DHS Moves to Eliminate the 60-Day H-1B Grace Period: What Employers and Workers Need to Know

Written August 18, 2026. Reviewed by Rosanna Berardi, Esq., Managing Partner

TLDR:

• On August 6, 2026, DHS sent a proposed rule to the White House, “Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period” (RIN 1615-AD22), that would end the 60-day window H-1B and other nonimmigrant workers currently get to find new sponsorship, change status, or leave the country after a job loss.
• The rule is not final. It’s under White House review before it can even be published for public comment, and the current 60-day grace period remains fully in effect for now.
• If finalized, this would affect H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, TN, E-1, E-2, and E-3 workers, and it would sharply compress the timeline HR teams have to manage layoffs and offboarding for foreign national employees.
• Employers and individuals should start reviewing offboarding processes and contingency plans now, before any rule takes effect.

Why This Matters Right Now

For nearly a decade, losing a job hasn’t meant an H-1B worker had to leave the country the same day. Since 2017, federal regulations have given eligible workers up to 60 consecutive days (or until their authorized stay expires, whichever comes first) to find a new employer willing to sponsor them, request a change of status, or wind down their affairs and depart. That window has become a quiet but essential safety net, both for workers navigating an unexpected termination and for the employers going through layoffs alongside them.

DHS now wants to take that safety net away.

On August 6, 2026, DHS and USCIS submitted a proposed rule titled “Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period” (RIN 1615-AD22) to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review. It’s an early step in the rulemaking process, but the direction is unmistakable: DHS intends to close the door on the discretionary grace period entirely.

What Changed… And What Hasn’t (Yet)

It’s worth being precise about where things actually stand, because a lot of alarming headlines are circulating without much nuance.

• What’s confirmed: DHS has proposed eliminating the grace period, and the proposal is currently sitting with OIRA for internal review before it can move to the public comment stage of rulemaking.
• What’s not yet known: The contents of the proposed rule are not public yet, so the exact scope, any transition provisions, and a proposed effective date are all still unclear. If the proposal clears OIRA review, DHS would generally publish it in the Federal Register and allow the public to comment before any final regulation could take effect.
• What hasn’t changed: The 60-day grace period remains available under current regulations right now. Nothing about today’s rules has shifted. If you or your employees are currently within a grace period, or a termination happens tomorrow, the existing protections still apply.

That said, “not yet law” is not the same as “not worth preparing for.” Rules like this can move from OIRA review to a published proposal, and eventually a final rule, faster than employers expect. The comment period, when it comes, is typically the last real opportunity to weigh in before the change becomes binding.

The Current Rule, For Context

Understanding what’s at stake means understanding what exists today. Under 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), eligible workers can remain in the United States for up to 60 consecutive days after employment ends, or until their authorized validity period expires, whichever comes first. During that window, a worker can pursue a new sponsoring employer, request a change of immigration status, or make arrangements to depart. H-1B portability rules can also allow an eligible worker to start working for a new employer once that employer properly files a qualifying H-1B petition, without waiting for approval, a benefit that becomes far harder to use if there’s no cushion of time to find that new employer in the first place.

The rule covers H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, TN, E-1, E-2, and E-3 workers, a broad slice of the skilled foreign national workforce, not just H-1B holders.

Who This Affects

Individual Visa Holders

For a worker on H-1B or another covered status, the grace period is often the difference between an orderly transition and a scramble. Without it, a layoff or termination could mean an employee falls out of status almost immediately, with little to no time to line up new sponsorship, pursue a change of status, or arrange their departure. If the grace period is eliminated, H-1B visa holders who lose their jobs may need to leave the country immediately. For workers with families, mortgages, school-enrolled children, or pending green card processes tied to their current employer, that compression carries real consequences beyond the immigration paperwork itself.

It’s also worth noting the scale of who’s affected. Indian nationals accounted for approximately 71% of all approved H-1B petitions in 2024, meaning any change here would land disproportionately on that community.

Employers and HR Teams

For companies with H-1B or other visa-sponsored employees, this proposal is a direct hit to how reductions in force, restructurings, and even routine terminations get handled. Today, HR and legal teams generally have some breathing room after a termination decision; time to coordinate benefits, finalize documentation, and let the departing employee explore their options within the existing 60-day framework. If that grace period disappears, the operational timeline compresses dramatically, and the margin for error largely disappears with it.

Employers should expect this to affect:

• RIF and layoff planning: timing and sequencing of terminations for visa-sponsored staff may need to change, since there’s no post-termination cushion to build into a transition plan.
• Offboarding documentation: final paperwork, status updates, and any petition withdrawals may need to happen essentially in real time, not over the following weeks.
• Internal transfers and reassignments: moving a visa-sponsored employee to a different role or entity within the same organization may require faster coordination to avoid any gap in status.
• Communication with affected employees: HR and legal should be prepared to give visa-sponsored employees clear, immediate guidance the moment a termination decision is made, rather than relying on the existing 60-day buffer as a fallback.

What You Should Do Now

Nothing requires immediate action under current law; the existing grace period is still in place. But given how quickly immigration rules can move from proposal to final regulation, this is a good moment for both employers and individuals to get ahead of the issue rather than react to it later.

For employers: This is a reasonable time to review offboarding workflows for visa-sponsored employees, flag upcoming layoffs or restructurings where timing might matter, and loop in immigration counsel early on any termination involving H-1B or other nonimmigrant staff. Building tighter internal coordination between HR, legal, and immigration counsel now means you won’t be caught flat-footed if the rule is finalized.

For individual visa holders: If your employment situation feels uncertain, it’s worth having a conversation with an immigration attorney about your options and timeline before a termination happens, not after. Understanding what portability, change-of-status, and alternative sponsorship paths look like for your specific situation now can save critical time later.

For everyone: Watch for the rule’s publication in the Federal Register. That will be the point where the actual text, proposed effective date, and any transition provisions become public and where there will typically be a window to submit public comments before the rule is finalized.

Don’t Wait for the Grace Period to Disappear

DHS’s proposal to eliminate the 60-day H-1B grace period is still moving through the early stages of federal rulemaking, and the current protections remain in place today. But the direction of travel is clear, and the practical stakes for both HR teams managing workforce changes and for the workers whose status depends on that window are significant enough that “wait and see” isn’t the safest strategy.

Immigration policy can shift quickly, and the gap between “proposed” and “in effect” is often shorter than people expect. Whether you’re an employer trying to build a compliant, humane offboarding process or an H-1B worker trying to understand what a layoff would mean for your status, you don’t have to sort through it alone. Berardi Immigration Law works with both corporate clients and individual visa holders to plan ahead of regulatory changes like this one before they become urgent. Click here to book your consultation with one of our award-winning business immigration attorneys.

FAQs

Q: Is the 60-day H-1B grace period gone already?

No. As of now, the grace period remains fully in effect under existing regulations. DHS has only submitted a proposed rule for internal White House review. The rule hasn’t been published for public comment, let alone finalized. Any workers currently relying on the grace period, or who experience a job loss today, are still covered under the current rules.

Q: How long will it take before this rule could actually take effect?

There’s no set timeline yet. The proposal still needs to clear review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, then be published in the Federal Register for public comment, before DHS can issue a final rule. That process can take months, but it can also move faster than expected, which is why early planning is worthwhile even though nothing has changed yet.

Q: What should HR do if we have a layoff planned for a visa-sponsored employee?

Loop in immigration counsel as early as possible in the planning process, even under current rules. If the grace period is eliminated while your organization is mid-restructuring, having established coordination between HR, legal, and immigration counsel (and a clear understanding of each affected employee’s status and options) will make a compressed timeline far more manageable.