Ireland may be allocated more US work visas after two US congressmen reintroduced bipartisan legislation.

The move, to add Ireland to the E-3 visa programme, could make thousands of US work visas available to Irish applicants.

Democratic Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal and Republican Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, who are sponsoring the bill, are co-chairs of the Friends of Ireland Caucus on Capitol Hill.

Two previous attempts to pass the legislation failed.

Trade deal

The E-3 came in as part of the 2005 US-Australian trade agreement and has made 10,500 visas available to skilled Australian nationals annually.

However, only half of the available visas have been used in the past ten years.

The Neal-Kelly bill would enable qualified Irish workers to access the unused Australian E-3 visas going forward.

E-3 visas are for "specialty occupations" in a confirmed job from a US employer.