The United States is currently mulling a proposal to scrap the 60-day window for job search provided to foreign workers with non-immigrant visas after layoffs. The move, if it comes to fruition, may force these foreign visa workers to leave the country after job loss.
This is currently under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), according to its website. While the specific details of the proposal are not yet publically known, if finalised, the proposal would end the 60-day grace period accorded to certain principal non-immigrants and their dependents if the principal’s employment ceases before their period of stay expires.
What do we know about the proposal?
If the proposal clears the federal review process, the public would be given 30 to 60 days to submit comments before DHS considers a final rule. The regulation would not take effect until it is formally finalised.
The rule applies to E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 and TN categories of non-immigrant visa holders and their dependents, according to PTI news agency. Further details about the proposal will be known after it is published in the Federal Register.
This would impact Indians working in the US on H-1B visas. According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 399,402 H-1B petitions, covering both initial and continuing employment, were approved in fiscal year 2024. The agency’s data shows that 71% of approved beneficiaries were born in India, far ahead of any other country.
However, the proposal is still under review by OMB and has not yet become a final regulation. Therefore, eligible workers continue to have the existing protections under current rules. Even if the proposed rule is cleared, it would first need to be published in the Federal Register, following which it would go through a public-comment period. DHS would then have to consider the comments before issuing a final rule.
What is the 60-day rule in effect now?
Since 2017, DHS regulations extended the allotted time for H-1B workers and others with nonimmigrant status to find another employer sponsor or change status before their period of authorised stay expires, according to Bloomberg Law.
The removal of the 60-day grace period would mean immediate consequences for workers’ legal status if they’re affected by layoffs.
“Regulations permit a discretionary grace period that allows workers in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, or TN classifications (and their dependents) to be considered as having maintained status in that same classification after the end of employment for up to 60 consecutive calendar days or until the end of the authorized nonimmigrant validity period, whichever is shorter (the “maximum 60-day grace period”),” the USCIS states on its website.
However, it also states that the worker also has the option to “preserve their period of authorised stay” by filing, if eligible, an application to change their “nonimmigrant status, an application for adjustment of status, or an application for a compelling circumstances employment authorization document, or if the worker is the beneficiary of a nonfrivolous petition to change employer before their nonimmigrant status expires.”
