!
You are right.
Generally speaking, we are interesting to move to any small or a big town that offer us normal living demands.
Can you, please, advise me the best way to find a job in US :
1. Just use any possible website and find recruitment agency in the US or
2. Particular website to apply directly to employer.
Thanks,

scrubbedexpat099

Linkedin.

Most E3's seem to be Indian.

Michael

Public schools are free except for maybe a small amount for the kids school supplies and after school activities. The schools assigned are based on your home address (attachment area).

Most of the jobs are in the San Francisco bay area, LA, and San Diego and those are some of the most expensive areas in the US (primarily due to housing costs).

You can purchase a house on an E3 visa but if you lose your job, you have a limited time to leave. Therefore normally most wait until they get a green card and therefore can remain permanently in the US. The E3 visa is not dual intent so there isn't a direct route to green cards and is usually done E3->H1B->Green Card.

Anastasiaf

Thank you, Michael.
In this case, probably the best idea is to apply on H1B .
Do you know the main difference between these two visas?
Thanks,

civilservant

Spouses/children of H1B workers receive H4s and cannot work. Children will age out and must leabe the US at 21 unless they scure a visa in their own right.

The E-3 visa is renewable indefinitely (in two-year increments)

Although there is a cap, it is higher than H1B.

H1B is dual intent visa, whichs allows passage to a GC.

scrubbedexpat099

There is not a lot of difference between the two, the most significant is that your Employer would have to wait for H1b's to become available.

There is no need to go via H1b to GC assuming an Employer is willing to sponsor you for a GC.

Noorah101

That doesn't really narrow it down. California has both small towns and big cities. What do you consider "normal"?

Yes. But mostly, "networking".

Rene

civilservant

I would say the biggest different (and it can be a huge issue) is no work authorisation for the spouse and children.

Potentially financially crippling.

Bootle

Two corrections. The annual cap on the E-3 is lower, but there are less people who can apply for it being 10,300 available to Australian citizens only.

Although not a dual intent visa there is no prohibition from adjusting status from E-3 to Permanent Resident and the process is exactly the same as adjustment from H-1B.

Michael

I don't believe that is correct. since the E3 visa is not dual intent unless you can show how that is possible. Normally an employer is more willing to hire someone on a E3 visa (or TN visa for NAFTA countries) than on a H-1B visa since usually the cap is not filled and there is no long term wait to file the application and start employment. Then if the employee is valuable enough or the employee finds another employer willing to sponsor him/she for a H-1B visa and eventually a green card, that may be the start of a long term process depending on the employee's EB category (may be 5 years or more for EB3 category). During the time on the H1-B visa, the spouse cannot work.

Michael

I didn't know that and assumed it was the same as TN visas. Why is it different than TN visas? Is there a link that indicates that is possible?

Bootle

One of the forum members, Wakkas I think it is, has definitely done it and advice is that there is no prohibition which means that adjustment is allowed.

Michael

Do you know if he was an EB3? If he was an EB1 or EB2, I could potentially see that as being possible (not adjusting status) but direct to a green card via immigration. It may also be possible to do it that way for EB3 since the E3 visa doesn't have a time limit. There is nothing illegal with having two visas in process at the same time.