Amid layoffs, USCIS recommends other ways to stay for fired H1B visa workers

It is wrong to assume that sacked workers holding H-1B visas have to leave the country within 60 days, said the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adding that they have multiple options to stay. The statement came amid mass layoffs across the world in the tech sector.

In a letter to the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies, USCIS Director Ur M Jaddou said, "When non-immigrant workers are laid off, they may not be aware of their options and may, in some instances, wrongly assume that they have no option but to leave the country within 60 days."

The Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies(FIIDS), which has been working for laid-off H-1B visa holders, had recently written to USCIS about the impacts of recent technology sector layoffs and sought an increase to the up to 60-day grace period, according to the news agency PTI.

The USCIS, in the letter addressed to FIIDS director for policy and analysis strategy Khanderao Kand, said it acknowledges the financial and emotional impact that job loss can have on employment-based non-immigrant workers and their families in the United States.

"We are aware of the issue of involuntary terminations, especially in the technology sector," it said.

It further stated that when a non-immigrant worker's employment is terminated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, they typically may take one of the four actions, if eligible, to remain in a period of authorized stay in the United States. 

Prominent among these include filing an application for a change of non-immigrant status and filing an application for adjustment of status, PTI reported. 

The fired H-1B staffers can also file an application for a ‘compelling circumstances’ employment authorization document or be the beneficiary of a nonfrivolous petition to change employer. 

"If one of these actions occurs within the up to 60-day grace period, the nonimmigrant's period of authorized stay in the United States can exceed 60 days, even if they lose their previous non-immigrant status. If the worker takes no action within the grace period, they and their dependents may then need to depart the United States within 60 days, or when their authorized validity period ends, whichever is shorter," the letter read. 

It said that because the up to 60-day grace period is codified in the Department of Homeland Security regulations, extending it would require a regulatory change in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act and could not be extended by USCIS through policy guidance.

Fortunately, most individuals facing job loss already have several options to remain in the United States while continuing their job search past 60 days, the USCIS wrote.

It said it recognizes the contributions made to the United States by talented foreign-born workers, including in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. 

(With PTI inputs)