This guide is for anyone whose sponsoring employer has announced layoffs, whether or not they're among those let go. A layoff touches a green card case at different points, and a different rule applies at each. Find your stage in the table, then read the section that goes with it. To check your employer, search its name on PERM Tracker's layoff notices page, which matches WARN notices from 47 states and DC to DOL's PERM employers.
Where your case is, and what applies
What a layoff can do depends on how far your case has gone. Before the PERM is filed it adds a step, and once an I-140 has been approved 180 days or more, its approval and priority date survive.
| Where your case is | What a layoff can do | What protects you | The rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| PERM not filed yet | Adds a step: the employer must notify and consider workers it laid off in the same or a related job and area within six months | The filing isn't barred | 20 CFR 656.17(k) |
| PERM filed and pending | The employer can withdraw it if the job is eliminated | If the job stays open, the case keeps its place in DOL's line | 20 CFR part 656 |
| PERM certified, I-140 not filed | Nothing protects the case. The certification belongs to a job offer | The I-140 must be filed within 180 days of certification | 20 CFR 656.30(b)(1) |
| I-140 approved under 180 days | A withdrawal revokes it, unless an I-485 has been pending 180 days | Nothing yet | 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(iii)(C) |
| I-140 approved 180 days or more | A withdrawal rescinds the job offer | The approval and its priority date survive | 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(iii)(C), 204.5(e) |
| I-485 pending 180 days or more | The original job may end | A same or similar job can carry the case | INA 204(j), 8 CFR 245.25 |
| Your H-1B job ends | Status ends with the job, after a grace period | Up to 60 days in status, today | 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) |
The 60-day grace period: proposed for removal, still in force
DHS proposed on September 11, 2026 to remove 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) (Federal Register document 2026-18631). Comments close Tuesday, November 10, 2026. Until a final rule is published, the grace period applies as it always has. The grace period guide sets out what would change.
Before the PERM is filed: the six-month look-back
Under 20 CFR 656.17(k), the look-back covers a layoff in the area of intended employment within six months of filing, in the occupation the PERM is for or a related one. After such a layoff, the employer has to document that it notified and considered all potentially qualified laid-off U.S. workers for the job. The regulation defines a layoff as "any involuntary separation of one or more employees without cause or prejudice." The employer attests to this on the form, and an audit asks for the documentation.
So a layoff in the same occupation and area inside that window adds a recruitment obligation the employer has to be able to prove. It doesn't bar the filing. A layoff outside the window, or in an unrelated occupation, is outside the rule. Whether yours falls inside it turns on dates, location and job title, which the attorney can check and this site can't.
A PERM that's already filed
DOL decides the application it received. A layoff after filing doesn't change the attestations the employer made, and a pending PERM isn't pulled from the queue because the employer cut staff elsewhere. The employer's willingness to keep the job offer open can change, and a PERM is an offer of a job. If the position is eliminated, the employer withdraws the case, and WITHDRAWN is the status it shows.
If the employer is still sponsoring you, the case's place in line is unaffected. The queue page shows where the filing month sits, and case status shows your own case.
An approved I-140: the 180-day line
Once the I-140 has been approved for 180 days, an employer's withdrawal, or the employer going out of business, no longer revokes it automatically. Inside 180 days it does. That's 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(iii)(C) and (D), and it matters for two things: using the petition for an H-1B extension beyond six years, and using it as the basis of a pending I-485.
The priority date is a separate question and a better one. Under 8 CFR 204.5(e)(1) the date from an approved I-140 is kept for a later EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 petition unless USCIS revoked the approval for fraud, willful misrepresentation, material error or an invalidated labor certification. An employer's withdrawal isn't on that list, so a new sponsor's PERM and I-140 can carry the old date. The retention calculator puts your dates on it, and the revocation guide goes through each case.
A pending I-485: portability at 180 days
If an I-485 has been pending 180 days, INA 204(j) and 8 CFR 245.25 let it be approved on a new offer in the same or a similar occupation, filed on Supplement J. USCIS decides whether the new job is same or similar, on its duties. Before 180 days, a withdrawal of the I-140 takes the I-485's basis with it.
Losing the job itself: the H-1B grace period
8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) gives an H-1B worker whose employment ends up to 60 consecutive days, or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, in which to find a new petitioner, change status or leave. A new employer's H-1B petition filed inside that window keeps the status. A PERM by itself doesn't, because a PERM isn't a status.
The H-1B six-year limit calculator shows whether a PERM or I-140 on file keeps the one-year extensions available, and the six-year guide works through the dates.
What the record can show you
The record can show you the sponsor's PERM filings and the layoff notices states publish. It can also show whether the employer has an unusual share of pending cases on hold, at an RFI or in appeal.
- The sponsor's PERM filings. Its employer page shows every PERM it has filed, decided and pending, by month, so a filing freeze shows as a gap.
- Layoff notices. The layoff notices page lists the WARN Act filings that 47 states and DC publish and ties each to the sponsor's record. Arkansas, New Hampshire and Wyoming publish no list, so a sponsor with no notice there isn't cleared. A state's WARN filing is the only public trace of a mass layoff, since DOL's PERM files record none.
- Holds and appeals. The employers under review page shows which employers have unusual shares of pending cases on hold, at an RFI or in appeal.
What this guide can't tell you
This guide can't tell you whether your employer's layoff is inside the 656.17(k) window for your PERM, whether your job will be cut, or whether a new job counts as "same or similar".
- Whether your employer's layoff is inside the 656.17(k) window for your PERM. That's dates and job titles the attorney has.
- Whether your job will be cut. Nothing in DOL's record predicts it.
- Whether a new job is "same or similar" for portability. USCIS decides that on Supplement J.
Nothing here is legal advice. Check your own dates with the attorney on the case.
