DHS Proposes Quickly Removing Visa Holders After Job Loss

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is floating the end of a 60-day grace period that currently allows some immigrants to remain in the United States after they lose their jobs.

Immigrants with temporary work visas such as H-1B visas would have to immediately leave the country if they no longer have a job, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a proposed rule filed on Sept. 10 and set to be formally published in the Federal Register on Friday.

Such visas are contingent on an immigrant being employed, with a company sponsoring the employee. Some of the visas are only granted to workers who have specialized expertise.

DHS originally provided the grace period to encourage immigrants who no longer have jobs to remain in the United States and try to obtain another form of legal status or get another job, Mullin said. But rulemakers did not sufficiently consider the negative impacts of the grace period, such as burdening immigration officers who handle additional paperwork from visa holders during the time period, he said.

“DHS now believes that once the alien is no longer fulfilling the very specific conditions under which he or she was admitted or otherwise provided status, such status, as well as the authorization to remain in the United States, should definitively cease and the impacted alien should immediately depart the United States (unless otherwise authorized to lawfully remain in the United States),” he wrote.

“This is generally consistent with the requirements for aliens admitted or otherwise provided status in other nonimmigrant categories when the alien fails to fulfill the very specific conditions under which he or she was admitted or otherwise provided status.”

If finalized, the change could result in thousands of jobs not being filled by specialty foreign workers, DHS estimates.

The department is presuming that the companies looking to fill the jobs “will either offer the same jobs to equally qualified U.S. workers or go through the I-129 petition process depending on their workforce requirement,” the notice said, referring to the process of bringing foreign workers to the United States.

“In some situations, aliens who have gone abroad can be readmitted for employment if the I-129 petition filed on their behalf is approved and the alien is admissible. Even though these petitioners would witness a temporary loss of productivity, they might be able to gain U.S. workers for the positions that were generally offered to … nonimmigrants during the possible grace period.”

The proposal will be available online on Sept. 11. Parties can comment on the proposal for 60 days. Officials will then decide whether to finalize it, potentially with alterations in response to comments.