An Overview Of The Most Common U.S. Visas

Late last month, there was excitement in Ireland when the lower house of the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would open up a quantity of visas designated for Australians to Irish citizens. The 2-year working visa in question is the E3 which was introduced in 2005 and is currently only available to Australians as part of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. 10,500 visas are allocated to Australians every year but only about half of the allotment is typically used.

The fate of the visa is still hanging in the balance and it requires a unanimous vote in the Senate before it can be signed into law by the president. Given that most Irish people were not even aware of the existence of that visa, this chart uses CNN data to provide an overview of the most common U.S. visas and why they exist.