Trump Administration Seeks to End 60-Day Grace Period for H-1B Visa Holders

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed eliminating a long-standing grace period that allowed certain skilled foreign workers to remain in the United States for up to 60 days after losing their jobs while they searched for new sponsorship or adjusted their status. The change, detailed in a Federal Register notice published last week, would apply to holders of H-1B visas as well as E-1, E-2, L-1, O-1 and TN visas, making those workers subject to immediate removal proceedings once their employment tied to the visa ends.

The proposal reverses a policy that took effect in the final days of the Obama administration. That earlier rule had created a uniform window for nonimmigrant workers to transition between employers or statuses without automatically falling out of compliance. Officials now argue the grace period added unnecessary administrative complexity and weakened the direct link between a worker’s visa and their specific job. Public comments on the plan will be accepted for 60 days.

The stakes for individuals are immediate. Soumi Chanda, who moved to the United States from Kolkata in 2011, secured an H-1B visa on her first attempt in 2020 after years of building a career in business development and completing a master’s degree. She worked at Amazon until a layoff last year left her with the existing 60-day window to find new sponsorship or leave the country. Chanda ultimately returned to India, ending more than a decade of life built in the United States. Her experience illustrates how even workers who clear the highly competitive H-1B lottery remain vulnerable to sudden employment changes.

H-1B visas are capped at 85,000 new approvals each year and are heavily concentrated in technology, engineering and health care fields. Companies in those sectors have long cited the need for specialized talent that domestic pipelines have not fully met. Removing the grace period would increase the risk for both employers and employees, since any job loss could trigger rapid departure rather than an orderly search for replacement roles. Analysts note that such uncertainty could discourage foreign graduates of U.S. universities from remaining or prompt current visa holders to seek opportunities in countries with more stable residency rules.

The proposal arrives amid broader administration efforts to tighten legal immigration channels. Earlier changes have included stricter scrutiny of H-1B applications and higher wage requirements. By linking status more tightly to a single employer, the new rule would further reduce flexibility for workers who already navigate annual renewals, prevailing-wage rules and lottery uncertainty.

Immigration researchers have documented that mid-career disruptions are common in the tech sector, where layoffs have affected thousands of H-1B holders in recent years. Without a grace period, those workers would face compressed timelines for securing new offers, filing petitions and obtaining approvals. The administrative burden cited by DHS would shift instead to individuals and their families, who must arrange international moves on short notice.

The notice does not specify how enforcement would handle cases already in transition or whether limited exceptions would remain. If finalized, the rule would represent one of the most significant alterations to nonimmigrant work-visa policy since the grace period was introduced nearly a decade ago.