Laid off, question about travel

[mike123]

I'm a Canadian in the US on a TN visa. I was laid off from my job today (effective date Dec 1, 2018). My I-94 is valid through to 2021.

I was planning on leaving the country in several weeks to visit my family for the holidays. Now, I assume that doing so would void my 60 day grace period, which would otherwise be valid through to the end of January.

My question is, is there any kind of remedy that would allow me to leave the country for the holidays, then re-enter the United States in a status that would still allow me to search for a new job?

 

[nelsona]

Not really. In fact, because you were on TN, with the right to live in US, you will be pre-supposed to be a high risk to remain in US illegally, if they let you in -- and certainly not for the purpose of looking for work. The best you could hope for is a short-stay B2 entry (2-4 weeks) to allow you to pack your stuff and leave US. And that would be completely at the discretion of the officer, who would have to be in an extremely generous mood.

Your grace period ends the moment you leave US, and so would any application for extended stay as a tourist thru I-539.

When you leave US after layoff, the expectation from DHS is that you are leaving to re-establish foreign residency before any attempting to return, not to go on holidays and come back. The 60-day grace period was to remove any excuse for not wrapping things up before you left.

So, you should be looking to either find a TN job this month or packing up, or staying put.

 

[mike123]

I figured as much, just wanted to make sure their wasn't some fine-print loophole I could use. Thanks for your help as always.