Ask HN: Why don't smaller US companies sponsor E-3 visas?

I've noticed a lot of smaller US companies will not even consider engineering applicants that need E-3 visa[1] sponsorship. Does anyone know why this is the case? I'm talking about senior software engineering roles or above.

Afaik, the employer needs to apply for Labor Condition Application [2] and then help the employee with applying for the visa. I estimate roughly ~10k in costs and ~4 week turn around.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-3_visa

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Condition_Application#Attestations

ivanvanderbyl 4y

I've had 2 E3 visas for startups, the process is very simple, and costs about $2500-$3000 total to set up, including hiring an immigration attorney.

I can only speculate that a lot of startups have no idea whats involved since the E3 is a very niche visa type.

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