11/09/2026
The US has proposed a new rule to scrap the 60-day grace period available to certain foreign workers, including skilled workers on H-1B visas, to find a new job after losing employment.
The move will significantly impact Indian technology workers hired by tech companies and others on H-1B visas.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
The new rule titled “Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period” will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has invited comments from the public within the next 60 days.
If the rule is finalised, foreign workers facing job loss before the expiry of their visas would need to leave the United States immediately, unless they have separate authorisation to remain.
“This proposal restores a direct relationship between an alien’s nonimmigrant status and the specific employment or activity that formed the basis of his or her admission or grant of status in the United States and reduces administrative burden,” the DHS said.
Under the proposal, the DHS would eliminate the discretionary, maximum 60-day grace period currently accorded to E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 and TN nonimmigrants and their dependents, whose employment ceases.
The grace period was added under Obama-era regulations to allow workers to more easily change employers by letting them remain in the US to pursue new job offers.
In its proposal, DHS acknowledges that if the grace period regulation is eliminated, some affected foreign nationals could be issued Notices to Appear (NTA), the government’s first step in initiating removal (deportation) proceedings, Fragomen, an immigration attorney firm, said.
The prospect of NTA issuance may be likelier for those in nonimmigrant categories that require an employer to immediately notify the government when employment of the foreign national has ceased, including H-1B, O-1, and P.
