Update (September 25, 2026): The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on September 11 (document number 2026-18631), and public comments are due November 10. It is still not in effect, and the current grace period of up to 60 days still applies. We keep updating every step from here on our tracking page.
If you are laid off, or you quit, your status doesn't end on your last day of work. The current rules give you a buffer of up to 60 days to find your next employer, change to another status or arrange to leave the country.
This buffer has an official name: the "grace period."
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a rule to eliminate it, and that rule cleared White House review on August 27, 2026.
The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on September 11, but it is not in effect yet. For anyone who loses their job today, the 60 days still apply.
But there's something you should check even before asking "will it be eliminated": you very likely don't have 60 days in the first place.
Who this affects
The people most directly affected are H-1B workers and their spouses on H-4.
- If you're on H-1B and get laid off, these 60 days are yours.
- If you're on H-4 and your spouse gets laid off, your status follows theirs. It's the same regulation and the same 60 days. Most news coverage leaves this out, but the impact on H-4 holders is just as big.
The regulation itself lists more than these two groups. The full list covers eight statuses, plus their spouses and children:
| Status | Common description |
|---|---|
| H-1B, H-1B1 | Work visa |
| L-1 | Intracompany transfer |
| O-1 | Extraordinary ability |
| TN | Canadian/Mexican professionals |
| E-1, E-2, E-3 | Treaty trader / treaty investor / Australian professional |
| H-4, L-2, O-3, TD, etc. | Spouses and children of the above |
It does not mean "everyone who doesn't have a green card yet". The regulation is a specific list, and statuses not on it aren't covered:
- F-1 students and people on OPT: not covered by this rule. F status has its own set of rules, and the limit on unemployment days during OPT is a separate matter. Neither is the same thing as these 60 days.
- J-1 exchange visitors: also not covered.
- H-2A and H-2B: the regulation lists H-1B and H-1B1, not the H-2 categories.
If you've already filed an I-485 and are working on an EAD (work permit), your situation is different again. This rule is about maintaining nonimmigrant status, and your work authorization comes from a different basis. If you're at this stage, it's worth confirming with a lawyer separately.
Below, we first explain the current rule text, then where the new rule stands.
First, the current rule text
The grace period is in 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2). This is the rule itself, not a paraphrase:
An alien admitted or otherwise provided status in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 or TN classification and his or her dependents shall not be considered to have failed to maintain nonimmigrant status solely on the basis of a cessation of the employment on which the alien's classification was based, for up to 60 consecutive days or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, once during each authorized validity period. DHS may eliminate or shorten this 60-day period as a matter of discretion. Unless otherwise authorized under 8 CFR 274a.12, the alien may not work during such a period.
Beyond who is covered, there are three things most Chinese-language coverage misses:
1. It's "up to 60 days," not "a guaranteed 60 days". You get whichever is shorter: 60 days, or the time left on your status. If your I-94 has only 20 days left, your grace period is 20 days.
2. You can use it only once per authorized validity period. You don't get a fresh 60 days every time you lose a job.
3. You can't work during these 60 days. It protects your status, not your work authorization. This is the misunderstanding that costs people the most: some think they can keep working as usual during the 60 days.
What you can do: look for a job, interview, and have a new employer file an H-1B transfer petition. What you can't do: work and get paid before the new petition is approved (or before you're allowed to start work under the rules).
One more point that's easy to confuse: the "10 days before and after the validity period" in paragraph (l)(1) of the same section is a different thing and has nothing to do with losing a job.
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"DHS may eliminate or shorten this 60-day period as a matter of discretion": that sentence was already in the regulation
Look at the second-to-last sentence of the quote above. It isn't new. It was written in when the grace period was created in 2016 (81 FR 82398, published November 18, 2016, effective January 17, 2017).
That's why the new rule's official name is Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period. The word "discretionary" comes straight from the regulation.
What happened, and what didn't
These are the only facts that can be verified:
| Rule number | RIN 1615-AD22 |
| Name | Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period |
| Sent to the White House (OIRA) for review | August 6, 2026 |
| Cleared review | August 27, 2026 (according to Bloomberg Law; we checked the review records on reginfo.gov on August 28, and the RIN was no longer on the pending list, consistent with "concluded") |
| Published in the Federal Register | No |
| On the public inspection list | No (of the 124 public inspection documents on August 29, 0 were immigration-related) |
| Full text of the rule public | No |
The last row deserves its own note: the text of a rule under White House review is not made public. All that can be looked up is the RIN, the agency and the stage. We checked the Federal Register, the public inspection list and the Unified Agenda twice, on August 28 and 29, and none of the three had the text of this rule. So none of the interpretations now circulating can point to any published text.
That means any description of specific provisions, anything claiming "the new rule will do this or that," has no source at this stage. It may eliminate the grace period, or it may shorten it; it may cover all eight statuses listed above, or only some of them. None of this is known yet.
The steps still ahead
The full process for a proposed rule is:
- White House review ← just completed
- Publication of the proposed rule (NPRM) in the Federal Register
- Public comment period, usually 30–60 days
- The agency considers the comments one by one
- Publication of the final rule
- The rule takes effect
Going from step 1 to step 6 has historically taken anywhere from a few months to more than a year, and some rules never make it to the end.
Compare a recent example: the DHS rule adding a $103,265 fee for each selected H-1B registration (RIN 1615-AD20) cleared White House review on August 19, was published in the Federal Register on August 25, and had a comment period through September 24. It took 6 days from clearing review to publication, and there is still no final rule (our explainer on that rule).
What you can do now
We don't recommend changing your plans based on provisions that don't exist yet. But the following steps are worth taking whether or not this rule ever takes effect:
- Check the expiration date on your I-94 instead of going by memory. The grace period is whichever is shorter, 60 days or the time left on your status, and for many people the actual grace period was never 60 days to begin with
- Know that you can't work during the grace period, and factor that in when setting the start date for a new job
- Submit a comment once the comment period opens. This is a legally required step, and the agency must consider every comment. RIN 1615-AD22 is the number to look it up by
We'll keep following this
RIN 1615-AD22 stays the same for the entire life of this rule, from White House review to the proposed rule to the final rule.
We'll publish one article when the proposed rule is formally published and another when the comment period closes. At that point there will be real text to read line by line, instead of only being able to say, as now, that "a rule like this exists."