A newly proposed rule at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will end the 60-day grace period afforded to visa holders after their employment ends. Currently, the grace period is used by H-1B and other visa holders to job hunt and obtain other positions in America rather than return to their home countries.
The proposed rule is not yet in effect and still must pass several requirements before it is enacted. It must pass federal review, then be published for a public comment period of 30 to 60 days. After that, the rule can be finalized and go into effect.
Once the grace period is eliminated, foreign visa holders will be immediately affected. All H-1B, H-1B1, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-1, O-1, and TN visa holders will be forced to return home once their visa ends. Without the grace period, anyone who refuses to leave after their visa has ended will be considered unlawfully present in the country and face deportation.
The grace period’s intended function is to allow the foreign workers to search for a new source of employment in America, which, on its own, is problematic for native-born job seekers. Allowing employers to maintain a pool of cheap foreign labor that can stay in the country and easily re-enter the market undercuts pressure to hire or retain U.S. workers. In this way, the visa grace period fundamentally disadvantages every U.S. citizen competing with foreign visa holders for work.
The grace period isn’t just used to undercut American workers. It also functions as a loophole, known as the H-1B to B-2 pipeline. During the grace period, visa workers switch to a B-2 tourist visa, which keeps their presence legal for usually up to 6 months.
This exploit gives laid-off H-1B holders an extended job-search platform, granting them a profoundly unfair advantage against American workers who lose their jobs. What was billed as a short grace period has become a long-term bridge that keeps foreign workers physically present and actively competing in the American labor market.
Proponents of the grace period argue that its elimination will create hardship for visa workers and their employers. What they do not mention is the hardship American workers face when entire sectors of the workforce are replaced with cheaper foreign labor.
Without the grace period, visa workers will have to return to their home country before going through the visa process again if they find another employer. With this requirement, employers would not be so hasty to replace American workers with cheap foreign labor. They would have to plan around the long process of the visa workers returning home, applying for a new visa, and so on.
Ideally, American corporations should not be replacing American workers at all.
Making each new employer go through the hurdles required to hire foreign nationals evens the playing field somewhat. Our immigration system does not owe these visa workers special career advantages, especially when our own people are suffering from an unemployment epidemic.
Texans for Strong Borders supports eliminating the visa grace period and empowering our nation’s citizens. Employers who favor foreigners over their own countrymen should not have a convenient, cheap labor pool at their disposal.