H-1B 60-Day Grace Period - The Ultimate Guide

What is the H-1B 60-Day Grace Period?

H1B visa holders are entitled to a 60-day (or shorter) grace period following the end of their employment, during which they can still legally stay in the U.S. In other words, laid-off employees will be in legal status to find another employer to file an H1B petition as a transfer or change of status (COS) to another visa as needed. Once they go past 60 days, the status will no longer be valid and the employees are considered as 'Out of Status'.

What is the H1B transfer? 

H1B visa holders can change their employer while in the US under a process which is known as the H1B transfer. In order to be eligible for an H1B transfer, the employee must have a valid H1B visa before initiating the transfer process. So long as the petition is received by USCIS within the 60-day grace period, the candidate can remain in the U.S. and even start working for the new company.

Steps of H1b transfer 

The process of transferring your H1B visa to another employer can be summarized into the following few steps:

Preparing documents is a critical step. The first document we will prepare for the new H1B employer is the labor condition application (LCA). The LCA, Form 9035 is a document that a prospective H1B employer files when it seeks to employ an H1B specialty worker. The LCA includes information about the job details, locations, required degrees, the wage paid to the H1B specialty worker, and some general information about the sponsor employer. It generally takes 7 days for the U.S. Department of Labor to certify an LCA. A certified LCA is required in any H1B petition. After the LCA is certified, we will include this in the H1b transfer application.

What other alternatives do I have? 

If you are unable or unwilling to find a new employer in the grace period, there are other options available to you other than an H1B transfer.

O1 visa

The O-1 visa is also known as the "Extraordinary Ability Visa." This Visa is designed for people with exceptional skills in science, education, business, athletics, and arts, including performing arts.

O-1A visa is for individuals who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, or athletics. O-1B visa (artist visa) is for individuals who have demonstrated a record of extraordinary achievements in the arts or motion picture or television industry and have been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements.

Bridge B1/B2

Visitor visas are nonimmigrant visas for persons who want to enter the United States temporarily for business (visa category B-1), for tourism (visa category B-2), or for a combination of both purposes (B-1/B-2). Note that it is not permissible to work with a B1 or B2 visa.

L1 visa

The L-1 visa is a temporary nonimmigrant visa that allows intracompany transferees to work and live in the United States for a limited amount of time. L-1A visas are available to intracompany transferees who are in a managerial or executive position, while L-1B visas are available to professionals with specialized knowledge.

Getting Married

Marrying a United States citizen or a green card holder is one of the fastest ways to obtain permanent residency in the United States. Spouses of U.S. citizens are not subject to any quota systems. This means, there is always green card availability for spouses of U.S. citizens. Spouses of green card holders are not as lucky. They will be subject to a preference-based quota system and have to wait for their turn in the green card waiting game.

Leave the Country

If staying in the U.S. is not the top choice for you, you may consider relocating to a different country to avoid the potential legal risks of overstaying in the US.

Different options set different requirements for candidates and will take different amounts of time. To serve your needs, feel free to contact Xu Law Group to get tailored advice and legal support.

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