The Trump administration has proposed eliminating the 60-day grace period for H-1B visa holders who lose their jobs [1].
This change would remove the current buffer that allows foreign professionals to seek new employment or arrange their departure after being fired. If implemented, the policy would force thousands of visa holders to leave the U.S. immediately upon the termination of their employment [1].
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the agency behind the plan to end the grace period [3]. Administration officials said the goal is to tighten immigration enforcement and prevent the perceived abuse of the existing system following layoffs [1, 3].
Currently, the 60-day window [1] serves as a critical lifeline for foreign workers. Without it, professionals would have no time to transfer their visa sponsorship to a different employer. This shift could impact hundreds of thousands of foreign professionals residing in the U.S. [2].
Advocates for immigrant rights said the move will create instability for legal residents. Ajay Bhutoria said, "The DHS proposal to eliminate the 60-day grace period will cause severe disruption for immigrant families" [3].
The proposal targets a system used by many of the country's most skilled workers in tech and medicine. Under the current rules, the grace period provides a transition phase, one that the administration now views as a loophole [1, 3].
Critics of the plan said that immediate deportation requirements would be impractical and punitive. They said that the lack of a transition period ignores the complexities of corporate layoffs, and the time required for legal visa transfers.
“The proposal would force thousands of visa holders to leave the U.S. immediately upon the termination of their employment.”
The elimination of the grace period represents a shift toward a 'zero-tolerance' approach to visa compliance. By removing the 60-day window, the U.S. government would effectively eliminate the ability for H-1B holders to recover from corporate downsizing through job transfers, potentially reducing the number of foreign nationals in the U.S. workforce during periods of economic volatility.
