Regular BattleSwarm readers know I’ve become quite the immigration hawk. All illegal aliens should be deported, NGOs that helped carry out the illegal alien invasion should be investigated, disbanded and their members prosecuted, the cost of applying for a H-1B visa should be raised above $100,000, and the government should crack down hard on companies (I’m looking at you, Microsoft) who have abused the H-1B system to avoid hiring Americans.
But now someone has finally come up with a crackdown idea that’s just stupid and counter-productive.
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.
Migrants 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 Sept. 11.
Such visas are contingent on an immigrant’s employment, and a company sponsors the employee. Some of the visas are granted only 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 effects 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.
Immediately? Is the guy supposed to walk out of his termination meeting and straight onto an ICE bus to rush him onto the next plane back to Hyderabad? Is General Raul Alejandro Bastilla Pedro de Veloso de Maldonado from Parks and Rec running immigration enforcement now?
Does he even get a chance to cash his last check?
Unlike illegal aliens, visa holders have entered the United States by a process that obeys the law. They are legal, not illegal, aliens. As such, they’ve entered into legally binding contacts, bought goods, and participated in other economic and contractual activities afforded the full protection and due process of the law. Not giving them time to wind down affairs is being needlessly and pointlessly cruel to people who “worked hard and played by the rules.” It inflicts collateral damage on people doing business with them. Apartment managers, car leasing companies, utilities, etc. will all be left in the lurch by the sudden departures mandated by this proposed rule.
if the H-1B visa program is being abused (and it is), then crack down on the people and employers abusing it. Or even suspend the program entirely until better monitoring systems can be put into place. But don’t make it a nightmare for people following the rules of the system just so you can point to this bit of immigration crackdown theater as a meaningless gesture to prove how serious you are.
You can leave comments on this proposed rule here.
I wonder if, playing devil’s advocate, this is a backdoor way to dissuade people from applying H-1B visa jobs. Make it very risky in that you know if you get the job but then later it doesn’t get renewed, you have to leave immediately. It might make them reconsider bringing their families as well. Given that Congress won’t get off its ass to give the executive branch any tools to combat H-1B visa fraud, I suspect this is an attempt to combat H-1B fraud by making the program less palatable for H-1B seekers overall.
“We need to look like we’re cracking down on immigrants, but we still need to make sure people can use H-1B visa holders as serfs. What do we do?”
Immediate may be a little quick. But lets not kid ourselves: overstaying a visa is still a civil offense, the process of ensuring they actually get the hell out is a lot longer than 60 days. This basically says that clock starts running immediately, not after 60 days.
Not at the top of my remigration wish list, but I’m not exactly outraged, either.
Let’s guess. You are an H1-B employee, your employer is engaged in illegal activities. Report it, get fired and deported or keep your mouth shut.
Your employer does not report work injuries, makes you work overtime without pay. Complain and be deported.
This is an unjust rule.
Visa overstay is visa overstay. They knew their visa expiration was coming up, and that their employer was not going to, or able to, extend. Out you go. I’m offering kindness only to my countrymen at this point.
The summer soldiers and the sunshine patriots will always have an excuse not to take the steps necessary to address problems.
Folks, we have found a weak link.
agreed. An acquaintance from Northern Ireland came to work for Micron on an H1B. layoff. he did not even get a month to move back. this w a at the heights of COVIDIOCY so he took a bath on his house.(Yes, buying a house when you here on H1B is not smart. At his going away party, he referred to this as his $100,000 American vacation.
Old rule: For 60 days, literally nothing will happen. You will have all that time to look for another (unrelated) job, or find a cousin to marry, or find some other way of staying quasi-legally or illegally. And even if you don’t, the clock won’t start ticking until Day 60. Obviously, nothing will happen for at LEAST a month after someone actually notices you are beyond Day 60. So you have got many months of time here. Just relax, you’ll figure it out! Welcome!!
New rule: Clock starts ticking on termination day. And your Visa was tied to that specific job, so forget about getting a “new” one. And we were notified about the termination, so yes, we have noticed you. Start making all your departure plans right now – you won’t have time to relax and do anything else.
I have zero problem with this.
Yes. Directly from termination meeting to ICE facility. I voted for this. Over 100 Americans were dying from suicide and overdose annually from 2012 to 2024. This is WWII levels of casualties directly related to the importation of cheap labor to keep the boot on the neck of the working class. We did very unpleasant things then to keep the casualties to a minimum in WWII. We need to do unpleasant things now. Being mean and inconveniencing people to end the mass slaughter of Americans is entirely reasonable. Anyone saying otherwise is a stooge of the oligarchs.
I meant 100 Thousand per year dying.
Yes. Directly from termination meeting to ICE facility. I voted for this. Over 100,000 Americans were dying from suicide and overdose annually from 2012 to 2024. This is WWII levels of casualties directly related to the importation of cheap labor to keep the boot on the neck of the working class. We did very unpleasant things then to keep the casualties to a minimum in WWII. We need to do unpleasant things now. Being mean and inconveniencing people to end the mass slaughter of Americans is entirely reasonable. Anyone saying otherwise is a stooge of the oligarchs.
This is the exact opposite of the reform that H1B needs. Right now, it allows companies to bring in too many relatively low-level skilled workers that displace entry level employees, especially in tech (and they would in healthcare if our supply of new nurses could keep up with demand). The employers can treat the workers almost like indentured servants because of their job tie to status. We need to make H1B require a substantial salary premium to the job and make it employer-independent, so H1B workers whose skills are actually that valuable can be put to the highest and best use in our economy.
“Immediately? Is the guy supposed to walk out of his termination meeting and straight onto an ICE bus to rush him onto the next plane back to Hyderabad?”
It is highly unlikely that ICE would be willing to perform this service free of charge but the airlines would perhaps be willing to offer it as a way to get more business.
The H-1B visa provisions should include a responsibility for the employer to finance the relocation/deportation process, to include airfare, severance pay and the costs associated with breaking a rental contract or mortgage.
The employer enjoys a tremendous benefit from using cheap H1-B labor. Adding these severance costs to the employment contract better reflects the real worth of low-cost labor to the business owner and may give domestic laborers the opportunity to bid for these job instead.
The H1-B visa holder will be “afforded the full protection and due process of the law” but the employer will be held responsible for all severance costs. Those who receive political favors should be charged a little something for them, don’t you agree?
I think a 60 day grace period is what we were granted in Saudi Arabia if we were on an iqama (like a green card or work visa), lost our job, and had to find a new one. Might have been 30 days.
I’d give them 14 calendar days from the termination notice to leave. That lets them get their affairs in order before they go. It could be extended in specific cases (such as hospitalization for illness or injury).
“[Y]our employer is engaged in illegal activities. Report it, get fired and deported or keep your mouth shut.
“Your employer does not report work injuries, makes you work overtime without pay.”
It kinda makes you think there are some employers who are reluctant to accept the cost of operating a business and would fail to comply with labor laws if they could hope to profit from it, doesn’t it?
This is why US business are so heavily regulated. They have shown a reluctance to look out for the well-being of their employees and their neighbors–needlessly exposing workers to avoidable risks to include killing off a number of residents where they operate (cf. w/ Union Carbide and Bhopal, India.).
Before you interpret the foregoing as a Marxist screed, consider that Adam Smith observed
“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
If businessmen bear the costs of their operations they should enjoy the benefits their business brings, to include retaining the maximum amount of earnings allowed by law. If they “conspire against the public” by afflicting their workers to avoid a business cost, their costs should be raised to correct this unfair advantage.
This is why I know you will agree that that businesses employing H1-B visa holders should bear the full cost of their severance and repatriation.
I have had not one, but two H1B visas. And I left after both of them. Changing countries, even when (as in the first case) the company you are working for helps you takes a while. There’s a ton of stuff you have to do and some of the bureaucratic bits move at the speed of an arthritic snail. You probably could leave in 30 days, if you are renting, don’t have much furniture and so on, but it’s not as simple as book a flight and go. The 60 days to clear out rule is reasonable.
But it is abused by visa holders and companies who offer a new H1B job during that time period. The fix is that the 60 day rule doesn’t need to be under H1B regs, it could be simple B1/B2 ones where you are not allowed to work. In other words you are legally allowed to remain, but you are not allowed to be employed OR seek employment, that gives you 60 days to sell the car, the house, organise movers etc. And of course the US should refuse to (re)issue H1Bs in the US. To get an H1B you have to go back outside the US and (re)apply from there.
H1B visas have an expiration date; it’s not secret, it’s part of the process. When the specified job ends – and each visa is directly attached to a specified job – the visa allowing that worker’s presence in the United States is no longer valid. On.That. Date. There is no “tapering off” period specified. When the visa expires the worker has to leave. Period.
And, yes, I voted for this.
If the employer is reasonable – an impossibility, because were they reasonable they would be hiring Americans, not importing cheaper substitutes – they would grant the H1B holder 48 or 72 hours before the expiration date to get their affairs in order prior to returning to their home country.
But “affairs in order” or not, they must leave on the expiration date. Period.