H1B grace period and entering US via old stamps
H1B Grace Period:
Non-immigrant workers on H1B status, like those in E, L, O, or TN status, are given a “grace period” for up to 60 days if their employment terminates earlier than what is contemplated in the validity date of their original petition.
During this “grace period,” the individual may make arrangements to leave the United States or to obtain another basis to which to change or extend status. For example, the individual may obtain a new H1B work arrangement and file a new petition, which will be an application to change and extend status based on a new employer.
Changing employers and entering U.S. by existing visa stamps:
If an H-1B visa holder gets a visa stamp while working for Company X and then they port to a new employer through a change of employer petition, are they permitted to still use the visa stamp that is annotated with Company X’s name even though they now work for Company Y?
The good news is that foreign nationals often can use their existing visa stamp to enter the U.S., even after they change employers. While there is no law that specifically allows this, there is policy guidance provided by a legacy INS memo and Customs & Border Protection that supports the idea that a foreign national may use a valid visa stamp to enter the U.S. even after changing employers. The foreign national would get a new approval from USCIS and then they could travel with their new approval notice and the old visa stamp.
A legacy INS Aytes memorandum from 1997 addressed this question and stated that the policy of the immigration service for H, L, O and P visas is that the visa is valid even if the foreign national’s employer changes, as long as the foreign national changed employers in the same visa classification.
In recent years, U.S. Customs & Border Protection has confirmed that for most petition-based categories, such as H-1B, L, O, P & R, they will admit foreign nationals with an approval notice for the new employer and a valid work visa that lists the old employer as long as they are in the same visa classification.
