Notice to Appear / Grace Period

[help__seeker]

The traditional 60-day grace period (or until expiration, if sooner) for TN, H-1B, etc is now being viewed as a 0-day grace period (under the "discretion" policy) in many cases, leading to NTA letters being sent. And a government page about the grace period is now marked out of date: https://www.uscis.gov/archive/options-for-nonimmigrant-workers-following-termination-of-employment. I'm seeing that one should apply to change their status to a visitor visa before their termination is effective (also before the so-called grace period). But now the visitor visa itself is becoming problematic:

• Greater scrutiny of intent: USCIS may more closely examine whether the individual’s stated reason for requesting B-2 status is consistent with the visitor visa classification. Using B-2 status purely to “wait out” unemployment may not be seen as consistent with the permissible uses of the category.
• Heightened nonimmigrant intent review: B-2 applicants must demonstrate that they intend to stay only temporarily and will depart the U.S. at the end of their authorized stay. Filing a B-2 simply to remain in the U.S. until another job is found may raise flags.
• Transitioning back to a work status may not be possible from within the U.S.: Previously, individuals could file a new petition to return to H-1B or similar status while a B-2 application was pending. However, if USCIS adopts its previous stricter stance, returning to a work-authorized status may now require: Departing the U.S., Obtaining a new visa stamp abroad (if the previous one has expired), and Reentering the U.S. in the newly approved status.

Thoughts on how to proceed if there's an upcoming termination while on a TN, H-1B?

 

[nelsona]

Please remember to cite your source for any copied information that you post. Your post was clearly cut-and-pasted from another website, so by sourcing the information, readers can get context if they wish.


In the pre-grace period era, the guidance was to file I-539 for B-2 within 1-2 days after layoff with the purpose of "wrapping-up US affairs", requesting the maximum 6 months.
This was typically an acceptable reason for the request It was never to be filed with the expressed purpose of "finding another job".

The expectation was that one would not be waiting for the result of this application (since typical processing times for I-539 can be much longer that 6 months), but would either find a new job or leave well before the requested extension period. So greater scrutiny was hardly a concern, since one was not really hoping to get or need the extension. It was merely filed to be in B2-pending "status". If one got a new TN job, they would typically go to the border, but could file an expedited I-129 if the employer agreed, thus not needing to go to the border, If they didn't find a TN job in a short period of time , they knew they were leaving sooner rather than later, sometimes in order to take a Cdn job, or collect UI while back in Canada,

Not sure when in the past USCIS had a "previous stricter stance", as the above was the standard procedure for decades until the grace period was added. Not having a grace period was not a impediment to going from TN to B2 back to TN.

So, i would think that following the above practice (with the possible requirement of actually going to the border go get TN, instead of filing an I-129) would still be successful.

For H1-B issues, I would ask elsewhere, since these cannot be obtained at the border. This is a TN site,