Right now, an Australian on an E-3 who loses their job usually has up to 60 days to find a new one before they need to leave. The US government has proposed taking that away and reducing it to 0 days.
Nothing has changed yet. But there’s still time to respond, and we’ve built a free tool that helps you do it in about three minutes. It’s called Keep the 60 Days, and it lives at keepthe60days.com.
What’s being proposed
On September 11, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security proposed removing the grace period that gives workers on eight visa types, including the E-3, up to 60 days after their job ends.
If the rule becomes final, the day your job ends becomes the day you fall out of status. Your spouse and children fall out of status on the same day, because their status depends on yours.
Being out of status isn’t the same as being deported. But it’s serious, and it closes most of the doors you would normally use to stay.
This is a proposal, not a law. The 60-day grace period still applies today, and it stays in place unless DHS publishes a final rule.
What this means for Australians on an E-3
Jobs end. Companies restructure. Startups run out of money. Roles get cut with no warning.
Today, losing your job on an E-3 is a hard few weeks. You have time to look for a new role, and a new employer has time to do the paperwork to hire you. That paperwork takes time: before an E-3 employer can file anything else, they need a Labor Condition Application, and that alone takes about a week.
Under this proposal, that time disappears. A new job offer could arrive too late to keep you here. Your partner’s right to work could end the same day as yours. Your kids could be leaving school in the middle of the year.
That’s why we started this campaign.
Why we built a tool instead of a petition
We thought about simply promoting a petition, but decided it wouldn’t help.
When thousands of people send the same form letter, the government often counts them as a single comment. What the law requires DHS to respond to are significant comments — ones that show a real cost, or a problem with its reasoning.
So keepthe60days.com asks you a few questions. Which visa you’re on. Which state you live in. Who depends on you. Then it helps you build a comment that’s yours, not a copy of everyone else’s.
The most important part is the part you write yourself: a few sentences about your own situation. If you leave that out, the tool will tell you before you copy anything.
You don’t need to sign up for anything to use it.
Being honest about what a comment can do
Look, I don’t want to mislead you into thinking that with a few comments, we necessarily change the trajectory of the US Government.
So why comment? Because DHS must respond to serious comments before it can finalize a rule. A strong comment that goes unanswered becomes part of the public record, and that record is what any future legal challenge is built on.
A comment isn’t a vote. It’s evidence. Yours helps build the case.
What you can do today
- Go to keepthe60days.com.
- Answer the questions, and add a few sentences about your own situation.
- Submit your comment on regulations.gov before November 10, 2026.
It takes about three minutes. You don’t need to be a US citizen to comment, and you can comment without giving your name. Everything submitted is posted publicly, so leave out anything you wouldn’t want online.
If you employ people on an E-3, or you work somewhere that does, ask your employer to comment too. Employers carry a real share of this cost, and DHS has specifically asked for feedback on how businesses rely on the current rules.
If you lose your job before then
The 60-day grace period still applies today. If you’re laid off, speak to an immigration attorney quickly about your options. Every situation is different, and this article isn’t legal advice.
November 10 is the deadline. Three minutes is the ask.
Write your comment at keepthe60days.com.
This article is general information and not legal advice. The proposed rule has not taken effect. For advice about your own situation, speak to a licensed immigration attorney.
