Foreign workers on H-1B visas who lose their jobs could lose their status immediately under a new proposal from the Department of Homeland Security, which wants to scrap the 60-day grace period that has let laid-off employees search for new sponsors since 2017. The plan would also strip protections from workers in seven other visa categories, touching everyone from Australian specialty workers to Canadian and Mexican professionals holding TN status.
The proposed rule, titled Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period, cleared White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs review on August 27 and was awaiting Federal Register publication, according to the Erickson Immigration Group. The proposal would generally be subject to a 30- or 60-day public-comment period after publication. As Reuters reports, the change is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to limit legal migration since returning to office in January 2025, and the full proposal had not yet been published in the Federal Register.
Under the proposal, a nonimmigrant worker whose job ends would lose status immediately and generally would need to depart, unless they hold some other independent legal status, per the same account from Erickson Immigration Group. That is a sharp break from the current 60-day cushion, which lets workers either find a new job or wind down their affairs before leaving the country, as Reuters notes.
A Nine-Year-Old Safety Net on the Chopping Block
The grace period itself is a relatively young creation. It was established by a DHS regulation in 2016 and took effect in early 2017, according to Fragomen. Before that, laid-off workers were considered out of status the moment their employment ended, so DHS's current proposal would essentially restore the pre-2017 status quo.
The H-1B visa category lets companies fill roles where qualified U.S. workers might be lacking, Reuters reports. DHS has said the affected jobs could go to American workers instead, and that companies would either offer the vacated positions to equally qualified U.S. workers or use the I-129 petition process, according to the agency's statements cited by Reuters.
Which Workers and Visa Types Are Affected
The reach of the proposal goes well beyond H-1B holders. Reuters reports the rule change would apply to E-1 international trader visa holders, E-2 commercial vehicle operator visa holders, E-3 specialty workers from Australia, H-1B1 skilled workers from Singapore and Chile, L-1 executives and managers with international companies, O-1 visa holders with extraordinary ability in science, sports, or the arts, and TN professional workers. Fragomen similarly describes the rule as eliminating post-termination grace periods for principal nonimmigrants and their dependents across those same eight categories, encompassing trade executives, intracompany transferees, and Canadian and Mexican TN professionals alike.
The proposal would eliminate the post-termination grace period for affected foreign-national employees. Workers who leave the country are not necessarily shut out for good — under the current framework, their employers could still petition for them again later, per Reuters. But the tight window leaves little room for the kind of transition planning employers have relied on for nearly a decade.
Who Would Feel It Most
The potential impact could be concentrated among foreign workers in the H-1B program, with broader effects for the U.S. economy.
Finding a new sponsor quickly would not be easy even without the compressed timeline, particularly for workers seeking a cap-subject H-1B visa.
Part of a Broader Immigration Crackdown
The grace-period proposal lands amid a string of other DHS moves this year that have already rattled employers who rely on skilled foreign labor. In August, DHS proposed a separate rule setting a $103,265 fee for cap-subject H-1B petitions. Hoodline previously reported on how that fee proposal threatens to squeeze the tech sector's talent pipeline.
Oversight has intensified on other fronts too. The Department of Labor announced Project Firewall in September 2025. Meanwhile, public university systems and state governments in Florida and Texas enacted pauses or outright bans on new H-1B sponsorships earlier this year, reflecting growing state-level opposition to the programs that Hoodline has also tracked in Texas and Florida coverage.
For now, the grace-period elimination remains just a proposal. It is subject to a generally 30- or 60-day public comment period before DHS can move to finalize it, giving employers, immigration attorneys, and affected workers a window to weigh in before any change takes effect.
