[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 45 (Monday, March 9, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1541-H1542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ADDING IRELAND TO E-3 NONIMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM

  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2877) to add Ireland to the E-3 nonimmigrant visa program.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2877

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. E-3 VISAS FOR IRISH NATIONALS.

       (a) In General.--Section 101(a)(15)(E)(iii) of the 
     Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
     1101(a)(15)(E)(iii)) is amended by inserting ``or, on a basis 
     of reciprocity as determined by the Secretary of State, a 
     national of Ireland,'' after ``Australia''.
       (b) Employer Requirements.--Section 212 of the Immigration 
     and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating the second subsection (t) (as added by 
     section 1(b)(2)(B) of Public Law 108-449 (118 Stat. 3470)) as 
     subsection (u); and
       (2) by adding at the end of subsection (t)(1) (as added by 
     section 402(b)(2) of Public Law 108-77 (117 Stat. 941)) the 
     following:
       ``(E) In the case of an attestation filed with respect to a 
     national of Ireland described in section 101(a)(15)(E)(iii), 
     the employer is, and will remain during the period of 
     authorized employment of such Irish national, a participant 
     in good standing in the E-Verify program described in section 
     403(a) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
     Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note).''.
       (c) Application Allocation.--Paragraph (11) of section 
     214(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
     1184(g)(11)) is amended to read as follows:
       ``(11)(A) The Secretary of State may approve initial 
     applications submitted for aliens described in section 
     101(a)(15)(E)(iii) only as follows:
       ``(i) For applicants who are nationals of the Commonwealth 
     of Australia, not more than 10,500 for a fiscal year.
       ``(ii) For applicants who are nationals of Ireland, not 
     more than a number equal to the difference between 10,500 and 
     the number of applications approved in the prior fiscal year 
     for aliens who are nationals of the Commonwealth of 
     Australia.
       ``(B) The approval of an application described under 
     subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be deemed for numerical control 
     purposes to have occurred on September 30 of the prior fiscal 
     year.
       ``(C) The numerical limitation under subparagraph (A) shall 
     only apply to principal aliens and not to the spouses or 
     children of such aliens.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon) and the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. 
Armstrong) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania.


                             General Leave

  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2877, a bill to add Ireland to 
the E-3 nonimmigrant visa program.
  In 2005, soon after the United States and Australia finalized the 
Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, Congress created the E-3 visa 
program. That program provides up to 10,500 temporary visas for 
Australian nationals who are pre-approved by U.S. Citizenship and 
Immigration Services to work in a specialty occupation for a sponsoring 
United States employer.
  A specialty occupation is one that requires the theoretical and 
practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in 
fields such as science, engineering, and research and development in 
emerging technologies. Since the program's inception, Australia has 
only ever used a fraction of the 10,500 E-3 visas that are available 
each year. For example, in fiscal year 2019, only 5,800 E-3 visas were 
issued to Australian nationals.
  H.R. 2877 does not increase the number of visas that may be issued, 
but instead allows Irish nationals to use any unused visas. That bill 
would take the number of E-3 visas that are left unused by Australia in 
a given fiscal year and make that same number of visas available to 
Irish nationals the following fiscal year.
  This is a commonsense bill that recognizes the important bond we 
share with two of our country's closest and most steadfast allies. This 
bill is not controversial, and, in fact, passed the House by voice vote 
in 2018 when my Republican colleagues held the majority in this 
Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my friend, Mr. Neal, chairman of the 
Committee on Ways and Means, for continuing to champion this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2877, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2877, a bill to add 
Ireland to the E-3 nonimmigrant visa program.
  As we approach St. Patrick's Day, this bill recognizes the unique 
friendship and working relationship between the United States and 
Ireland.
  H.R. 2877 allows nationals of Ireland to be eligible to apply for 
unused E-3 nonimmigrant visas subject to Ireland providing reciprocal 
access to U.S. nationals. Holders of the E-3 temporary work visa must 
be working in a specialty occupation while in the United States.
  A specialty occupation is one that is defined in the Immigration and 
Nationality Act as requiring:
  One, ``theoretical and practical application of a body of highly 
specialized knowledge; and
  Two, ``attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree in the specific 
specialty, or its equivalent, as a minimum for entry into the 
occupation in the United States.''
  The E-3 applicant must have a job offer from an employer in the 
United States, and that employer must get a foreign labor certification 
from the U.S. Department of Labor prior to filing a petition with U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services.
  H.R. 2877 also requires that employers using Irish E-3 visa holders 
in their workforce are, and will remain, participants in good standing 
in the E-Verify program. This means that such employers must use E-
Verify to ensure those that they employ are eligible to work in the 
United States.
  E-3 nonimmigrant visas are currently only available to nationals of 
Australia and are capped at 10,500 per year.

[[Page H1542]]

  Australian nationals have never used all of the 10,500 authorized 
visas in a given year, nor have they even come close to doing so. In 
fact, the highest number used was during the last fiscal year when 
5,807 were issued.
  H.R. 2877 provides that nationals of Ireland can utilize the visas 
not used by Australians in a given calendar year. For operational 
purposes, the visa can be issued for the following year but will be 
counted against the previous year's cap. So the bill does not increase 
the number of visas authorized and allows Australia, for whose 
nationals the program was originally created, to have first access to 
those numbers.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2877 is a simple bill that reflects the continued 
friendship between Ireland and the United States. I urge my colleagues 
to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Neal).
  Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2877, to make Irish 
nationals eligible for temporary admission to the United States through 
the existing E-3 visa program.
  And I thank the gentleman from North Dakota for his offering today 
and his support. I worked last year with Chairman Sensenbrenner on this 
as well.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation has broad support, and last session it 
passed the Congress unanimously.
  Created in 2005 as a result of the U.S.-Australian Trade Agreement--
which I voted for, supported, and spoke in support of--the agreement 
said, essentially, that the E-3 visa program, as constructed, would 
make 10,500 visas annually available to skilled Australian nationals 
for temporary work.

  This program has been a successful pathway for qualified Australian 
citizens to gain valuable professional experience in the United States. 
However, our Australian friends have only used roughly half of the 
available visas during the past decade.
  E-3 visas are limited to professionals visiting the United States to 
perform services in specialty occupations in a confirmed job from a 
United States employer.
  E-3 visa applicants also must have a university degree, or its 
equivalent, as a minimum for entry into the United States. The E-3 visa 
allows the holder to stay in America for 2 years with the option to 
renew.
  This legislation--and I want to make sure that we emphasize this--
this legislation does not change the requirements of the current E-3 
visa program recipients or increase the number of visas made available. 
In broad strokes, my bill will simply enable qualified Irish workers to 
annually access unused Australian E-3 visas from the previous fiscal 
year. Once passed, the Irish Government has pledged to adopt a 
reciprocal arrangement that would allow Americans to work in Ireland 
under the same guidelines.
  The E-3 visas, combined with these reciprocal arrangements, would 
provide a welcome and long overdue movement of citizens between Ireland 
and the United States in both directions, which is so important to 
Irish America, the United States, and, indeed, Ireland.
  As many of you in this Chamber already know, legal migration between 
the United States and Ireland has been extremely limited now for many, 
many years.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I note the support that we have across the 
United States and unanimously in the Congress. It has the backing of 
both the White House and the Irish Government, whose prime minister, 
Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, will be welcomed to the Capitol on 
Thursday for the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon.
  In my opinion, this bill is a win-win opportunity for the United 
States and for Ireland, and for the citizens of both countries who will 
benefit from this very innovative and beneficial exchange program.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the Committee on the Judiciary chairman, Jerry 
Nadler, and Judiciary's Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship 
chairwoman, Zoe Lofgren, for swiftly moving this legislation to the 
floor. And I do take special note of Jim Sensenbrenner's contribution 
for helping us get to this moment.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2877.
  Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill is pretty simple. The opening is the closing. 
This is one of those times where I think common sense prevails. We are 
not increasing visas. We are continuing a strong relationship between 
Ireland and the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, once again, I would urge my colleagues to support this 
bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2877.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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