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If you are an Australian software engineer, you have one advantage that other nationalities do not: the E3 visa. It is a US working visa that is specifically re

If you are an Australian software engineer, you have one advantage that other nationalities do not: the E3 visa. It is a US working visa that is specifically reserved for Australians and consequently it is much easier to get than an H1B. My advice is that the Australian tech industry just got nuked from orbit, so come work in the USA. The pay is better, the work is more interesting and the tech companies actually have sway over policy here.

cylinder 8y ago
the US has already been doing this stuff for a long time, without it being legal. They can always pressure you and threaten to ruin any engineer's life if they don't do what they want. and who do you think came up with this legislation? It's US Intelligence. Australia is their testing lab, just like Macca's does.
- jacques_chester 8y ago
  Apple stared down the FBI in a mass murder case, because it was possible for them to do so. They won't be able to do that in Australia. I don't like the US shonkiness any more than anyone else. But these situations are not precisely equivalent, especially since this bill passed.
  - brokenmachine 8y ago
    The US government ignores their laws, while Australia passes terrible ones. Six of one, half dozen of the other.
    - MaxBarraclough 8y ago
      > The US government ignores their laws and yet > Apple stared down the FBI in a mass murder case, because it was [legally] possible for them to do so.
      - brokenmachine 8y ago
        The US government couldn't make Apple help them in public, but they just spy on everything they can themselves behind closed doors. So far we haven't seen the Australian government ignore its own laws so completely.
        brokenmachine 8y ago
        Could the downvoter please explain why, or educate themselves about Edward Snowden?
  - stonith 8y ago
    I don't see how it's any different to the situations with NSLs in the US. There's a veil of secrecy and no real limits on the scope of request with very harsh penalties for non-compliance.
brokenmachine 8y ago
You've got Trump. Also the NSA. Maybe I'll just work on a farm instead of this technology madness.
- jacques_chester 8y ago
  Trump won't last forever and Apple and others have been staring down three-letter agencies for a while now.
siquick 8y ago
but health care
- jacques_chester 8y ago
  Typically included in your benefits package as part of the job. You don't have to give up Australian citizenship to get an E3, so if necessary you can fly back to Australia for treatment.
  - brokenmachine 8y ago
    >if necessary you can fly back to Australia for treatment If a sickness/injury is bad enough to need to fly back to Australia, there's a pretty good chance you won't be allowed on a plane.
    - mvid 8y ago
      That is naive and simplistic. Sure, if you were hit by a car you probably won't be making a flight. But cancer? Elective surgery? Physical therapy? There are plenty of slow roll medical issues that can survive a 16 hour plane trip.
      - brokenmachine 8y ago
        Sure, but it's financial ruin if it isn't one of those things, even if you survive. Who's being naive? That's fine. You're ok with taking that chance, I'm not.
  - MuppetMaster42 8y ago
    If you want to get double taxed, sure you can keep your Australian Medicare and private health insurance. As far as the ATO is concerned, unless you discontinue both, you're considered an Australian resident for tax purposes. Even though the US considers you a resident alien, the ATO requires you to at least look like you won't be coming back for >1 year.
sn41 8y ago
I am not sure that migrating will help. If I read the bill right, it implies that every person providing any service used (or "likely to be used") in Australia is under legal obligation to insert these backdoors. I don't think it specifically mentions software developed in Australia. The bill seems to be a nightmare - it even says that the technical assistance request can be given orally. What the bloody ....? To me, it reads like this - if you're a Nigerian developer working in Germany and refuse to do this for some software (after all, every software is "likely to be used" in Australia), you are still breaking the Australian law. But you need not be prosecutable if Germany does not have an extradition agreement with Australia. If you are an Australian anywhere in the world however, then refusing this makes you a criminal, probably later a fugitive. This is my understanding. Can someone confirm?
- zanny 8y ago
  Australia does not have the economy to force such a perverse violation of privacy on foreign business. If they try it, Google et al will be much better served pulling a Spain and blocking access in Oz than by complying. The courts of most nations would laugh out the notion of extraditing their own citizens to Australia for hosting a website and not giving the AU government a backdoor to it.
- rmbeard 8y ago
  Just geoblock Australia.
blu_prussian 8y ago
I've heard this from a number of reliable sources (friends in the industry based in TX and other places). Absolutely considering the leap as soon as is feasible

cylinder 8y ago

the US has already been doing this stuff for a long time, without it being legal. They can always pressure you and threaten to ruin any engineer's life if they don't do what they want. and who do you think came up with this legislation? It's US Intelligence. Australia is their testing lab, just like Macca's does.

jacques_chester 8y ago
Apple stared down the FBI in a mass murder case, because it was possible for them to do so. They won't be able to do that in Australia. I don't like the US shonkiness any more than anyone else. But these situations are not precisely equivalent, especially since this bill passed.
- brokenmachine 8y ago
  The US government ignores their laws, while Australia passes terrible ones. Six of one, half dozen of the other.
  - MaxBarraclough 8y ago
    > The US government ignores their laws and yet > Apple stared down the FBI in a mass murder case, because it was [legally] possible for them to do so.
    - brokenmachine 8y ago
      The US government couldn't make Apple help them in public, but they just spy on everything they can themselves behind closed doors. So far we haven't seen the Australian government ignore its own laws so completely.
      - brokenmachine 8y ago
        Could the downvoter please explain why, or educate themselves about Edward Snowden?
- stonith 8y ago
  I don't see how it's any different to the situations with NSLs in the US. There's a veil of secrecy and no real limits on the scope of request with very harsh penalties for non-compliance.

brokenmachine 8y ago

You've got Trump. Also the NSA. Maybe I'll just work on a farm instead of this technology madness.

jacques_chester 8y ago
Trump won't last forever and Apple and others have been staring down three-letter agencies for a while now.

siquick 8y ago

but health care

jacques_chester 8y ago
Typically included in your benefits package as part of the job. You don't have to give up Australian citizenship to get an E3, so if necessary you can fly back to Australia for treatment.
- brokenmachine 8y ago
  >if necessary you can fly back to Australia for treatment If a sickness/injury is bad enough to need to fly back to Australia, there's a pretty good chance you won't be allowed on a plane.
  - mvid 8y ago
    That is naive and simplistic. Sure, if you were hit by a car you probably won't be making a flight. But cancer? Elective surgery? Physical therapy? There are plenty of slow roll medical issues that can survive a 16 hour plane trip.
    - brokenmachine 8y ago
      Sure, but it's financial ruin if it isn't one of those things, even if you survive. Who's being naive? That's fine. You're ok with taking that chance, I'm not.
- MuppetMaster42 8y ago
  If you want to get double taxed, sure you can keep your Australian Medicare and private health insurance. As far as the ATO is concerned, unless you discontinue both, you're considered an Australian resident for tax purposes. Even though the US considers you a resident alien, the ATO requires you to at least look like you won't be coming back for >1 year.

sn41 8y ago

I am not sure that migrating will help. If I read the bill right, it implies that every person providing any service used (or "likely to be used") in Australia is under legal obligation to insert these backdoors. I don't think it specifically mentions software developed in Australia. The bill seems to be a nightmare - it even says that the technical assistance request can be given orally. What the bloody ....? To me, it reads like this - if you're a Nigerian developer working in Germany and refuse to do this for some software (after all, every software is "likely to be used" in Australia), you are still breaking the Australian law. But you need not be prosecutable if Germany does not have an extradition agreement with Australia. If you are an Australian anywhere in the world however, then refusing this makes you a criminal, probably later a fugitive. This is my understanding. Can someone confirm?

zanny 8y ago
Australia does not have the economy to force such a perverse violation of privacy on foreign business. If they try it, Google et al will be much better served pulling a Spain and blocking access in Oz than by complying. The courts of most nations would laugh out the notion of extraditing their own citizens to Australia for hosting a website and not giving the AU government a backdoor to it.
rmbeard 8y ago
Just geoblock Australia.

blu_prussian 8y ago

I've heard this from a number of reliable sources (friends in the industry based in TX and other places). Absolutely considering the leap as soon as is feasible