New York: The grace period for a H-1B visa may soon extend to 180 days from 60 days. Members of the US President’s Advisory Commission for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities discussed and approved extending the grace period to facilitate immigrant workers on Tuesday.
The case for extending the grace period was made by tech executive Ajay Bhutoria. The second recommendation by Bhutoria was to grant employment authorization documents (EAD) and travel documents to individuals with approved I-140 applications. An approved I-140 petition implies a step forward in getting permanent resident status in the US.
“USCIS was most likely to accept the President’s Advisory Committee’s recommendation,” he said.
Current grace period of 60 days is considered inadequate when it comes to finding a new job amid other bureaucratic hurdles. “The current 60-day grace period presents numerous hurdles, including finding a new job within a tight timeframe, complex paperwork for transferring H1-B status, and delays in processing at USCIS. As a result, many H1-B workers are forced to leave the country, which could result in a loss of skilled labour for the country,” Bhutoria said.
He added that the extension would help these highly skilled workers remain in the US as there would be more time for them to find a job. He also explained that these highly skilled workers were valuable to the economy.
