What Happens If You Get Laid Off on H-1B: Grace Period and Options

If you get laid off while on an H-1B visa, federal regulation gives you up to 60 consecutive days to find a new sponsoring employer, change to a different nonimmigrant status, or depart the United States. That window is fixed by rule and cannot be negotiated or extended. What you do inside it decides whether you keep your legal status, protect a pending green card case, and preserve your ability to return later.

The 60-Day Grace Period

Under 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), an H-1B worker whose employment ends keeps nonimmigrant status for up to 60 consecutive days after the last day of employment, or until the authorized validity period on the I-94 expires, whichever comes first.¹ If your I-94 only has 30 days left when you are let go, 30 days is what you have.

You are entitled to one grace period per authorized validity period. If you use it, get hired under a new H-1B petition, and are later laid off from that job, a fresh 60-day period applies. Two limits are important. DHS keeps discretion to shorten or eliminate the grace period in an individual case, and you are not authorized to work for anyone during the grace period unless a new employer has already filed a petition on your behalf.¹

When the Clock Starts

USCIS says the grace period begins the day after employment ends, which is “typically determined based on the last day for which a salary or wage is paid.”² If your employer keeps you on payroll through a notice period, the clock likely does not start until those payments stop. A lump-sum severance paid after your last day is not the same as remaining on payroll. Get the exact end-of-employment date in writing, and if there is any ambiguity, ask an immigration attorney to read the termination paperwork before you rely on a date.

Option 1: Find a New H-1B Employer

The most direct way to stay is to line up a new employer willing to file an H-1B petition for you. This is often called a “transfer,” but it is technically a brand-new Form I-129 petition. The advantage is that you do not have to wait for approval before starting work.

How Portability Works

Under 8 U.S.C. § 1184(n), you can begin work with a new H-1B employer as soon as that employer files a nonfrivolous I-129 petition, provided the filing happens before your authorized stay ends.³ Your work authorization continues until USCIS decides the petition. If it is denied, your authorization to work for that employer ends immediately.

To qualify, you must have been lawfully admitted, you must not have worked without authorization since that admission, and the new petition must be filed before the grace period or I-94 validity expires.⁴ Once the new employer receives the receipt notice (Form I-797C), you can legally start work.

Documents to Have Ready

The new employer’s immigration counsel will typically ask for:

Current passport and visa stamp
Your most recent Form I-94, downloadable from the CBP I-94 website
Form I-797 approval notice from your previous employer
Recent pay stubs showing you were maintaining status and being paid the required wage

Premium Processing

Standard USCIS processing times are a genuine risk when you are racing a 60-day clock. Premium processing guarantees an initial response within 15 business days.⁵ As of March 1, 2026, the premium processing fee for an H-1B on Form I-129 is $2,965, on top of the standard filing fees.⁶ The employer usually pays filing fees; who pays for premium processing depends on company policy. It does not guarantee approval, but it gives you a clear answer while you still have time to react.

Option 2: Change to a Different Status

If a new H-1B sponsor is not realistic inside 60 days, changing to another nonimmigrant category lets you stay lawfully. File Form I-539 (Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status) before the grace period ends.⁷ A timely I-539 generally lets you remain in the U.S. while USCIS processes it, even if the 60-day window closes before you get a decision.

Common options:

B-2 visitor: Buys time to wrap up affairs or keep searching, but you cannot work. You will need to show that you plan to leave when the visit ends.
F-1 student: Requires a Form I-20 from an SEVP-certified school and payment of the SEVIS I-901 fee before you file the change of status.⁸
H-4 or L-2 dependent: Available if your spouse holds a qualifying work visa.

Bridging a Gap Between Statuses

Sometimes the new status does not begin right away. If you are admitted to a graduate program that starts in September but your grace period ends in April, USCIS expects a “bridge” I-539 filing to cover the interval between the end of your current status and the start of the new one.⁷ USCIS recommends filing at least 45 days before your authorized stay expires. Late filings are excused only in narrow circumstances involving extraordinary delays outside your control.

Option 3: Leave Before the Clock Runs Out

If nothing has come together by day 60, plan to depart. Staying past the grace period means you begin accruing “unlawful presence,” and that has consequences that outlast your time in the country.

More than 180 days of unlawful presence triggers a three-year bar on re-entry once you leave. A year or more triggers a ten-year bar.⁹ Those bars activate on departure or removal, not while you remain in the U.S. The three-year bar applies only if you leave voluntarily before removal proceedings begin; the ten-year bar applies regardless of how you leave.¹⁰

An orderly departure inside the grace period keeps every door open. You can return on a future visa, be sponsored again for H-1B, or resume a green card process. A short overstay past the 180-day threshold creates a barrier that no employer petition can easily undo.

What Your Former Employer Still Owes You

A layoff does not end every obligation the moment you clear out your desk. To stop its wage liability, the employer must complete a “bona fide termination”: notify you in writing that employment has ended, notify USCIS and ask to withdraw the H-1B petition, and offer to pay the reasonable cost of return transportation to your home country.¹¹ Until all three are done, the Department of Labor treats the employment relationship as ongoing, and the employer remains on the hook for wages at the rate stated in the Labor Condition Application.

The transportation offer covers a one-way trip for you to your last country of foreign residence. It does not cover your spouse, children, or household goods, and it does not apply if you resigned voluntarily.¹¹ You can decline the offer, but the employer must make it. If none was offered, you can file a written complaint with the USCIS service center that approved the original petition.

On health coverage, if your former employer had 20 or more employees, the group health plan must offer COBRA continuation for up to 18 months. You pay the full premium plus a 2% administrative fee.¹² Department of Labor rules require H-1B workers to receive the same benefits as similarly situated U.S. workers, so COBRA eligibility applies to you on the same terms.

If You Have a Green Card Case in Progress

How much damage a layoff does to a pending green card case depends on where you are in the process. The 180-day mark, in more than one place, is the dividing line.

I-140 Approved Less Than 180 Days Ago

This is the weakest spot to be laid off in. If the employer withdraws the I-140 within 180 days of approval, USCIS revokes it. The approved petition and the priority date attached to it are lost, and a new employer has to restart PERM labor certification and the I-140 from the beginning. In a backlogged category, that can mean years.

I-140 Approved 180 Days or More

Once an I-140 has been approved for at least 180 days, it survives employer withdrawal. Even if the former employer asks USCIS to revoke it, the petition remains valid for retaining your priority date.¹³ You can carry that priority date to a new employer’s PERM and I-140, and you remain eligible to extend H-1B beyond the usual six-year cap while the new case progresses.

I-485 Pending 180 Days or More

If your adjustment-of-status application has been pending at least 180 days, 8 U.S.C. § 1154(j) lets it survive a job change as long as the new position is in the same or a similar occupational classification as the one described in your original I-140.¹⁴ You notify USCIS of the new employer and job offer using Supplement J to Form I-485. The jobs need not be identical, but USCIS looks at whether the classifications are genuinely similar.

If the I-485 has been pending fewer than 180 days when you lose the job, portability does not apply and the application is at risk of denial once the sponsoring employer is gone. Timing, more than anything else, determines whether a layoff is a delay or a restart.

1
eCFR. 8 CFR 214.1 – Requirements for Admission, Extension, and Maintenance of Status
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1184 – Admission of Nonimmigrants
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet 62W – What Is Portability and to Whom Does It Apply
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Increase Premium Processing Fees
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status
8
Study in the States. Students and the Form I-20
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility
10
U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 302.11 – Ineligibility Based on Previous Removal and Unlawful Presence in the United States
11
eCFR. 8 CFR 214.2 – Special Requirements for Admission, Extension, and Maintenance of Status
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1161 – Plans Must Provide Continuation Coverage to Qualified Beneficiaries
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part E Chapter 5 – Job Portability After Adjustment Filing and Other AC21
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1154 – Procedure for Granting Immigrant Status