The National Association of Foreign Student Advisers(NAFSA) revealed that the H-1B beneficiaries whose employers have withdrawn their H-1B petition due to an employment separation are receiving ‘Notices to Appear’ from USCIS.
How Does It Affect?
If you are wondering regarding the Notice to Appear (NTA) (Form I-862), it is a charging document that instructs a foreigner to appear before an immigration judge.
Here mentioned NAFSA, an Association of International Educators which is a non-profit professional organization for professionals in all areas of international education.
Further, NTA specifies the nature of the removal proceedings, the legal authority for the proceedings, the factual allegations supporting removal, and the charges against the foreigner.
In general, this is a matter of concern for those foreign workers doing jobs in the US on an H-1B visa.
In case if a nonimmigrant worker’s employment terminates, either voluntarily or involuntarily, they and their families must leave the United States within 60 days or when their approved validity period expires, whichever is shorter as per the H-1B visa rules.
This simply means that the H-1B visa holders get a 60-day grace period to take the next action from within America.
They have an option to file an application for a change of nonimmigrant status or an application for adjustment of status within the 60-day grace period.
The nonimmigrant’s legal stay in the United States may exceed 60 days, even if they lose their previous nonimmigrant status.
Basically, with this 60-day grace period, the nonimmigrant workers can maintain their status or request a change, enabling them to continue their job search within the US.
But now, this scenario is changing as some of the H-1B visa holders who are being removed from jobs are receiving ‘Notices to Appear’.
Why Is This Rule Not Followed Now?
According to the H-1B 60-day rule – “An alien admitted or otherwise provided status in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 or TN classification and his or her dependents shall not be considered to have failed to maintain nonimmigrant status solely based on a cessation of the employment on which the alien’s classification was based, for up to 60 consecutive days or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, once during each authorized validity period.”
Now here the question arises that why is the rule not followed now? One possible reason could be the discretionary power provided under the same regulations.
“DHS may eliminate or shorten these 60 days as a matter of discretion. Unless otherwise authorized under and the alien may not work during such a period,” as per the same rule.
So this becomes tricky for all those who are out of a job or about to switch jobs in the US as they should consider all these new rules put into practice by the Trump administration now.
