Ireland has aggressively lobbied the White House to open up the E3 visa to its citizens.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar visited the White House on Thursday and Trump told reporters the E3 was high on the agenda.

“We’re going to be talking about that today,” Trump said.

“It’s a very important part of our conversation.”

The E3 is a two-year visa allowing Australian professionals and their spouses to work in the US with no limit to the number of additional two-year extensions.

Former Australian ambassador to the US Joe Hockey successfully lobbied the White House and members of Congress during recent attempts by Ireland to take part in the E3 program.

Each year 10,500 E3 visas are made available to Australians but only about half are snapped up.

Ireland wants access to the visas Australians do not take up.

Australia was first rewarded with the E3 in 2005 following its support for the US during the Iraq War and the signing of the US-Australia free trade agreement.

Ireland’s latest push made a successful first step on Monday when the US House of Representatives passed a bill to allow Irish citizens to become eligible for Australia’s annual unused allocation.

In 2018 the bill also passed the house but was blocked when it entered the US Senate and failed to get unanimous support.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton voted against the bill.

– AAP