H1B Grace Period Start Date with Severance Pay

USA
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1

Hi Anil,

I read in this article H1B 60-day Grace USCIS Rule - Lay off, H4 EAD work (Severance Time)? - USA where it mentions in the section " H1B Grace Period Start Date with Severance Pay" that grace period starts after severance period as i live and my job was in California.

My layoff date is Nov 13th, 2019 and i got severance pay for 7 weeks but it was paid as a lum sum amount in 2 phases and the last severance amount was paid of on Dec 31st, 2019.

My new employer has filed the LCA and as of today i am waiting for it to be certified and hope to be approved by today Jan10th or Monday Jan 13th and then on the same day H1 would be filed and it would be received by USCIS on Jan 14th.

I think this question has been asked before too, pardon my ignorance.

Question is as Nov 13th was given as my layoff date, so Jan 12th 2020 would end my 60 days grace period or grace period would start after 7weeks Severance pay which i got on Dec 31st, 2019?

2

Hi @imran_Khan_Kareem

If you have read the article, we have given the attorney’s reference too where they are clearly suggesting that they have considered the grace period to start after severance package end.

That should be good enough to consider your 60 day grace start time as Jan 1, 2020.

3

Thanks for the reply Anil, greatly appreciate that.

It’s just very confusing and scary as some articles and attorneys say Severance pay period wouldn’t be counted in 60 days grace period. If it’s not counted then my H1 transfer would be filed 2 days after 60days grace period.
In your experience have you seen cases like this and if so what happened?

Thanks again for taking time to respond.

4

Hi @imran_Khan_Kareem

I agree that some attorneys suggest to not count severance package time in 60 day grace.

But, Emily Neumann has clearly shared in the video that they have filed cases after severance pay time and they were approved by USCIS.

The thing is that there is no clear guidance from USCIS for this. So, you have to rely on what attorney says and what they are comfortable with.

Offcourse, not counting severance pay time is the safest option.