Clarification on TN Visa lapsing during AOS process

[eckoin 211]

1 hour ago, A&H2018 said:

Grace period is 60days for TN/L1 visas from last years law. That said, grace period is based on this thing called “NAFTA” which may or may not exist soon here. Get thet expedite asap.

Oh wow, this is new to me - good call on their part, honestly.  The whole, leave same day you're no longer on TN, thing was so weird to me.  

 

In 2015, I quit/got fired from my first TN, and couldn't/didn't want to leave the US right away, so I did the "adjust to tourist visa" thing.  I stayed in the US for another month driving around, and then got another job.  About 6 weeks after termination of my first TN employment, I went back to Canada for a couple of days, and then headed to the border for a new TN.  I got a lot of flak for not leaving the US right away the first time.  I had proof of my AOS for tourist status, and got a lot of eye rolls, a call to the supervisor, who called his supervisor, who rolled his eyes even harder and basically said, "well, she didn't technically do anything wrong."  Took forever.

 

60 days would be great.  Lets you pack and head back like a normal human being.

[eckoin 211]

2 hours ago, A&H2018 said:

Grace period is 60days for TN/L1 visas from last years law. That said, grace period is based on this thing called “NAFTA” which may or may not exist soon here. Get thet expedite asap.

By the way, read some more about it, and this is just for quitting, getting let go, or getting fired.  If your status expires, you still have zero grace period (up to officer's discretion as always, I'm sure):

 

Quote

It should be noted that the 60-day grace period applies only where the termination of employment happened during the worker’s authorized petition validity.  The rule says that the grace period is 60 days or “or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter.”  As a result, the grace period is shortened (or does not apply) in cases where the authorized stay (generally shown on the I-94 card) is expiring or has expired.

 

[A&H2018 146]

4 hours ago, eckoin said:

By the way, read some more about it, and this is just for quitting, getting let go, or getting fired.  If your status expires, you still have zero grace period (up to officer's discretion as always, I'm sure):

 

 

 

Nice, unfortunate to hear your first go around but they created the rule for that very purpose to avoid the confusion which you felt (need time to move, close a lease). What you did was perfectly legal but for sure they can give you slak for how it looks. Good job on finding that clarification, truly though as TN only time to worry about your status being expired, would be the AOS process since you would have to do renewals or be fired otherwise. 

 

Know a couple people doing TN-->H1B-->GC currently, not a fun process at all. But then everyone I know who is just on a TN is just hoping NAFTA doesnt collapse and is very worried about doing any traveling. So while the grace period was nice of them to fix, the entire process now versus 5 years ago I have heard is a lot worse.