After your H1B expires, you can stay in the United States for up to 10 days past the end date on your approval, or up to 60 days if your job ended before that date. Those grace periods exist so you can leave, file to extend your H1B, transfer to a new employer, switch to another visa, or start a green card application. Each option has its own deadline, and missing it turns every additional day into unlawful presence.
Which Date Actually Controls Your Stay
Your visa stamp and your I-94 are not the same document, and only one of them governs how long you can stay. The visa stamp in your passport lets you enter the country. The I-94 arrival record shows the date your authorized stay ends, and that date is what counts. Your visa stamp can expire while you’re legally in the U.S. and it changes nothing about your status.
Your I-94 end date usually matches the validity period on your H1B approval notice (Form I-797). One exception trips people up: if you last entered the U.S. with a passport close to expiring, Customs and Border Protection may have shortened your I-94 to match the passport rather than your full H1B approval. Check the I-94 before you assume you have until the I-797 date.
The 10-Day Grace Period at the End of Your H1B
When your H1B reaches the end date approved on your petition, federal regulations allow up to 10 additional days in the country to wrap up personal affairs and leave.1eCFR. 8 CFR 214.1 – Requirements for Admission, Extension, and Maintenance of Status You cannot work during these 10 days. The grace period is discretionary rather than guaranteed, so it is granted case by case by CBP or USCIS.
The 60-Day Grace Period After Job Loss
If your job ends before your H1B’s expiration, whether from a layoff, a firing, or a resignation, you get up to 60 consecutive days to figure out your next step.1eCFR. 8 CFR 214.1 – Requirements for Admission, Extension, and Maintenance of Status During those 60 days, you can look for a new sponsor, prepare a change of status, or prepare to depart. You cannot work during the grace period unless a new employer files an H1B petition and you begin working under portability.
Two limits matter. The 60 days cannot run past the end date on your I-94. If your I-94 runs through September 30 and you lose your job on September 15, you get 15 days, not 60. And you only get one 60-day period per authorized validity period; a fresh H1B approval with a new validity resets the clock for a new job loss under that petition.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment
Filing an Extension Before Your I-94 Expires
If your employer files a Form I-129 extension before your current I-94 expires, you can keep working for up to 240 days while USCIS decides the petition, or until USCIS issues a decision, whichever comes first.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 7.7 Extensions of Stay for Other Nonimmigrant Categories “Timely” is the operative word. Filed one day after your I-94 expires, and the 240-day rule does not apply.
A timely extension also stops the unlawful presence clock while USCIS reviews the petition, even if the I-94 date passes before a decision comes.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part B Chapter 3 – Unlawful Immigration Status at Time of Filing If USCIS denies the extension, both the work authorization and the unlawful-presence protection end at that moment.
Premium Processing
Your employer can file Form I-907 to require USCIS to act within 15 business days on the I-129 petition, meaning an approval, denial, request for evidence, or notice of intent to deny.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing? The premium processing fee for H1B petitions is $2,965 as of March 1, 2026.6Federal Register. Adjustment to Premium Processing Fees It buys speed, not a better chance of approval.
Transferring to a New Employer
H1B portability lets you start work for a new sponsor as soon as that employer files a Form I-129 petition, before USCIS decides it.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 7.5 H-1B Specialty Occupations The petition has to be filed before your authorized stay expires.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 62W – What Is Portability and to Whom Does It Apply? The 60-day grace period counts as authorized stay, so a new employer can still file during that window.
If you were already counted against the annual H1B cap, moving to another cap-subject employer does not put you back into the lottery. You have already been counted.
Changing to a Different Visa Category
You can switch to another nonimmigrant category without leaving the country by filing a change of status application before your authorized stay expires. Common landing spots for H1B holders include H4 if a spouse is on H1B, F1 to enroll in school, and O1 if you qualify on extraordinary ability grounds.
A timely-filed change of status puts you in a period of authorized stay, so you don’t accrue unlawful presence while USCIS decides it.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part B Chapter 3 – Unlawful Immigration Status at Time of Filing You generally can’t work while it is pending unless the new category authorizes it, and don’t travel abroad while the application is pending. Leaving is treated as abandonment, and you’d have to apply for the new visa at a consulate instead.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While Your Green Card Application Is Pending with USCIS
Starting a Green Card Application
If you have an approved or concurrently filed Form I-140 and a visa number is available for your preference category and country of birth, you can file Form I-485 to adjust to permanent resident. While the I-485 is pending, you are in a period of authorized stay whether or not your H1B has expired.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-485, Instructions for Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
Whether you can file at all depends on the monthly Visa Bulletin, which shows which priority dates are current.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to File Your Adjustment of Status Application for Family-Sponsored or Employment-Based Preference Visas Applicants born in India or China face employment-based backlogs that can stretch years or decades before a priority date becomes current, which is where extensions past the six-year H1B cap start to matter.
After filing I-485, you can request a combined work permit and Advance Parole card by filing Form I-765 and Form I-131.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Issue Employment Authorization and Advance Parole Card for Adjustment of Status Applicants – Questions and Answers The work permit lets you work for any employer; Advance Parole lets you travel internationally without abandoning the I-485. Leaving the U.S. while the I-485 is pending without Advance Parole is treated as abandonment of the application.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Travel Documents Many people keep their H1B active alongside a pending I-485 as a safety net; using the EAD to work or Advance Parole to travel can cost you that H1B fallback.
Extensions Past the Six-Year H1B Cap
H1B status is capped at six years total, generally issued as three years plus a three-year extension.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1184 – Admission of Nonimmigrants After six years, you normally have to spend at least one year outside the U.S. before getting another H1B. Two exceptions keep people in the green card pipeline working.
First, if at least 365 days have passed since your employer filed a PERM labor certification or an I-140, your employer can request one-year H1B extensions past the six-year cap, and those extensions continue until the labor certification or I-140 is approved or denied.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. FAQs for Individuals in H-1B Nonimmigrant Status
Second, if you have an approved I-140 and the only thing blocking you from filing for a green card is a backed-up priority date under per-country limits, your employer can request extensions in increments of up to three years until your adjustment application is decided.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. FAQs for Individuals in H-1B Nonimmigrant Status This second exception carries most of the weight for H1B holders from India and China.
Compelling Circumstances Work Permit
If you have an approved I-140 in the EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 category, your priority date is not current, you haven’t yet filed I-485, and you’re in valid H1B status or a grace period, you may qualify for a one-year work permit granted on compelling circumstances. USCIS decides case by case.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Certain Employment-Based Immigrants in Compelling Circumstances
The trade-offs are heavy. Working on this permit means you are no longer maintaining nonimmigrant status. If a new employer later files an H1B for you, you can’t change status inside the U.S. and would need to consular process. You also generally can’t file I-485 from inside the country if your priority date later becomes current; consular processing is the route.17U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization in Compelling Circumstances Treat this as a last resort when nothing else is available.
Your Employer Owes You Return Travel
If your employment ended involuntarily, your H1B employer is required to pay the reasonable cost of your transportation to your last country of residence.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment The rule sits at 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(E) and applies even to companies going through layoffs. If the employer refuses, you can file a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243.18U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 62U – What Is the Wage and Hour Division’s Enforcement Authority Under the H-1B Program? Many H1B workers pay for their own flight home without ever learning the employer was on the hook for it.
What Happens If You Overstay
If you remain in the U.S. after your authorized stay ends without a pending application or an active grace period, every day is unlawful presence, and the penalties escalate fast.
- More than 180 days but less than one year of unlawful presence: leaving triggers a three-year bar on re-entry.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
- One year or more of unlawful presence: leaving triggers a 10-year bar.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
These bars apply whether you leave voluntarily or are removed. They stack on top of any removal proceedings USCIS or ICE might start while you’re still in the country.
Overstay by even a single day also voids your existing visa stamp automatically.20Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1202 – Application for Visas Once voided, you can’t use the stamp to re-enter, even if the printed expiration date has not yet arrived. Any new visa application has to be made at a consulate in your country of nationality, and if a three- or ten-year bar has been triggered, that application will be denied unless a waiver or exception applies.
A timely-filed extension, change of status, or adjustment application stops unlawful presence from accruing while USCIS decides it, even after your I-94 date passes.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part B Chapter 3 – Unlawful Immigration Status at Time of Filing “Timely” means filed before your authorized stay expired. If USCIS denies the application, the protection ends and you should leave promptly. A pending application does not block removal proceedings; it only stops the unlawful presence clock.