DHS's cost analysis for ending the 60-day grace period rests on a population that was 99% H-1B.

O-1 workers have a different problem.

The proposal (91 FR 57807) would remove the grace period that keeps E, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN workers and their families in status for up to 60 days after a job ends early. Comments are due November 10. Here is what the analysis doesn't examine for O-1 cases.

The 60 days is time to file.

H-1B workers can start with a new employer once a petition is filed. O-1 workers must wait for approval. For them, the grace period is really time to get a new petition on file while still in status. Under the proposal, status would end the day after employment ends. A petition filed after that generally can't extend the worker's stay, and premium processing doesn't change that. If an engagement may end, start the next petition before it does.

Engagements fall through.

USCIS treats incidental gaps between engagements on an itinerary as part of the event. A cancelled production or a lost job is different. Today, USCIS can weigh those facts when it decides the next filing. Under the proposal, status would end the day after the work stops, whatever the reason. The proposal never mentions itineraries or agent petitions.

Families have no fallback.

O-3 spouses can't work, so there is no second income while the principal looks for the next engagement. Their status would end the same day.

Agents can be on the hook for the flight home.

When O-1 employment ends for any reason other than voluntary resignation, the employer and the petitioner, including an agent, are jointly and severally liable for the worker's reasonable return transportation.

If you employ or represent O-1 talent, or hold O-1 status, tell DHS what its analysis missed. Specific examples persuade: real cancelled engagements, itinerary gaps, and what happened next. Comments are posted publicly, so leave out details you don't want shared.

This post is general information, not legal advice.