• you can sponsor your wife while living in Australia
• yes, going the I-130 route will be the quickest for you. (unless of course she could get her own work visa by being transferred to the US by her work)
• , you can submit the I-130 while both outside the US and travel together when the visa is issued. You can't enter the US while the visa is pending.
• the K-3 is more or less redundant now.
• even if you are only staying in the US for a few years, it either a I-130 or a work visa route.
• currently spouse visa is taking around 12 months to process.

Petition for Alien Relative

Use this form if you (the petitioner) are a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or U.S. national and you need to establish your qualifying relationship with an eligible relative (the beneficiary) who wishes to come to or stay in the United States permanently and apply for the Permanent...

www.uscis.gov

 

In brief..

Does it make a difference that I am (sponsor) not domiciled in the US when applying for the visa?

Yes, and No. For the petition it does not matter, but for the affidavit of it can make a difference. However if you have been working for a US company then you may be able to dodge the most common issue about being able to demonstrate the US income or other readily available assets that can be liquidated to meet the sponsorship requirements.

Is the I-130 the best Visa for her given that we might only spend a few in the US and then move back to Australia?

Another option to explore would be an E3 Speciality Occupation Worker from Australia visa. That would require her to tee up a job (presumably with a US branch of the same ing firm) t
It would definitely be quicker than a PR visa (80% adjudicated in 4 months) but it is a temporary visa that would have to be renewed every couple of years and if you decided to stay then you would have to go through the adjustment of status processes to get a green card.
Depending on how senior your partner is there is also the possiblility of the L1 Intra company transfer visas.

Each of these options come with different pros cons and contraints you will need to do your research

Can we start the I-130 Visa while we are both outside the US and then travel together to the US and get settled while the visa application is pending?

As crawford has stated the answer is NO. As you are already married the K visas are not relevant to your circumstances

What are realistic wait times under the new istration?

USCIS processing times for the I-130 is currently 16.5 months (80% of cases adjudicated in the last 6 months) but Australian being a 5 eyes country etc I suspect Crawfords 12 months could be about closer to what you would experience.

There are limited circumstances under which you can get the local consulate to adjudicate your petition, but the only one that might possibly work is if you actually had a US job offer PRIOR to submitting the petition.

 

Thank you both Moulard! Great !

I'm wondering what exactly an employee sponsorship entails in order for a company to qualify sponsoring someone. I could ask my current employer (small startup) to do that provided that we would shoulder cost. Her current firm is not keen on sponsoring to avoid hassle and paperwork.

Bottomline though is that we are not in a terrible rush and 12 to 15 month is not a show stopper - actually somewhat of a timeline we discussed to get prepared.

 

I'm wondering what exactly an employee sponsorship entails in order for a company to qualify sponsoring someone.

For the E-3 visa Its pretty straight forward process for employers...

Employer needs to..

1. negotiate an offer for the employee who is capable to perform services in a specialty occupation that "requires theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree in the specific specialty"
2. file for a Labour Condition Application to gain approval to hire an Australian national
3. provide the employee with the certified LCA that is required as part of the visa application

As far as I am aware there is no fee associated with the LCA, and there are no qualification requirements for an employer beyond a willingness to show that the wages being offered meet certain requirements, that working conditions of other employees will not be affected, and that this isn't a strike breaking initiative.

There are of course fees associated with the visa application, priority processing if desired and visa issue,

For the Intra-Company transfer L visas there is a lot more too it.. and I am not really familiar with it. But others here have been through the process

 

Thank you @Moulard! The I-130 might be the way to go with possible employment sponsored visa as backup (don't really want to open a can of worms within the company on that topic).

Since we are not sure about future plans and in no rush, I assume we can always kick off the I-130 process with a longer processing horizon.

I assume that there aren't any repercussions in not activating an approved I-130 should our plans change at that time (persona non grata, etc.)?

 

From my understanding an I-130 once approved does not have an expiry date; although I have read that if you have not submitted further documentation within a year after it has been approved it goes into abeyance. I don't think that means you can let it lapse for say several years and then just pick it up again. Obviously, personal circumstances can change over the years.

You mentioned: I could ask my current employer (small startup) to do that provided that we would shoulder cost.

Your current company could only transfer you (L1 visa) if they have an already established office/business in the US. YOU cannot shoulder the cost of the visa or the application.

 

Your current company could only transfer you (L1 visa) if they have an already established office/business in the US. YOU cannot shoulder the cost of the visa or the application.

I think you have conflated a few things...
The OP is a US citizen.. the visa is for his spouse. The OP and spouse do not work for the same company so an L1 to the OPs company would not be possible, but an L1 to a US office of her current employer (a global ing firm) might if she was in a senior enough role. If not, then an E3 would be a pathway to look into

The I-130 might be the way to go with possible employment sponsored visa as backup (don't really want to open a can of worms within the company on that topic).

A word of warning.. once you have submitted a petition for an I-130, then any future application by your spouse for an E3 visa would be rejected until the application is withdrawn, refused or is istratively deemed abandoned. And even then it might be problematic because an intent to migrate has previously been demonstrated.

This is because as part of an E3 visa you need to show that you do not intent do immigrate to the US.. as it is technical a temporary visa.. albeit one that can be renewed indefinitely.

So really the two of you are are going to need to pick a horse and stick with it until such time as you are in the US.

 

I think you have conflated a few things...
The OP is a US citizen.. the visa is for his spouse. The OP and spouse do not work for the same company so an L1 to the OPs company would not be possible, but an L1 to a US office of her current employer (a global ing firm) might if she was in a senior enough role. If not, then an E3 would be a pathway to look into

duh.... quite correct. OP mentioned asking his company about sponsorship.... I completely forgot HE is a U citizen does not need any sponsorship.

 

Indeed. But I guess that does make it worth while to clearly point out that both the L1 and E3 visas are tied to a specific sponsoring employer as it is a work visa and while it is possible to change E3 employer in the US (new LCA etc required) the nature of the L1 means that would not be possible.

All in all, I suspect that the I-130 route is probably the better path to take if they don't have any immediate plans or urgent need to move to the US. It has the advantage that the spouse could work for any employer, and indeed her current employer might look more favourable to a transfer to a US office if they don't have to go through visa istrative. I have been through that particular dance before .. the "oh its too hard to transfer you" position somehow magically changed when I turned up in the US .. and I didn't have all the visa hassles that would have been involved if I was not a US person.

On an IR-1 visa they can then stay in the US indefinitely, and if, for whatever reason they decide it is not right for them and decamp back to Australia then the only thing they need to be mindful of is the fact that they can only stay out of the US for a year at a time (2 with a re-entry permit) after which time for immigration purposes at least she will have been deemed to have abandoned permanent residence.

To a limited extend one can game the system with regular trips to US territory... Hawaii/ Guam are a nice holiday/remote working spot to keep the greencard active.