DHS Proposes to End the 60-Day Grace Period for Work Visas

What the 60-day grace period does today.

What DHS proposed on September 10, 2026.

• 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) is removed. The paragraph quoted above disappears, and the current (l)(3), which lets a worker in any of the (l) periods apply to extend or change status, moves up to become (l)(2).
• 8 CFR 204.5(p)(1)(i) is rewritten. A first request for a compelling-circumstances work permit would have to be filed while the worker still holds E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, O-1 or L-1 status. Filing inside the 10-day periods of 214.1(l)(1) would also count. The 60-day window for that filing goes with the grace period.
• No other text changes. The amendatory instructions contain only those three items. DHS describes the change as restoring "a direct relationship" between a worker’s status and the job behind it.

DHS gives two reasons. The first is the statute: the eight classifications exist for a specific job or activity, so status should end when the job does. The second is workload. DHS says it screened more than 1.9 million petitions and applications for a possible grace period between October 2017 and May 20, 2026. In some instances, it adds, the only evidence of a termination is a payroll document, and the officer has to infer the end date from it. The rule states that the 2016 rulemaking "did not sufficiently consider the negative impacts" of the period.

DHS considered and rejected two softer versions, removing the period for only some classifications and shortening it. Both, it says, would leave the workload in place and would still let people stay after the job that justified their status has ended.

Which visas the grace period proposal covers.

An O-1 worker who changes employer needs a new petition from the new employer or agent. The O-1 60-day grace period is the time in which that petition is filed. An L-1 worker cannot be petitioned by an unrelated company at all. So an L-1 worker who loses the job uses the 60 days to change to another status or to leave. An H-1B worker can move to any employer that files a petition, which is the main difference between an H-1B after a layoff and an L-1.

Out of status the day after the job ends, under the proposal.

DHS’s own numbers on who uses the 60-day grace period.

Other figures in the proposal: 99 percent of those 328,758 workers held H-1B status. Their dependents averaged 208,187 a year. Between October 2017 and May 20, 2026, USCIS screened over 1.9 million petitions and applications for a possible grace period.

What the proposal leaves alone.

• The 10-day periods. 8 CFR 214.1(l)(1) still allows up to 10 days before a petition’s start date and 10 days after its end date. Those days sit at the two ends of a petition, so they do not help a worker whose job ends in the middle of one. The proposal keeps them, and its work-permit change refers to them.
• Student and exchange periods. The F-1 post-completion period and the J-1 30-day period are separate rules and stay as they are. The F-1 duration-of-status rule cuts the F-1 period to 30 days from September 15, 2026, on its own track.
• Filings made in status. An extension or change of status filed while the worker is still maintaining status is unaffected, and the worker stays in a period of authorized stay while USCIS decides it.
• A pending green card application. A worker with a pending I-485 has an independent basis to remain, and the proposal does not change it.
• The compelling-circumstances work permit. The permit for workers with an approved I-140 whose green card number is not yet available survives. Only the timing changes: the first request has to be filed while still in status or inside a 10-day period.

When the grace period rule could take effect.

The text leaves two questions open. It does not say whether someone already inside a grace period when a final rule takes effect keeps the rest of it. It does not define the end of employment for a worker on severance pay or garden leave. Officers today infer the end date from payroll, and the proposal offers no new definition.

It is also the second H-1B rulemaking in three weeks. The $103,265 H-1B fee proposal published on August 25 with comments closing September 24. Separate dockets, separate deadlines. Check the docket for the live posture before relying on any of this for a real decision.

What to do before the last day of a job.

• Check the I-94 date against the petition. The grace period, while it lasts, ends at the I-94 date if that comes first, and any later filing is measured against the same date.
• Keep dated proof of when a job starts and ends. Offer letters, termination notices and final pay stubs. DHS says its officers infer end dates from payroll records because nothing standard proves them.
• If a new employer is in play, file while you are still employed. A petition filed while you hold status meets the maintained-status requirement for an extension or change of status. The proposal does not say how a petition filed after the last day would be treated.
• Know your independent bases to stay. A pending I-485, an approved I-140 with a compelling-circumstances permit, or a spouse’s own status can each carry a family past a job loss. Check which ones you hold before you need them.
• On an L-1, know that no outside employer can file for you. Only a company in the same corporate group can petition, so the options inside the window today are a change to another status or departure.
• If the employer ends an H-1B or O-1 job early, it owes the return trip. Under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(E) and (o)(16), an employer that dismisses an H-1B or O-1 worker early is liable for the reasonable cost of return transportation abroad. The proposal’s cost table repeats that duty.
• Comment by November 10, 2026. File at regulations.gov under docket USCIS-2026-0364, in English, citing the section you are answering and any data you have. DHS says those comments help it most. Every submission is posted publicly, so leave out anything private.