A significant proposal—not a change already in force
Losing a job can put a foreign worker's income, housing and family plans under pressure at the same time. A new Department of Homeland Security proposal would make that transition substantially harder by removing the discretionary grace period that currently gives certain nonimmigrant workers time to consider their next steps after employment ends.
Published on September 11, 2026, the notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to eliminate the up-to-60-day protection under 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2). As of this article's September 12 update, it remains a proposal. Publication of this notice does not itself cancel the existing grace period or establish an implementation date.
Which workers and family members are covered?
The proposal reaches several employment-related classifications and their dependents. Its scope is broader than H-1B workers alone. The affected principal classifications are:
- H-1B: specialty-occupation workers; H-1B1: qualifying specialty professionals from Chile and Singapore.
- L-1: qualifying intracompany transferees.
- O-1: individuals qualifying through extraordinary ability or achievement.
- TN: qualifying Canadian and Mexican professionals.
- E-1: treaty traders; E-2: treaty investors; E-3: qualifying Australian specialty-occupation professionals.
How the existing grace period works
The existing protection, introduced in a 2016 regulation that took effect in January 2017, is not an unconditional promise of 60 additional days. The maximum is 60 consecutive days or the remaining authorized validity period, whichever is shorter. DHS can shorten or eliminate it in an individual case, and it generally applies once during each authorized validity period.
The grace period does not itself authorize employment. Finding a job, filing an application, receiving permission to remain and having permission to work are separate issues. Workers should have an immigration attorney review their I-94, petition notices and employment timeline before relying on a particular deadline or starting another job.
What would change if the proposal becomes final?
The proposal would remove this post-employment buffer. DHS describes the intended result as departure immediately after the qualifying employment or activity ends, unless the person has another basis authorizing a lawful stay. That could leave workers and dependent families with much less room to arrange a new employer, explore a status change or organize departure.
Readers should distinguish a requirement to depart or potential removability from an assertion that every worker will automatically be physically deported the next day. Those are different legal and procedural questions. Individual circumstances matter, and the proposal should not be presented as a universal next-day deportation order.
Why DHS says it wants the change
DHS argues that immigration status in these classifications should remain closely tied to the employment or activity supporting it, and that administering the grace period consumes agency resources. The notice identifies more than 1.9 million petitions and applications from October 1, 2017 through May 20, 2026 on which USCIS potentially had to assess grace-period applicability. That is not a count of 1.9 million people actually granted the benefit.
For readers evaluating the proposal, the practical question is how its administrative rationale compares with the disruption to workers, families and employers. A useful public comment can describe concrete consequences—for example, recruitment lead times, school arrangements or the time needed to settle housing and travel obligations—rather than relying on slogans.
November 10 is the comment deadline, not an effective date
The 60-day public-comment period runs to November 10, 2026. Comments should be submitted through Regulations.gov under DHS Docket No. USCIS-2026-0364. Check the live docket for submission instructions and any deadline updates before filing.
DHS must consider public comments before issuing a final rule. Any final publication would need to state when the changes take effect. The close of the comment window does not automatically put the proposal into operation.
Prepare a clear record before making decisions
Workers facing termination should assemble their latest I-94, passport, approval notices, employment-end confirmation, recent pay records and any pending-case receipts. Prepare a separate record for each dependent. Give counsel a dated account of what happened and a list of deadlines shown on official documents.
Ask which options are available under the rules currently in effect, what filings or approvals those options require, and how travel or new employment could affect the case. Do not make an irreversible departure decision solely because a headline describes a proposed rule as settled law.
Original Documentation can assist with organizing records and preparing document checklists. Decisions about maintaining status, work authorization, departure and legal eligibility should be reviewed with a licensed immigration attorney.