What You Missed In Immigration: Zero Days to Leave, Visa Processing Restarts & TPS Limbo Continues
DHS Proposes Eliminating the 60-Day Grace Period for Laid-Off Workers
The proposal we flagged last week is now public. DHS has officially proposed eliminating the 60-day grace period that allows employment-based visa holders to stay in the U.S. after losing their job. The rule would affect workers in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN status, along with their dependents. Under the proposal, when your employment ends, so does your authorized presence. No 60-day buffer to find a new sponsor. No window to file a change of status. You'd be expected to leave immediately unless you have another legal basis to remain. The rule hasn't taken effect yet, but now we can see exactly how broad it is.
The PERM Takeaway: This proposal touches nearly every visa category that feeds into the PERM pipeline. If it goes through, the stakes of employment-based sponsorship change fundamentally. Right now, an H-1B worker who gets laid off has two months to find a new employer willing to sponsor a transfer. That window has saved thousands of workers from having to uproot their lives overnight. Remove it, and every job loss becomes an immediate deportation trigger. For PERM employers, the implications run in both directions. On one hand, sponsored employees become even more dependent on their current employer, which could reduce turnover. On the other hand, the pressure and anxiety of knowing there's no safety net could push talented workers to abandon the U.S. entirely in favor of countries with more stable immigration systems. Employers should be preparing for both outcomes. If you're mid-PERM with an employee, reinforce your commitment to the process. And if you're an employer who has been slow to start sponsorship for valued workers, this proposal is the clearest possible signal that waiting creates risk for everyone involved.
Immigrant Visa Processing Restarts in Hungary and Poland
The State Department has resumed immigrant visa processing in Hungary and Poland after a broader overseas pause tied to new public charge screening training for consular officers. Processing at other embassies and consulates remains halted for now, and the department hasn't announced when the pause will lift globally. But the restart in two countries is the first real sign that the logjam may be starting to break.
The PERM Takeaway: For PERM employers with sponsored workers awaiting immigrant visa interviews overseas, this partial restart matters. If your employee's consular interview is scheduled in Hungary or Poland, that case can move forward. Everyone else is still waiting. The underlying cause of the pause, training on the new public charge requirements that take effect September 18, suggests that broader processing will resume once officers at other posts complete the same training. Employers should be checking with counsel on which consular posts are operational and adjusting their processing strategies accordingly. If you have the option to request a specific consular post for an employee's interview, a post that's already cleared the training hurdle and resumed processing could save weeks or months of waiting compared to one that's still dark. This is the kind of logistical detail that separates a smooth green card case from one stuck in unnecessary limbo.
Salvadorans Keep TPS Protections, But No One Knows For How Long
The administration has decided to let approximately 170,000 Salvadorans maintain their TPS protections while it considers the future of the designation. Beneficiaries can continue living and working in the U.S. for now. The key word, as always with TPS, is "for now." The administration hasn't set a timeline for a final decision, which means 170,000 people and the employers who depend on them are operating without a clear horizon
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The PERM Takeaway: We've written some version of this paragraph nearly every week this year. TPS gets extended or preserved. Employers breathe a sigh of relief. And then nothing changes structurally. Salvadorans have held TPS since 2001. Twenty-five years of temporary protection is a contradiction in terms, and the workforce built around that protection is deeply embedded in American industries, particularly construction, hospitality, and food processing. Employers with Salvadoran TPS holders on their teams have been given yet another window. Use it. Sit down with counsel and evaluate which employees could realistically be sponsored through PERM. The labor certification process takes time, and starting during a period of stability is always better than scrambling after a termination announcement. If your company has TPS-dependent workers and no sponsorship plan in place after 25 years of extensions, this week is as good a time as any to change that.
Immigration Attorney Breaks Down Marriage Green Card Process
In a recent Boundless webinar, an immigration attorney tackled the most common questions couples face when navigating the marriage-based green card process. Topics included the choice between a K-1 fiancé visa and a marriage green card, current processing times, what counts as relationship evidence, interview preparation, travel restrictions during the process, and how conditional green cards work. The biggest theme running through the session: submitting a complete application has never been more important, given current USCIS policies around denials without RFEs.
The PERM Takeaway: Marriage-based immigration and employment-based sponsorship run on separate tracks, but they intersect more often than employers realize. Sponsored employees who are simultaneously navigating a family-based case face overlapping timelines, competing filing strategies, and potential complications if one process affects the other. An employee who adjusts status through marriage may no longer need PERM sponsorship, which changes your workforce planning. Conversely, an employee whose marriage case hits a snag may become more reliant on their employment-based pathway. Employers don't need to manage their employees' personal immigration cases, but awareness that these parallel processes exist helps with workforce forecasting and prevents surprises when an employee's status changes unexpectedly.
Stay sharp, stay compliant, and we'll see you next week.
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