The White House has finished reviewing a Department of Homeland Security proposal that would abolish the 60-day grace period nonimmigrant workers rely on when a job ends. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) concluded its review of the proposed rule, titled Eliminating the Discretionary 60-day Grace Period (RIN 1615-AD22), on August 27, 2026. DHS had sent it to the White House on August 6.
Nothing has changed yet. OIRA clearance is a procedural gate, not an enactment. The proposal must still be published in the Federal Register, opened for public comment for 30 or 60 days, and then re-issued as a final rule before any part of it binds anyone. What clearance does signal is that the text is essentially settled inside the administration and that publication is close.
Who the grace period covers today. Under 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), a worker admitted in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 or TN classification — and their dependents — is not treated as having failed to maintain status solely because the employment that supported the classification ended. The protection runs for up to 60 consecutive days, or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, and it is available once during each authorized validity period. The regulation does not authorize work during those 60 days unless the person has separate work authorization under 8 CFR 274a.12.
That window is what makes a layoff survivable. Under 8 CFR 214.1(l)(3), a worker inside the grace period can file for an extension of stay or a change of status. In practice it is the runway for a new employer to file an H-1B transfer, or for a worker to move to H-4, F-1 or B-2 status rather than fall out of status and start accruing unlawful presence. Remove it, and the day employment ends is the day authorized stay ends.
The categories at stake are the employment-based mainstream. H-1B and L-1 workers, TN professionals from Canada and Mexico, E-3 workers from Australia, treaty traders and investors, and O-1 workers in the sciences and arts all sit inside 214.1(l)(2). So do their spouses and children, whose status is derivative of the principal worker.
For anyone with a pending I-140 or adjustment of status, the stakes compound. A gap in nonimmigrant status after a layoff can unravel a green card process that has been years in the making, and the 60-day window is frequently the only thing that prevents it. The proposal has not been published, its full text is not yet public, and no one should change plans based on a rule that does not exist yet. But workers and employers who would be affected should watch for Federal Register publication, because the comment period is the one point at which the public record is built.
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Source: OIRA regulatory review (reginfo.gov) / Fragomen alert