DHS published a proposed rule that will eliminate it. Proposed. Comments close November 10, and any final rule would set its own effective date. If you lost your job this week, the law that applies to you is the same law that applied last week.

The proposed rule will strike 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2). That paragraph is why a worker in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 or TN status, and their dependents, is not treated as out of status when the qualifying job ends mid-petition. Remove it, and you and your family fail to maintain status the day after employment ends. DHS says so in the preamble, and concedes some workers would get Notices to Appear.

Now some corrections, because they cut both ways. The 60-day grace period was never what people think it is.

• It is not 60 days. It is up to 60 days, or the end of your petition validity, whichever is shorter. Three weeks left on your I-797 means three weeks.

• It does not let you work. It preserves status, not employment authorization.

• Nobody grants it in real time. USCIS decides after the fact, when it adjudicates whatever you file next, and can shorten or eliminate it as a matter of discretion.

• The clock starts the day after employment ends, generally the last day you were paid. Severance does not extend it.

What the proposal really changes is timing. Today there is room after your last day. Under the proposal, the day after is too late. The filings that matter (change of employer, change of status, adjustment, compelling circumstances EAD) generally require valid status on the filing date. The rule even strikes the grace period cross-reference from 8 CFR 204.5(p)(1)(i), the compelling circumstances EAD rule.

So the planning moves earlier. While you are still employed:

Know two dates. Your petition validity end and your I-94 expiration are not the same date.

Keep your own copies. Every I-797, your I-94, your LCA, pay records, passport stamps. Your employer's file may not be available to you later.

• If you have an approved I-140, know what it does and does not give you. Keeping your priority date with a new employer is not the same as 204(j) portability, which needs an I-485 pending 180 days.

• If your spouse works on an H-4 EAD, or as an L-2 or E spouse, that authorization flows from your status. When yours ends, theirs ends. O-3 and TD spouses cannot work at all.

• If your job feels uncertain, call an immigration lawyer before something happens, not after. There are more options before something happens.

One more thing. You can comment. Docket USCIS-2026-0364 on regulations.gov, on or before November 10. Comments post publicly, including any personal details you include, but you need not give your name. DHS's analysis is largely qualitative and admits it has no direct data on how these 60 days were actually used. If you have lived through a layoff on one of these visas, that is the gap.