The Impact of 60 Days

The Department of Homeland Security logo is seen during a news conference in Washington, Feb. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Silicon Valley has been a long-time destination for workers outside the United States to seek higher-paying, more advanced jobs in the technology industry. But when the region’s companies conduct mass layoffs, as they are doing at a historic rate in recent years, H-1B visa holders are left in a precarious position. Unlike their American counterparts, they do not simply lose a job. Their countdown begins. 

The H-1B visa program, the largest U.S. temporary work visa program, provides a worker’s right to remain in the United States with their employer. If an employer fires them, federal regulations allow a 60-day grace period to find a new employee, sponsor a change in immigration status, or leave the United States. In an increasingly difficult job market, given the rise of A.I. and a surge in tech layoffs, that window has proven too small to navigate. For workers who miss it, the consequences last a lifetime.

For years, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services maintained a publicly accessible webpage titled “Options for Nonimmigrant Workers Following Termination of Employment,” which laid out the full range of choices available to H-1B workers after termination of employment. Their options included finding a new employer, changing to a different non-immigrant status such as a visitor visa, becoming the dependent of a spouse or departing the country. 

The Trump administration moved these pages to a digital archive, removing them from active U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance. The archived pages are still accessible at the same URLs, but the information on them is out of date, leaving H-1B visa workers with many unanswered questions.

Da’Niel Rowan, Fragomen Immigration Firm partner, advises Silicon Valley tech firms on employment visas and teaches at Santa Clara University School of Law.

“One of the biggest issues people struggle with is when the 60-day grace period starts,” Rowan said. “Traditionally, if you are not working and doing the job, the second that stops, that is when your 60-day grace period starts.” 

The Biden administration’s guidance, which appeared on the now-archived USCIS page, had suggested that the grace period start based on the last paycheck received. Some companies allow 30 to 60 days of continued pay after a layoff, and workers relied on that guidance to feel protected during that period. 

The stakes of getting this wrong are high. Workers who might have misread when their clock started and unknowingly fall out of status may not face consequences right away—but a compliance problem can surface in the future when applying for a green card, visa renewal or re-entry to the United States. “Unfortunately, I feel like I have to give a lawyer answer because it is not black and white,” Rowan said. “If it comes up as an issue, it will come up further down the road.”

The surge in tech layoffs in recent years has put a spotlight on the H-1B program’s structural vulnerabilities. According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, the top 30 H-1B employers hired more than 34,000 new workers in 2022 while also laying off or planning to lay off at least 85,000 workers. 

Amazon hired 6,400 new H-1B workers in 2022, the most since 2021, when it hired around 6,200. Recently, Amazon has laid off or plans to lay off 27,150 employees, more than twice the number of H-1B workers hired in 2021 and 2022 combined. EPI argues that companies used the H-1B visa program to access cheaper labor outside the U.S. while displacing domestic workers.

H-1B workers who face a tech layoff have to go through a more difficult job-search process than American citizen workers. A new employer must file an H-1B transfer petition with USCIS before the worker can start, and must also pay a fee. 

In the current climate, employers are focused on “Project Firewall,” launched by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2025. This initiative prioritizes U.S. citizens for jobs even when H-1B-qualified candidates are available. 

“60 days is reasonable to get a new petition filed,” said Rowan. “But more recently, the job market has gotten a little bit harder.”

For laid-off workers in the Bay Area who can access them, organizations like NOVAworks offer a broad range of free services, including job search help, career counseling and workshops. The issue here is that H-1B visa holders are not eligible for this. 

Jennifer Cheyer, senior manager of workforce development at NOVAworks, said even eligible workers face a tough job market today. 

“The average job search is about nine months to a year,” she said. “It’s competitive, employers are taking their time, and AI isn’t making it any easier.” She added that tech salaries have dropped, with pay cuts of up to $ 40,000-$ 50,000.  

“The support isn’t there; it’s still a rough market no matter what.” 

The contrast is stark. American citizens can take their time, often waiting at least 4-6 months before even starting a job search, according to Cheyer. They also collect severance packages and typically have a high income. H-1B workers have to work under a hard deadline, without pay and without access to stable resources. 

For workers who go past their 60-day grace period and leave the country, returning to the United States has become much more expensive. In September 2025, President Trump imposed a $100,000 fee on H-1B petitions for workers outside of the United States.

“$100,000 is a pretty big increase. I don’t know that employers have really absorbed that as an additional fee,” Rowan said. “Conceptually and practically, I haven’t seen employers set up ways to pay the fee.” 

Rowan said the compounding effect of a current difficult job market, a short grace period and a $100,000 return fee points to one clear solution. “More time,” she said. “60 days, especially in this labor market, can be tough.”

She said if there’s an option for the government to provide more time, an initial grace period with an ability to extend or justify would make the most sense.

For H-1B workers navigating the system now, Cheyer offers a simple message: “Have hope. Don’t give up. It’s a rough road, but you have to put yourself out there.”