The 60-day window granted to foreign workers to find a new sponsor after a job loss would be eliminated in a Trump administration proposal.
A Department of Homeland Security proposed rule released Thursday would do away with the discretionary grace period available to H-1B workers since 2017.
That means immediate consequences for the immigration status of foreign workers who face a job termination before their lawful status runs out. The grace period was added under Obama-era regulations to allow workers to more easily change employers by letting them remain in the US to pursue new job offers.
That 60-day window was also available to L-1 intracompany transferees, workers with O-1 visas reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability, professionals hired through the TN or “NAFTA” visa, and executives or managers hired through E visa for certain treaty countries.
DHS said the proposal would reduce administrative burdens on the agency and restore a direct relationship between a foreign worker’s status and the employment that was the basis of their admission to the US.
A 60-day comment period will be open after the proposal is published in the Federal Register on Friday.
The DHS proposal acknowledged that many workers affected by the policy change have likely purchased homes, paid taxes, and made other investments in their local communities. But it said administrative burdens created by the grace period outweighed benefits to workers and employers.
DHS estimates a yearly average of 65,752 workers covered by the 60-day grace period experienced a job loss or changed employers between 2021 and 2025. Over that period, just under 6% had a new employer file to sponsor them within that window, while another 1.7% workers filed to extend or change their status, the agency said.
If the proposal is finalized, laid-off workers would have to leave the country and be processed at an American embassy or consulate after receiving an offer from another US employer.
That just means shifting responsibilities to the State Department, which is already overburdened with demand for visa appointments itself, said Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and immigration strategy at Manifest Law.
Eliminating the 60-day window would also add financial burdens for companies that terminate foreign workers, because they’re required to pay for costs of transportation to an employee’s home country.
The grace period originally came about because business groups pushed for the change to make it easier for companies to hire the best talent, Joseph said.
“In any industry where people are being laid off, there are other companies that desperately need that talent,” he said. “Finding the right talent can’t happen in zero days.”