What Happens If You're Laid Off on an H-1B? The 60-Day Grace Period Explained (2026)

If you're laid off while on an H-1B visa, you get up to 60 consecutive calendar days, or until the authorized stay listed on your Form I-94 (your arrival and departure record) runs out, whichever comes first, before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would consider you out of status. That window is called the 60-day grace period. It doesn't let you work, but it gives you time to line up a new sponsor, change your status, or arrange to leave, without immediately accruing unlawful presence.

U.S. tech-sector layoffs totaled 139,156 through June 2026, up 83% from 76,214 in the same period of 2025, so a lot more H-1B holders than usual are running this clock right now. This article walks through exactly when the 60 days start counting, whether severance changes anything, what you can and can't do during the window, what happens to your H-4 dependents, the real risk of international travel, your fastest paths back to work authorization, and what's different about handling this in 2026.

How long is the H-1B grace period after a layoff?

The grace period is up to 60 consecutive calendar days, or until the end of the validity period on your Form I-94, whichever is shorter. It comes from a regulation, 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and it applies once per authorized validity period, meaning you can't use it twice during the same approved stay.

This isn't an old rule. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created the 60-day grace period through a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 18, 2016, and it took effect January 17, 2017. Before that date, losing your job on H-1B status could put you out of status immediately.

When does the 60-day clock actually start?

The clock starts the day after your employment ends, and "ends" means the last day you were paid a salary or wage, not the last day you physically worked and not the date on a termination letter or a verbal notice.

Here's what that looks like with real dates. Say your manager tells you on February 20 that your position is eliminated, but your final paycheck covers work through March 2. Your 60-day grace period doesn't start on February 20. It starts March 3, the day after the last day you were paid, and runs through May 1. Any severance conversation, exit meeting, or notice period before that final paycheck date doesn't move the start line.

Does severance pay extend the grace period?

No. Severance pay, a paid time off (PTO) payout, or continued benefits after your last working day do not push your grace period start date later.

USCIS treats severance as compensation for the job loss, not as proof you're still employed, so the grace period runs at the same time as any severance payments rather than starting after they end. Using the example above, if your employer pays four weeks of severance after March 2, your grace period still ends May 1, not four weeks later. This is a common misunderstanding among laid-off H-1B workers, and getting it wrong by even a few days can mean missing the filing deadline entirely.

Can you work during the H-1B grace period?

No, unless a specific rule under 8 CFR 274a.12 authorizes it separately, such as an approved Employment Authorization Document (EAD) from another basis. The grace period keeps you in lawful status so you can file a new petition or application. It is not, by itself, permission to work.

What happens to your H-4 dependents when you're laid off on H-1B?

Your H-4 dependents (spouse and children in H-4 status) get the same 60-day grace period you do, because the regulation extends the provision to "his or her dependents."

That protection is tied to your status, though. If your H-1B status lapses at the end of the grace period because you haven't filed anything new, your H-4 dependents lose their derivative status at the same time. At that point, each dependent needs their own plan: change to a different status independently, become a dependent on a new H-1B petition once you have one, or leave the U.S. along with you.

Is it safe to travel outside the U.S. during the grace period?

Immigration attorneys generally advise against it. Leaving the U.S. is treated as ending both the grace period and your underlying status, so getting back in would require a valid, unexpired H-1B visa stamp tied to an approved petition, or a new approved or pending status.

The regulation itself doesn't explicitly address travel. This "don't travel" guidance is strong, consistent practitioner advice built from how status maintenance and border admission generally work, not a line written into the rule. Re-entry is never guaranteed, and if you leave without a valid visa or an approved new status already in place, you risk being unable to come back to continue your job search or to pursue a change of status you'd otherwise have filed from inside the country.

What are your options during the 60-day window?

You have four realistic paths, and they differ a lot in speed and in how much they've changed for 2026.

1. A new employer transfers your H-1B (fastest option). Under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21), you can start working for a new sponsoring employer as soon as that employer properly files a new Form I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker) on your behalf. Work authorization attaches when the petition is filed and receipted, evidenced by a Form I-797C receipt notice, not when it's approved. The only requirements are that you were lawfully admitted in H-1B status and that the new petition is filed before your authorized stay, including the grace period, runs out. If you were counted against the H-1B annual cap at any point in the past six years, the new employer doesn't need to win another lottery. They can file directly, even for a cap-subject role.

2. A compelling-circumstances EAD, if you have an approved Form I-140. This EAD category (USCIS calls it category (c)(35), filed on Form I-765) is only available if you're the principal beneficiary of an approved Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker) in the EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 category, you're currently in valid H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, O-1, or L-1 status or in an authorized grace period, you haven't filed Form I-485, and no visa is yet available for your priority date under the Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin. If approved, it grants up to one year of work authorization, but it doesn't attach a new employer, so you'd still need to find one.

3. Change of status to B-2 (now materially riskier). Filing to change to B-2 visitor status has historically been used as a bridge while job searching. Since late 2025 into 2026, USCIS has been issuing markedly more Requests for Evidence, Notices of Intent to Deny, and outright denials on these H-1B-to-B-1/B-2 filings, with adjudicators treating an open-ended job search as inconsistent with B-2's "temporary visit for pleasure" standard. That's a real shift from prior practice, where job searching and interviewing without paid work were generally treated as acceptable B-2 activities.

4. Voluntary departure. Leaving the U.S. before day 60 avoids any unlawful presence question, but it also ends your ability to search for a new sponsor or file a change of status from inside the country.

If a new employer wants to move fast, premium processing is available for Form I-129 for a fee of $2,965 as of March 1, 2026, filed with Form I-907 (Request for Premium Processing Service), and it guarantees a decision within 15 business days. If you don't already have prior H-1B cap history and can't find a cap-exempt employer, note that USCIS received 211,600 registrations for the FY2027 lottery in March 2026 (down from 343,981 the year before) and confirmed the 85,000-visa cap was met, so a brand-new cap-subject petition generally has to wait for the next annual lottery cycle.

What happens if you don't secure new status within 60 days?

You start accruing unlawful presence the day after the grace period ends, if you haven't filed a new H-1B petition, a change-of-status application, or otherwise established a new lawful basis to stay, and haven't departed. That accrual matters later: under section 212(a)(9)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 180 days to a year of unlawful presence can trigger a 3-year bar on re-entry after you leave, and a year or more can trigger a 10-year bar.

Filing a non-frivolous change-of-status, extension, or new-petition application before the grace period expires generally stops unlawful presence from accruing while USCIS is still reviewing it, even if the review takes longer than the days you had left. That said, the grace period itself isn't automatic. The regulation lets DHS "eliminate or shorten" it at its discretion, and USCIS only actually decides whether the grace period applied when it reviews a later filing, such as an extension, change of status, adjustment of status, or compelling-circumstances EAD application. Practitioners recommend stating explicitly in your filing's cover letter that you're requesting a favorable exercise of discretion to apply the grace period.

What's different about the H-1B grace period in 2026?

Three things have changed the practical experience of this process, even though the core 60-day regulation hasn't been amended.

First, USCIS moved its long-standing public guidance page, "Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment," into its website archive around May 2025, and as of March 31, 2026 it remains archived. Attorneys report that adjudicators are now treating that archived page as no longer current or controlling, even though the underlying regulation, 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), is unchanged.

Second, the Notice to Appear policy shift and B-2 bridge crackdown described above are both new for this cycle, which means the margin for error during the grace period is smaller than it was even a year or two ago.

Third, there's one piece of good news if you're worried about cost. The Trump administration's proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B petitions took effect September 21, 2025, but it applies only to new H-1B petitions filed for workers who are physically outside the United States. It does not apply to extensions for existing H-1B holders or to change-of-employer and change-of-status petitions filed for workers already inside the U.S., which means a same-status H-1B transfer filed during your grace period is not subject to that fee.

FAQ

Is the 60-day grace period automatic?
No. The regulation lets DHS shorten or eliminate it at its discretion, and USCIS only formally decides whether it applied when reviewing a later filing, like a change of status or an extension. Requesting it explicitly in your filing's cover letter is the standard practice.

Is there also a 10-day grace period for H-1B holders?
Yes, but it's a separate rule. Up to 10 days before your H-1B validity period starts and up to 10 days after it ends, granted at the discretion of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at admission. It doesn't apply when a job ends mid-validity due to layoff, and it doesn't authorize work either.

Can you use the 60-day grace period more than once?
Only once per authorized validity period. If you use it after one layoff and then get a new H-1B approval, you get a fresh grace period tied to that new validity period if you're laid off again.

Does the H-1B $100,000 fee apply to a transfer filed during the grace period?
No. That fee applies only to new H-1B petitions for workers currently outside the U.S. A same-status transfer filed for someone already in the U.S., which is what most laid-off H-1B workers need, is not subject to it.

How fast can premium processing get a new H-1B petition decided?
USCIS guarantees action within 15 business days of receiving Form I-129 and Form I-907 together, for a premium processing fee of $2,965 as of March 1, 2026. That's a guaranteed response time, not a guaranteed approval.

The bottom line

Losing your job on an H-1B starts a firm 60-day countdown from your last paid day of work, not from your termination notice and not extended by severance. The fastest, least risky path through it is usually a new employer filing an H-1B transfer petition before day 60, since work authorization attaches at filing and the new $100,000 fee doesn't apply to it. If that's not realistic, a compelling-circumstances EAD, a status change, or voluntary departure are the other paths, each with different requirements and, in 2026's stricter adjudication environment, different risks. Given how much of the surrounding guidance and enforcement practice has shifted this year, talking through your specific timeline with an immigration attorney well before day 60 is worth doing rather than assuming the process will work the way it did a year or two ago.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration rules change frequently -- consult a licensed immigration attorney or the official USCIS, DHS, and Department of State websites for guidance on your specific situation.