I came to Nashville as a tourist, in October 2005 in order to take a long and much needed holiday after completing my studies and some major campaign work for my previous company. In a very short period of time, I was to discover that there were some exciting things going on in the state and wanted to be a part of it. I had never considered working in the USA before and did not even know where to start. I asked a few friends and they got word of an "E3" visa that had been established specifically for Australians as a part of the USA-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and that my education and career history qualified me for it. So I did some reading up on it and started to look around work wise... 

Looking for a job sponsor in the USA is a hard job. Many companies understand that there are a lot of risks associated with sponsoring a foreigner to work for them, as well as a lot of associated costs. I applied for several jobs but to no avail. 

Around January 2006, I was starting to miss home and miss my friends, but I had ingrained in my mind that pursuing opportunities in the USA was well worthwhile for me, so I kept at it.

I became friends with some Aussies in town, just to get a taste of the homeland again and one notably was Peter Beare, who at the time was directing the Australian Festival. We began to start talking about the festival and the possibilities for it. In a short period of time, we realized that we had similar visions for the Festival's growth and the opportunities that existed for the festival in the long term. This is when Peter and I started talking about the possibility of me working for the Festival. 

We talked through the visa requirements and the options that were available in that regard... there was the Green Card, the H1-B, the E3 to flood our minds... and we eventually agreed that the E3 was the best option for us to follow considering our focus was on promoting the US-Australian relationship - so the ball started to roll... 

We contacted an Immigration Attorney, by the name of Linda Rose to discuss to options, and I went about gathering my paperwork together. Might I say there is a lot of paperwork associated with getting a visa!!! Academic qualifications, career history, personal history, sponsors job description, company history, tax forms, and others... To get this together takes time. Not only time, but getting a visa is not cheap, when you use an attorney. You are paying for their expertise in filing these sort of forms and liaising with the USCIS. 

Once this was gathered together, we submitted it across to the Attorney and waited... 

In the meantime, I was anxious... It is a nervous experience putting forward a request for a visa, and all sorts of questions run through your mind: 

What if they say no?
What if your qualifications fall short?
What if the visa quota is already reached?
What if we fill some form out wrong?

But, worrying does not help! You have to run with the faith that everything will work out as long as you and the attorney do their job properly. 

I went back to Australia in June 2006 to apply at the US Consulate in Melbourne for the visa. When I got there, the process was simple for them, they reviewed my package which contained all my education and work history, my job description, the employers company details and proof of existence, and the application itself, and within 5 minutes of interviewing - they approved the visa - no questions asked! 

The lesson I learnt in this process that if you do your homework, and use good people to advise you and plan enough in advance - this is a relatively painless process. The E3 visa is a fantastic visa and enables me to do the things I wanted to do career wise, which was grow a fantastic festival with Peter and mix with amazing people in the South. I really had nothing to stress about