A growing number of laid-off H-1B workers in the United States are facing Requests for Evidence (RFEs) and Notices of Intent to Deny (NOIDs) when attempting to remain in the country using a visitor visa during their 60-day grace period. This signals a tightening in how immigration authorities are assessing such cases. A NOID issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is particularly serious, indicating that an application is likely to be rejected unless the applicant can address specific concerns within a limited timeframe.Immigration attorneys say these developments reflect a shift toward stricter, intent-based scrutiny, especially in cases where H-1B workers seek to transition to B-1/B-2 visitor status after losing their jobs.“Yes, we’re seeing an uptick in these RFE’s,” said Snehal Batra, Managing Attorney at NPZ Law Group. Reinforcing this trend, Ashwin Sharma, Attorney at Law, said: “Yes, we have seen a sharp increase in both RFEs and NOIDs on these B-2 change of status filings. USCIS is now taking a much stricter view of what was previously a standard pathway of maintaining one’s status.”Rajiv S. Khanna, Managing Attorney at Immigration.com, agreed that there has been an uptick, but added: “To be clear, so far, we have not had a case ultimately denied. But the increased scrutiny is unmistakable. The USCIS appears to be questioning the bona fides of these applications more aggressively than it did even a year ago. For a worker who has just lost their job and is racing against the 60-day grace period, receiving an RFE or a NOID is not just a paperwork inconvenience; it is a source of genuine fear about their ability to remain in the country while they sort out their next steps.”Do laid-off H-1Bs qualify for visitor status?Recent cases suggest that USCIS officers are increasingly questioning whether applicants genuinely qualify for visitor status or are using it as a temporary means to remain in the country while pursuing employment. The focus has sharpened on whether individuals who apply for B-1/B-2 status and subsequently secure a new H-1B job had, at the outset, the intent to stay for permissible visitor purposes.Cyrus D. Mehta, founding partner at a New York-based immigration law firm, noted: “Changing from H-1B to B-2 status has always been tricky even before the recent trend of increased RFEs – when shifting to B-2 status or later, when shifting back to H-1B status.” He added: “Although it is not impermissible for one to seek a new job while in B-2 status, it often leads to an interference on the part of the USICS that such activity is impermissible as the B-2 requires the applicant to have a residence abroad which has not been abandoned.”The current approach marks a departure from the relative flexibility seen during the Biden administration, when the B-1/B-2 route functioned as a practical “bridge” for laid-off workers. However, attorneys say that the bridge is now narrowing sharply.Available optionsMehta states, “The best approach is to try to get the current employer to keep the H-1B worker employed as long as possible and then take advantage of the 60-day grace period while finding a new job. One can change or extend status during the 60-day grace period. This would enable the terminated work to move from the current H-1B status to the new H-1B status without needing to switch to a B-2 status.”“However, if the H-1B who is being terminated is forced to move to B-2, then the reasons to be given for the change of status should be honest and candid. One can be in B-2 status while looking for a job. The worker does not know definitively that they will find an employer who will sponsor them back to an H-1B at the time of applying for a change to B-2 status. If an employer does indeed subsequently employ the terminated worker and files for a change of status to H-1B, it can be credibly argued that this was not planned and one event led to another one. As both the B-2 and H-1B are non-immigrant visa statuses, it can also be argued that the worker always maintained a residence abroad which has never been abandoned as well as an intention to seek career prospects outside the US.”On available options, Batra said: “Filing a change of status to B-1 may be the only realistic option. Keep in mind that you have a 60-day grace period. During that time, you can try to transfer your H-1B, and remember, the new role does not have to be full-time, part-time H-1B employment can qualify. Another possible option is changing status to H-4, if your spouse holds H-1B status.”Sharma warned that “If a new employer files an petition to change status to H-1B after a B-2 change of status filing, USCIS is using the ‘preconceived intent’ doctrine to argue that the worker never had a genuine tourist purposes, but rather filed for B-2 with the intent to find work and remain in the U.S. As a result, options for most laid-off workers have greatly narrowed. Unless they have a viable H-4 dependent or an F-1 student option, there are not many options left other than departing the US within the allotted grace period, but that leaves them vulnerable to the $100,000 H-1B fee if they are required to process a visa through consular processing abroad.”Khanna outlined similar constraints but highlighted the financial barrier: “The typical options remain what they have always been: change to B status for temporary respite, change to F status if pursuing further education, or, if a spouse holds an H-1B, seek derivative status through the spouse’s petition. What makes the current situation particularly cruel is the trap it creates for workers who are forced to leave the country. Under the September 2025 Proclamation, any H-1Bworker who departs the United States and needs to return on a new H-1B petition faces the $100,000 fee. This does not merely disadvantage these workers; it effectively prices them out of returning.”Option to transit is not formally withdrawnImportantly, while the option to transition to B-1/B-2 status has not been formally withdrawn, its interpretation appears to be shifting. “There’s no new guidance from USCIS,” Batra said. “Even though it’s archived on the USCIS website, the regulations and the USCIS Policy Manual haven’t changed.”Khanna pointed to the lack of clarity following the archiving of earlier guidance: “The Biden administration had published a helpful policy statement. No replacement guidance has been issued. It is a mystery wrapped inside bureaucratic ambiguity.”Sharma described the current environment as uncertain and inconsistent: “To my understanding, no new formal policy memorandum has been issued to replace it. It does seem to be a ‘no-man’s land’, where actions once considered permissible are now subject to intense, unpredictable scrutiny. This sudden ambiguity is precisely what has given rise to the current wave of RFEs and denials, as USCIS is essentially applying a new, unwritten standard of review.”For Indian nationals, who constitute the largest share of H-1B visa holders, the implications are significant, the Trump administration seems to continue narrowing options for H-1B workers.
