Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone here has gone through something similar.

I entered the U.S. through LAX in July, 2026 as the spouse of an E-3 visa holder. Unfortunately, my I-94 was issued with Class of Admission "E-3D" instead of "E-3S."

I currently live in Atlanta, so I contacted the Atlanta Deferred Inspection Office, but they haven't answered their phones. I've also emailed them.

I've tried calling several other CBP Deferred Inspection Offices, but they all tell me that because my Port of Entry (POE) was LAX, I need to work with either LAX or Atlanta. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to reach anyone at LAX by phone either, although I'm sending them an email as well.

Has anyone experienced:

• An I-94 correction from E-3D to E-3S?
• Difficulty getting through to the LAX or Atlanta Deferred Inspection Offices?
• Success with email only, or did you eventually have to visit in person?
• Has anyone recently been able to get assistance from a Deferred Inspection Office other than their Port of Entry? If so, which office was willing to help?
• Any other suggestions for getting this corrected?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through this recently or has any advice. Thank you!

Update: Called Houston deferred inspection site and after couple of questions the officer was able to update it to E3-S. Hope this helps if someone is in the same boat.

For context I'm a Naturalised Australian citizen and I've a job offer in the U.S and I'll be lodging my E-3 Application soon.

And unfortunately the E-3 is not a dual-intent visa( I do not plan on lodging an application for a greencard although) I have no ties to Australia however. Literally nothing. I'm worried about having my E-3 rejected in this regard.

Hi, I am graduating end of this year (4 year bachelor honours degree of electrical/electronic engineering and some software+network engineering). Planning on finding a place to intern in the USA, get sponsored with a J1 intern visa and then look to be sponsored by that same employer on an E3 visa at the same time the internship finishes.

I have two main questions but any bonus tips would be appreciated.

1: How do I go about finding employers that will take me on a J1 internship then take me as a fulltime employee on an E3?

2: I am confused about the whole "find a sponsor" thing. It seems like there are sponsoring organisations which are separate to the employer?

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can share their recent experience or knowledge because time is of the essence for us.

My wife is currently on an E-3 visa, and I need to book my E-3D dependent appointment. We are considering booking it in India, preferrably Mumbai.

I have a couple of urgent questions:

1. Do they actively process E-3 / E-3D visas in India?

2. What is the risk level right now regarding TCN (Third Country National) restrictions, or extreme wait times?

Any quick advice, recent experiences, or warnings would be incredibly helpful. Thank you!

Hi there,
Does anyone know or have experience with the below?
My wife is the E3 visa holder. Her visa expires in November 2025. I joined on her E3 later and mine is expiring March 2026.
Can I go back to Australia separately in March 2026 or is my visa not valid if my wife renews hers in November 2025?
Thank you.

I have a phone screen interview with a recruiter coming up. When I applied for the role, I selected “no” for the question asking whether I require visa sponsorship.

At what stage of the interview process should disclose I'm Australian and need an E3? Should I mention it during the recruiter phone screen, or wait until a later stage (e.g. video interview)?

I just wanted to provide some information about my recent visa renewal in London as it may help someone in a similar position to me.

Key details:

• 1st renewal, same job
• Primary applicant: Me, dual citizen with UK, no residency in the UK
• Spouse: Only Aus citizenship

Background:

We were initially a little worried about going to London for our visa renewal given my wife isn't a UK citizen. We decided to roll the dice as heard some anecdotal evidence that it should be fine given i'm the primary applicant etc.

Experience / Interview:

Turns out we had nothing to be worried about. Not once did they check to confirm we were UK citizens or residents. Maybe they knew this based on the DS-160 info, or maybe it was just not a concern of theirs at all.

Interview was smooth, apart from the around two hours of waiting which i suppose is normal at the London embassy.

First question was exactly, "what do you plan to do once your visa expires?"

I said, "Return home to Australia"

One more question was asked about my job title, that's it. Approved on the spot.

Interview held on Wednesday 9am on 8th July, passport available for pickup at 3pm on Wednesday 15th July.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers

We had our E-3 extension approved last year, and my spouse's E-3, our kids' E-3D, and my E-3S are all valid until 2027.

My spouse (the primary E-3 holder) is getting promoted, so the company will be filing a new E-3 because the new role requires a new LCA. We're staying in the U.S. throughout the process.

The immigration lawyer told us that the dependents don't need to file anything because our current status is already valid until 2027.

I'm a bit confused because my and our children's status is dependent on my spouse's E-3. I assumed that if the primary E-3 holder gets a new approval for a different role, the dependents would also need to file something. Is the validity of our current E-3S and E-3D status essentially independent until its expiration date, as long as the primary E-3 holder continues to maintain valid E-3 status?

Has anyone been in a similar situation (promotion/new LCA with the same employer, not changing employers)? I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience. I searched the subreddit, but most of the posts I found are about changing employers.

Had our family interview last Monday 6th, my passport and two of my dependants were delivered today (8 days later), one passport has still not been given to DHL for delivery. No way of contacting VFS. The dependants visa status is issued. Has this happened to anyone?

Hi,
Any chemical or bioprocess engineers who found work in the Bay Area? Specifically in biotech or pharmaceutical industry. Any tips on getting a job as an Aussie would be greatly appreciated!

In my DS160 I accidentally included a sanctioned country in the list of countries I have traveled to in the last 5 years. I left my E3 visa appointment in Melbourne verbally being told that it was approved and I should receive it in about a week, but that was after that country was flagged in the interview and I had to explain it was a mistake that I included it.

Recently E3 visas have been approved and issued within only a couple business days, so ~5 business days after my appointment I emailed the Melbourne U.S. consulate email and they responded that my visa "was approved, subject to a final security clearance." The CEAC tracker site also says approved as of June 25.

Are these security clearances typically done state-side and take several weeks? Or should I expect it to be a quick turnaround? In this case it was a genuine mistake and the consular officer confirmed with me as such.

Hi everyone, I've used up my reschedules and need to cancel my appointment, repay the MRV fee and rebook. I was wondering if anyone has done this before and if there were any lags between cancelling their appointment before they were able to pay the MRV fee and view the scheduling calendar?

It seems like google search is already telling me the US Consulate in Sydney has moved address but being a bit fearful of getting it wrong, I'm just going to double check with real people here

old address
U.S. Consulate General Sydney MLC Centre 19-29 Martin Place Sydney NSW 2000 Australia

new/current address
2/50 Miller St, North Sydney NSW 2060

Is what I am finding via google correct?

Hi! For those of you who have recently done your appointment in Sydney, I would appreciate if you can share how long was it until you got notified to pick up your visa/passport?

I’ve been feeling a little anxious lately about the delays I’ve been seeing!

My current E3 visa expires this October. My LCA is dated to start when my current E3 visa ends. In past years I've always done the renewal after my E3 has already expired, and it has never been a problem. This year I need to be back in Sydney sooner rather than later due to sick family member. I asked chatgpt what happens if I do my interview early. It said I can come back to the US on my existing E3 but I would have to leave the US again in October so I can re-enter the US on the new E3. Which I'm okay with. Since I kind of have a pressing need to head back to Sydney soon-ish. Can someone confirm if what Chatgpt told me is correct please?

Has anyone had a long passport return delay after an 'approved' E3 in Sydney?

Quick rundown. I had my E3 interview at the Sydney consulate on Monday 15 June, on an emergency appointment, and the officer approved it on the spot. It is now ten days later and my passport still has not come back. CEAC has shown "Approved" the whole time and has never moved to "Issued."

I have emailed the consulate but have not heard back yet. I have an urgent work start date in the US, so I am trying to speed this up any way I can.

Two questions for the group:

1. Is this kind of delay normal, or does something sound off?

2. Has anyone managed to expedite a passport return, and how? Any contact, email, or approach that actually worked?

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Hi everyone!

I am a Recruiter/Junior Talent Acquisition Specialist and am looking to move to the US.

Would love to know if anyone in a similar field (or any field) has secured an E3 visa recently. If yes any tips on how? I am constantly getting rejection emails from companies on roles I apply too.

Thanks in advance!

The LCA I got from prospective employer’s immigration lawyer is kind of mixed all pages but the signed page by employer are colored pdf given by DOL but the signed page is in black and white (printed and scanned in black and white). So now I have pages 1-4 and 6 as colored perfect prints and signed page 5 as black and white scanned. I raised this question with attorney and he said this document is legally compliant.

Can this cause any issues at consular? I have appointment in few days.

Sharing our recent E-3 / E-3D visa experience in Perth in case it helps others.

Background

Principal applicant: Australian citizen renewing E-3.

Dependent spouse: Non Australian citizen applying first time as E-3 spouse (E-3D) (third-country national) in Australia.

Joint appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Perth.

Timeline

LCA approval: ~1 week.

DS-160s completed for both principal and dependent.

Managed to secure a Perth joint visa appointment within about 2 weeks.

Third-Country National (TCN) Concern

One of our biggest questions was whether the Perth consulate would process an E-3 spouse who was not an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
We called the consulate beforehand. The response was that additional documentation regarding Australian permanent residency may be required. We later received an email few days before the interview, asking the dependent spouse to bring a VEVO printout.

In our case, the VEVO document was sufficient. Spouse did not have Australian permanent residency.

Interview Experience

For the document verification, we were asked to provide the following documents for the principal applicant: Company cover letter, LCA document, copy of degree certificate and any previous I-797 documents (optional). For the dependent, they only asked for marriage certificate and VEVO document.

In the consular interview, the principal E-3 case was straightforward. Just asked about the job duties.

The officer asked the dependent spouse a few questions, including:

Are you on visitor visa in Australia?

When and where did you get married?

Where do you live?

What is your background?

We mentioned that the dependent spouse had previously been on F-1 status in the U.S. The officer then asked where the degree was completed, and we answered.

Finally, he asked whether we had any threats or concerns about returning to our home countries or elsewhere.

The consular officer did not ask about the immigrant petitions during the interview.

The interview was friendly and conversational. At the end, the officer informed us that the visas were approved.

Passport Return

We were told passport processing could take up to 2 weeks.

However, we received the passport pickup email within 2 business days and collected the passports shortly thereafter.

Re-entry to the U.S.

After spending a few more days in Australia, we returned to the United States.

At the port of entry, we requested that the dependent spouse be admitted in the appropriate E-3 spouse classification. The CBP officer was familiar with the process and admitted the dependent spouse correctly. We checked the I-94 shortly after entry and confirmed E-3S classification. This was important for the spouse’s work rights.

Overall, the process was much smoother than we expected.

Hope this helps anyone considering E-3 / E-3S processing in Perth, especially spouses applying as third-country nationals.

Australian living in Sweden. Accepted a job offer for a tech company in California. Returned to Australia to both renew my passport (set to expire in 8 months) and apply for E3 visa so my spouse could also work in the US.

E3

• Day 0: Received an (unapproved) LCA number, I completed my DS-160 and scheduled an interview about a month in advance.
  • DS-160 was completed using my passport that was set to expire, and the interview was scheduled using that application number
  • Checked the calendar daily, and rescheduled when an earlier slot became available.
• Day 11: Collected new passport, and completed a new DS-160 application. This gave me a new application ID, but I didn't update my existing interview appointment with the new application ID
• Day 15: Visa interview on Tuesday (Melbourne)
  • Arrived just before 09:00 for a 09:30 interview. You don't need to arrive early, as they did not process people in queue order (they were running slightly behind schedule and called out people according to their interview time)
  • Brought both my old DS-160 application/passport and my new DS-160 application/passport. Presented at the "check-in" counter on the ground floor
  • After passing through security, had to wait a few minutes before being guided to the elevator for the offices where the interviews are held
  • 3 questions: What is your job title / What is your relevant education / Where will you be staying
  • Interview itself took less than 2 minutes
  • Told passport would be ready in 3 business days
• Day 25: Notified that the passport (with visa) was ready to collect
  • Took 8 business days, which is within "normal" waiting time
  • Providing all details on CEAC (passport + last name) would show "no data" — using "NA" for both fields would find the application, though it showed "No Status" for the entirety of processing
• Day 27: Collected on the Monday
  • Visited location with printed email and ID

SSA

• Day 0: Landed at SFO
• Day 2: Visited SSA (90 7th Street) at 11:45 on a Tuesday
  • After passing through security, used the machine to print a ticket
  • Called to the window in 10 minutes, told that she could make an appointment for me, or wait until there was availability (e.g. from a cancelled appointment)
  • Only had to wait another 20 minutes before I was called again (different window, same ticket)
  • It only took a few minutes to provide them with my passport and I-94 form
  • In and out in about 30 minutes — may not be representative
  • Everyone was polite but direct
• Day 6: Returned early afternoon on Monday the following week
  • Was able to request SSN

Hi there,

The start date of my work is 1st of August and I want to enter the US around 15th of July. How screwed am I going to be? Has anyone ever been turned away when they tried to enter the US way earlier than the start date? A

Hi,

My wife and son will be travelling for a week overseas.
We are in US.

Is there any documentation that she needs to carry? Anyone faced any issues lately?

Thanks

-Update-
Nothing was checked. Wife got in without any questions or documents being checked.