This article originally appeared in The Boston Herald on November 2, 2025.
As of September, Irish professionals seeking American employment face a $100,000 barrier: the new cost for an H-1B visa petition. Meanwhile, approximately 5,000 E-3 visas, which cost just $315 and are set aside for Australian professionals, go unused annually. Legislation granting Irish nationals access to this surplus passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, but became stuck in the Senate after a single senator used a procedural hold to block its progress.
Given this history and the Trump administration’s broader clampdown on immigration, it may seem strange to argue that the circumstances are right to add Ireland to the E-3 program now. However, the administration’s transactional outlook on world affairs creates a compelling logic for why Ireland deserves a high-skill visa carveout.
Ireland represents America’s fifth-largest foreign direct investment destination at $467 billion, larger than U.S. investment in China. Currently, 970 U.S. companies operate in Ireland, directly employing 210,000 people and spending $48 billion annually in the Irish economy. Sixteen of the top 20 global technology companies maintain significant Irish operations: Google employs approximately 5,500 in Dublin, Meta employs 2,000, and Apple employs 6,000 in Cork.
Reciprocally, approximately 500 Irish firms employ 118,000 Americans across all 50 states. This economic integration depends on talent mobility. Irish H-1B usage had already declined 75% from 2,161 approvals in 2011 to 533 in 2019, before recent fee increases. According to data analyzed by The Irish Times, only 372 Irish workers held H-1B status by September 2025. The new $100,000 additional charge has now made this pathway prohibitive.
