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DHS has proposed deleting the 60-day grace period
DHS has proposed deleting the 60-day grace period after an E-3 job ends. The period is still in effect today. Comments close 10 November 2026.
By Kelvin Tran · 3 min read · Published Oct 27, 2026
Reviewed by Kelvin Tran, Admitted in New York and Victoria, Australia
On 11 September 2026, the Department of Homeland Security published a notice of proposed rulemaking, Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period, 91 FR 57807, DHS Docket No. USCIS-2026-0364, RIN 1615-AD22. The docket is on regulations.gov. Comments close on 10 November 2026.
The proposal would remove 8 CFR § 214.1(l)(2). That paragraph, in force since January 2017, is a one-time period of up to 60 consecutive days, or until the end of the authorised stay if that is shorter, after employment ends. It covers people in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN status, and their dependents. The grace period E-3 holders have now comes from the AC21 final rule, 81 FR 82398 (18 November 2016).
If a final rule deleted the paragraph as proposed, a person in one of those classifications would be treated as failing to maintain status the day after the job ends, unless some other lawful basis to remain was already in place. That is the notice’s description of the proposed text. It is not a description of the law today.
A longer reading of the current regulation, including what it does and does not authorise, is in the 60-day grace period page.
What still applies
8 CFR § 214.1(l)(2) is still in the Code of Federal Regulations. Someone whose E-3 job ends now still has the period the current rule describes: up to 60 days, or until the authorised stay ends if that is sooner, once during the validity period, and discretionary at the back end. The period is not permission to work. A new employer’s petition has to be approved before work for that employer starts. How that fits a job change is covered in changing employers on an E-3.
Nothing in the proposal takes effect when the comment period closes. DHS would still have to publish a final rule, and that rule could differ from the proposal. The final rule would set its own effective date. Until then, counting on the current regulation is counting on the rule that is actually in force.
The 10-day period is a different rule
The proposal does not remove the separate period of up to 10 days in 8 CFR § 214.1(l)(1). The notice explains that the 10-day period applies after the approved validity period ends. It would not help someone whose job ends while the admission is still valid. It is not a substitute for the 60-day period.
Dependents and employers
E-3D status depends on the principal. A spouse or child does not keep an independent 60-day period if the principal’s employment is what the regulation is measuring. The family consequences of the current rule are in E-3D dependents.
The same proposal covers the employers of those workers. A layoff, a resignation, or the end of a contract would, if the deletion were finalised as written, leave no regulatory pause between the last day of work and the day status is no longer maintained. Employers planning a headcount change can read that as a proposal only. The current pause is the one in the regulation. A short note is also on the Employer Package page.
Someone who needs a different classification, rather than a new E-3 employer, is in the territory of change of status. The proposal does not create a new change-of-status path, and it does not close the existing ones. It would change whether a filing made after the job has already ended is still a filing made in status.
The categories and the standing rules are in the E-3 visa guide.
This is general information, not individual legal advice.