Would you really be able to sleep well every night on the premise "it's okay, it hasn't been enforced yet" if you are unemployed on an H1B? I know I would not be able to. In fact, it's not something you can really rely on and make part of your plans. All you need is getting caught by some mad traffic cop and in court it turns out you are out of status and you will be deported.

> Would you really be able to sleep well every night on the premise "it's okay, it hasn't been enforced yet" if you are unemployed on an H1B?

I actually have done that.

ICE is very slow to deport even the categories they actually prioritize. Millions keep living here for decades. They're not monitoring traffic court for unemployed engineers.

Sure, anything can happen, but the risk of dying in traffic or a crime is far more real than this.

That has been true for many years that is _technically_ you would loose your status the day you lost your job and leave the country. However, there were ways around this.

This has been recently changed though giving a grace period of 60 days and goes into effect from Jan 17:

https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-publishes-fin...

Isn't betting on it risky? I'm afraid that you may get rejected reentry next time if USCIS notices your overstay, unless you never leave the country, of course, but you never know, don't you (family emergency etc.)?

I've commented on this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13361827