TL;DR: If your job ends while you’re on E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 or TN, USCIS gives you up to 60 consecutive days, or until your I-94 ends if that’s sooner. You can’t work during it, but you can have a new employer file, change status, file for a green card if eligible, or leave. Plan the dates before your last day.
Who gets the 60 days
The rule is 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2). USCIS lists the covered classifications on its page about options after termination of employment: E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 and TN.
Dependents on H-4, L-2, O-3 or E dependent status follow the principal. If you’re on OPT, the clock that matters is your unemployment days, which I cover in OPT unemployment days.
Is the 60 days about to disappear?
The question I get this fall has changed. People used to ask whether 60 days is enough. Now they ask whether there will be any grace period at all.
On Sept. 11, 2026, DHS published a proposed rule, “Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period,” that would remove 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) for these workers and their dependents (Federal Register). It is only a proposal; the current grace period stays until a final rule is issued, and comments are due Nov. 10, 2026 under docket USCIS-2026-0364. Not legal advice; every case is different.
How to count the days
USCIS says you may keep status for “60 consecutive calendar days or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter.” Three details trip people up:
- It runs from the day after employment ends. Your last day on payroll matters, not the day you gave notice.
- Your I-94 can cut it short. If your I-94 expires 30 days after your last day, you get 30 days, not 60.
- It’s once per validity period. As Cyrus Mehta’s analysis of the rule explains, unused days don’t carry over, and DHS can shorten or eliminate the period at its discretion.
Example: your last day is November 30 and your I-94 runs well past it. Day 1 is December 1, so day 60 lands on January 29. File anything you need from inside the U.S. before then, and earlier is safer.
Termination date or last paycheck? Nobody agrees
In a February 2025 Blind thread, a laid-off worker asked whether the 60 days start on the termination date or after the last paycheck and severance. The replies split, each side citing an attorney.
The official wording doesn’t settle it. USCIS says up to 60 days or until your validity period ends, whichever is shorter (USCIS H-1B FAQ), and I couldn’t find an official rule defining day one. Get your separation date in writing, keep your final pay stub and severance agreement, and plan around the earliest possible date.
What you can’t do: work
The grace period protects your status, not your right to work. Filing a change of status “does not authorize employment,” as USCIS puts it. Mehta’s analysis also warns that international travel is strongly discouraged, because you’re unlikely to be readmitted in the old status.
Your options inside the window
Per USCIS’s termination options page, these are the main moves:
- New employer petition (H-1B, O-1, L-1, E, TN) keeps you in a work status if filed in time. For H-1B, portability lets you start once the new petition is properly filed.
- Change of status (B-2, F-1, H-4, L-2, O-3 and others) while a timely, non-frivolous request is pending. No work unless the new status allows it.
- Adjustment of status (I-485) if you’re eligible, with work only after you receive an EAD.
- Compelling circumstances EAD, which USCIS calls “a discretionary stopgap measure.” It’s only for E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, O-1 and L-1 workers with an approved I-140, so it isn’t an E-2 option (USCIS).
- Depart the U.S. If you were terminated on H-1B or O status and choose to leave, USCIS says the employer is generally responsible for reasonable return transportation. That typically doesn’t apply if you resign.
O-1 holders have one extra lever. USCIS allows an O-1 to be filed by a U.S. employer, a U.S. agent, or a foreign employer through an agent. With premium processing, USCIS must act within 15 business days, though that action can be an RFE. Under 8 CFR 214.2(o)(13), a filed preference petition isn’t a basis for denying an O-1. I walk through that in I-140 approved but family still abroad.
A checklist before your last day
- Pull your latest I-94 from the CBP website and write down the end date.
- Confirm your official last day of employment in writing with HR.
- Count day 60, compare it with your I-94 date, and use the earlier one.
- Ask your attorney how long they need to prepare the new filing, and subtract that too. That’s your real offer deadline.
- Hold international travel until your new status is approved.
- Tell new employers the date directly: “I need a signed offer by [date] because of my visa timeline. Is that realistic?”
Being direct about a deadline tells good employers you’re organized. If your next job is at a Korean company, my offer letter checklist and visa sponsorship at Korean companies cover what to confirm.
FAQ
Does the 60-day grace period apply if I resign?
Yes. It applies when employment ends, whether you quit or were let go. The return transportation rule is different, though.
Do I get a new 60 days every time I lose a job?
Only once per authorized validity period. Unused days don’t roll over.
My spouse is on H-4 or O-3. What happens to them?
Dependent status follows yours. If you change status or leave, they need to as well, or file for their own status.
