[mceoin]

If you're interested in working in Australia and are a U.S. citizen, there are two visas of particular interest.

J1: Student work/travel visa. You can get a 12 month visa with little hassle so long as you either are a student or have graduated from a university (or recognized equivalent) in the last 12 months.

E3: Specialist worker visa, not difficult to obtain so long as you have a 4 year degree (or 3 years experience equivalent to each year of study for a degree) in a specialized industry, which might also include management, and you are offered a job that pays above the prevailing wage. Preferable conditions to many other visas, 2year renewable visa.

please note: I'm actually Australian living in the U.S.. We have reciprocal visa arrangements with the U.S. so the above is derived from the equivalent arrangement for Australians working in the U.S.

[cylinder]

Sorry but this is completely wrong. There is no "J1" or "E3" visa in Australia. The E3 is not reciprocated at all, Americans must get a 457 just like everyone else. For a J1 style short work/ internship/travel visa there is the working holiday visa (12 months, but can't work at a single employer longer than 6 months). It can be applied for online and is usually approved almost instantaneously.

[mceoin]

Also, while that wasn't a direct answer to your posted question, you can come over on a J1, and then find an internship once you're here.

[MichaelCrawford]

The Australian E3 sounds rather like the TN1 that Mexicans, Canadians and Americans can use to work in each others' countries. It is quite simple, quick and dirt cheap - my ex used it to live with me in Santa Cruz after she was offered a job as a bio lab assistant

For me to get an E3 I'd need a job offer which is possible to do over the Internet however it is much easier if one is local.

But what I could do is come as a tourist, look for work then if I were offered a job, I'd go to New Zealand or Thailand then apply for the E3.

What my ex did, she actually was working at the job for a little while but wasn't getting paid, while I saved up a few bucks. Then she and I went to visit an old friend of hers in Victoria for a few days. Real nice time, real romantic time with my honey.

Then when we flew back, we changed planes in Seattle. When we arrived in customs I pointed out that Bonita needed a TN1.

She had to present her diploma - transcripts would have worked as well but she happened to already have her diploma with her, as well as her written job offer.

The job title has to be on a specific list. At one time it was quite difficult to obtain the actual list, so of course immigration attorneys would SEO the bejeezus out of their websites by putting "LIST OF TN1 VISA JOB TITLES" in their title and h1 tags. IIRC there were only 20 - bio lab technician, chem lab technicial, systems analyst (WTF?).

In general they were all 4-year degree stuff, but not just any 4-year degree. Like a film studies degree wouldn't do.

Canada specifically at least at one time had a visa specifically for "computer programmers", this because coders earn quite a lot more in the US than in Canada.

However my experience is that it's quite a lot cheaper to live in Canada, as well as quite a lot more pleasant.

The reason I choose to live in the US, despite my ardent desire to return to Canada, is that I regard my duty to my Mother Country as being to contribute to the solutions of its many quite profoundly serious problems.