USA Plans to End H-1B 60 Day Grace Period After Unemployment

The United States has proposed a new rule to end the 60-day grace period available to certain foreign workers, including skilled workers on H-1B visas, after losing employment. 

This rule will affect Indian Tech workers hired by tech companies and others on H-1B visas.

The new rule is titled “Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period”. The rule will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS has invited public comments within the next 60 days.

If the rule is finalised, foreign workers facing job loss before their visas expire would have to leave the country immediately unless they have another company to join. DHS remarked, “This proposal restores a direct relationship between an alien’s non-immigrant status and the specific employment or activity that formed the basis of his/her admission on grant of status in the United States and reduces administration burden.” 

DHS would eliminate the discretionary, maximum 60-day grace period currently accorded to E-1, E-2, E-3, E-4, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN nonimmigrants and their dependents after their employment ends. 

The H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The grace period was added under Obama-era regulations to make it easier for workers to change employers by allowing them to remain in the US to pursue new job offers. 

Tech companies depend on H-1B to hire thousands of employees each year from countries like China and India. DHS created the up to 60-day grace period rule in 2016 to enhance job portability, stability, and flexibility for high-skilled workers and make it easier for US employers to hire and transition nonimmigrant talent.

The grace period applies whether employment ends voluntarily or involuntarily.