Despite 60-day grace for H-1B visa holders, laid off workers get deportation notices; here's why
NAFSA stated that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was sending "Notices to Appear" to some H-1B holders whose employers were withdrawing the petitions after an 'employment separation'.
The non-profit professional organization for professionals in all areas of international education said it was cognizant of the reports that such notices were being sent by the USCIS.
A Notice to Appear (NTA) begins the deportation process before an immigration judge.
DHS rules about deportation and grace period explained
H-1B visa rules state that when the holder's employment ends – voluntarily or involuntarily – they and their dependents can stay in the US up to 60 days or till the I-94 expires, whichever comes earlier.
Also Read | Green card rules change for married couples: See the new immigration guidelines
This period is meant to help the individual seek new employment, change their visa status, or make plans to leave.
NAFSA cited 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) to make its case, which states 'An alien admitted or otherwise provided status in E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1 or TN classification and his or her dependents shall not be considered to have failed to maintain nonimmigrant status solely on the basis of a cessation of the employment on which the alien's classification was based, for up to 60 consecutive days or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, once during each authorized validity period.'
However, 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), apart from providing the 60-day grace period, also states that the 'DHS may eliminate or shorten this 60-day period as a matter of discretion.'
NAFSA also noted that issuing NTAs solely on the basis of employers withdrawing the petitions is not in the scope of USCIS's February 28, 2025, issuance policy memo.
The moves comes amid the Donald Trump government's crackdown on immigration.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
28 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
US scraps interview waiver program for H1-B and other visa holders; How it will impact you from September 2
The 'Dropbox' program (interview waivers) will essentially end for the majority of visa categories, including H1-B renewals, on September 2, 2025. The Dropbox interview waiver program will conclude on September 2, 2025, requiring most visa holders, including children and seniors, to attend in-person interviews. The move will impact people who renew their H1-B, L1, F1, or O1 visas – Even children under the age of 14 and seniors over 79 will now be required to attend interviews with a consular officer at a US consulate abroad. The exception are made only for some tourist visa renewals and diplomatic visas. US visa policy: All we know about key modifications Dropbox Interview Waiver Program is essentially over: Interview waivers for the majority of non-immigrant visa renewals, such as H-1B (and H-4) visas, will no longer be available. Interviews in person are now required for almost all applicants: Everyone is now subject to this obligation, even individuals who were previously excused due to their age (children under 14, elders over 79), clean record, or other factors. Also Read: H-1B visa holders' children at risk of losing their protected legal status; Know about new USCIS policy change Waivers are subject to only a few limited exceptions: Those having official or diplomatic visas (such as A, G, NATO, TECRO, etc.) may still be eligible for interview waivers. Within 12 months of its expiration, travelers can renew their full-validity B-1/B-2 (or border crossing) visas, as long as they applied from their home country, were at least 18 when the visa was issued, and had no ineligibility or visa refusals. More administrative obstacles and longer wait times: The change may result in a substantial spike in demand for interview dates at US consulates, which might cause travel schedule delays, longer wait times, and logistical difficulties, particularly for heavily affected nations like India. Few appointments with Dropbox have already been terminated early: Applicants are being asked to show up for in-person interviews sooner than anticipated, and several Dropbox spots for August and September have already been suspended. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has also issued a significant policy update that clarifies that a visa will now be deemed 'available' for the purposes of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) age calculation. Children of highly qualified immigrants from the nations with the largest backlogs, namely China and India, may suffer greatly under the new move, according to immigration advocates.
Mint
28 minutes ago
- Mint
Vijay L Bhambwani's Ticker: Retail bulls latching on to slender hope
Dear reader, Last week, I wrote that the markets were headed towards a tipping point that would determine near-term trends. Bulls failed to revive sentiments, and the markets fell for the sixth week in a row. I have not seen this sequence of weekly declines for multiple years. Big money has been unwinding their positions, and retail buyers are trying to absorb the supply, with limited results. The retail segment continues to display signs of a bullish hangover and is buying the dips in reflex action. That is validated by the fact that retail borrowing in the MTF (margin funded trading—money lent by brokers to invest in stocks) has fallen by a mere 0.73% after expiry of the July series. Market-wide position limits (MWPL), which indicate the percentage exposure utilised by traders as a component of total exposure permitted by Sebi, have also risen. Higher MWPL is a double-edged sword as it indicates confidence levels in a rising market. On the flip side, it makes the market weaker on the way down as traders scamper to exit recent trades in a crowded exit fashion. Price volatility invariably spikes. This is a clear and present danger that my readers must brace for. The roller coaster ride on account of newsflow continued unabated as US President Donald Trump sprang a negative surprise on India by imposing 50% tariffs. On the global markets front, there are two bits of news that can extend a sliver of hope to the bull camps. Firstly, Donald Trump has signed the executive order to allow US citizens' retirement savings (Plan 401k) to be invested in riskier assets. That includes but is not limited to equities and cryptocurrencies. Secondly, Trump and Putin will meet on 15 August in Alaska to consider ways and means to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The first trigger is a short-term positive and long-term negative because retail traders seldom look past their noses. Empirical evidence is testimony to the negative fallout of retirement money influencing markets by its entry and exit. The US market fall of 2008 due to the plan Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (Erisa) is an example. The second trigger is a positive one, provided a solution is found. This week, the action will continue to be focused on public sector undertakings (PSUs) and banks in particular. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained the status quo and kept interest rates constant, setting the tone and tenor of the money markets as hawkish. With oil and gas prices falling, the stock prices of companies using fossil fuels as raw materials may rise marginally or fall less in case markets are weak. In the commodities space, oil and gas are likely to face selling pressure on advances. I maintain that energy markets are well supplied and that shortages exist only in the narratives. Metals are also likely to be sold on advances if the markets cheer the Trump-Putin meeting on 15 August. Bullion remains a long-term bullish story, as I have been maintaining for many quarters now. Just look beyond calendar 2025 and avoid leveraged buying since the financing costs eat into your profits. Continue to trade light and maintain tail risk (Hacienda) hedges for capital preservation. The week is truncated due to the Independence Day holiday. Usually, shorter trading weeks imply an uptick. A tutorial video on tail risk (Hacienda) hedges is here. Rear-view mirror Let us assess what happened last week so we can gauge what to expect in the coming week. The fall was led by the banking and financial stocks, which are the heaviest-weighted sector in the Nifty. The broad-based Nifty 50 followed suit. Bullion rallied on safe-haven buying and a weaker US dollar index. Oil and gas fell as energy markets were well supplied. The weaker dollar rallied against the rupee, dragging market sentiments lower. Indian 10-year bond yields rose, which was negative for banking stocks. Banks are the biggest holders of sovereign bonds. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) lost market capitalisation as the selling was broad-based. Market-wide position limits rose routinely after expiry. US headline indices rose and provided tailwinds to our markets. Retail risk appetite – I use a simple yet highly accurate yardstick for measuring the conviction levels of retail traders—where are they deploying money? I measure what percentage of the turnover was contributed by the lower and higher risk instruments. If they trade more of futures, which require sizable capital, their risk appetite is higher. Within the futures space, index futures are less volatile compared to stock futures. A higher footprint in stock futures shows higher aggression levels. Ditto for stock and index options. Last week, this is what their footprint looked like (the numbers are the average of all trading days of the week) – Turnover contribution collapsed in the higher-risk, capital-intensive futures segment as risk appetite fell off a cliff. The turnover contribution rose in index options, the relatively lower-risk and lower capital-intensive options segment. This is the least risky segment in the entire derivatives segment. Overall, risk appetite was substantially lower. Matryoshka analysis Let us peel layer after layer of statistical data to arrive at the core message of the markets. The first chart I share is the NSE advance-decline ratio. After the price itself, this indicator is the fastest (leading) indicator of which way the winds are blowing. This simple yet accurate indicator computes the ratio of the number of rising stocks compared to falling stocks. As long as the gains outnumber the losses, bulls are dominant. This metric gauges the risk appetite of one marshmallow traders. These are pure intraday traders. The Nifty logged smaller losses last week, but the advance-decline ratio eased to 0.75 (prior week 0.80). That tells me there were 75 gainers for every 100 losers. This is a poor show by intraday traders. Ideally, this metric should stay above 1.0 to signal sustainable bullishness. A tutorial video on the Marshmallow theory in trading is here. The second chart I share is the market-wide position limits (MWPL). This measures the amount of exposure utilised by traders in the derivatives (F&O) space as a component of the total exposure allowed by the regulator. This metric gauges the risk appetite of two marshmallow traders. These are deep-pocketed, high-conviction traders who roll over their trades to the next MWPL reading rose routinely after expiry, but the rise was smaller than the commensurate week in the prior two months. That tells me optimism, though present, is tempered by caution. As I wrote earlier, very high MWPL readings are a double-edged sword. A dedicated tutorial video on how to interpret MWPL data in more ways than one is available here. The third chart I share is my in-house indicator, 'impetus.' It measures the force in any price move. Last week, both indices fell. The impetus readings for both indices have fallen significantly with price declines. That tells me there was no forceful sell-off last week, and prices slid lower on account of expiry and lack of adequate buying. The final chart I share is my in-house indicator 'LWTD.' It computes lift, weight, thrust and drag encountered by any security. These are four forces that any powered aircraft faces during flight, so applying them to traded securities helps a trader estimate prevalent sentiments. The Nifty recorded smaller losses last week, and the LWTD indicator rose, too. However, it remained in negative territory at -0.10 (prior week -0.34). That tells me short covering may have improved over the prior week, but fresh aggressive buying may have been lacking. Short covering can cushion declines and even trigger a temporary rally, but a sustained bull run needs fresh big-ticket buying. A tutorial video on interpreting the LWTD indicator is here. Nifty's verdict The weekly chart of the Nifty shows a sixth consecutive week of declines. That has not occurred in many years. The price has breached the 25-week average, which is a proxy for the six-month holding on the cost of a retail investor. A breach of this average suggests recent investments are incurring notional losses and can create short-term psychological pressure on bulls. The persistent selloff also creates an overhead supply as trapped buyers at higher levels rush for the exit door on advances as their breakeven costs are achieved. A reliable rally is possible only after the overhead supply has been absorbed completely. Last week, I advocated watching the 24,200 level on the Nifty as a support area. That holds for now. I suggest watching the same level this week, too. If bulls manage to defend this threshold, a short-term bounce can occur. Only sustained trading above 24,750 levels can indicate the possibility of further upsides. Your call to action – Watch the 24,200 level as near-term support. Only a breakout above the 24,750 level raises the possibility of a short-term rally. Last week I estimated ranges between 56,800 – 54,450 and 25,075 – 24,050 on the Bank Nifty and Nifty respectively. Both indices traded within their specified resistance levels. I estimate this week's ranges between 56,150 – 53,850 and 24,875 – 23,850 on the Bank Nifty and Nifty, respectively. Trade light with strict stop losses. Avoid trading counters with spreads wider than 8 ticks. Have a profitable week. Vijay L. Bhambwani Vijay is the CEO of a proprietary trading firm. He tweets at @vijaybhambwani
Hans India
28 minutes ago
- Hans India
7 of top ten largest firms lose Rs 1.36 lakh crore in last week
Six of the top ten most valued firms in India lost Rs 1.361 lakh crore in market capitalisation last week, with Reliance Industries suffering the biggest loss. Markets fell for the sixth straight week following US President Donald Trump's unexpected announcement of a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods. The Nifty and Sensex fell by nearly one per cent, closing at 24,363 and 79,857, respectively. From the top ten firms in Nifty pack, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Infosys and Hindustan Unilever faced erosion in their market valuation. The valuation of Reliance Industries dipped by Rs 34,710 crore to Rs 18,51,174 crore. HDFC Bank's market capitalisation tanked Rs 29,722 crore to Rs 15,14,303 crore. The market value of ICICI Bank fell by Rs 24,719 crore to Rs 10,25,495 crore, and that of Infosys dropped by Rs 19,504 crore to Rs 5,91,423 crore. The valuation of Bharti Airtel declined by Rs 15,053 crore to Rs 10,59,850 crore, and that of Hindustan Unilever by Rs 12,441.09 crore to Rs 5,87,021.88 crore. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Bajaj Finance gained in value. However, the mcap of LIC jumped Rs 17,678 crore to Rs 5,77,188 crore. The valuation of TCS climbed Rs 11,361 crore to Rs 10,97,909 crore. State Bank of India added Rs 9,784 crore, taking its valuation to Rs 7,42,649 crore, and that of Bajaj Finance went up by Rs 186 crore to Rs 5,45,148 crore. Broader indices underperformed benchmark indices with BSE midcap index falling 1 per cent and BSE smallcap index falling 2 per cent. On the sectoral front, domestic demand-driven segments such as infrastructure, select autos, and rural-focused FMCG may display relative resilience if macro conditions hold steady, analysts said.
