Accurate as of November 3, 2026
Three proposed rules that reach the same employers close for public comment within five days of each other. Each one has its own docket, and each one becomes much harder to change once the comment window shuts, because the record the agency builds now is the record a court will review later.
| Closes | Proposal | Docket | What it would do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon., Nov. 9 | Optional Practical Training Fees, 91 FR 64566 | ICEB-2026-0100 | $70,000 for a student's first OPT recommendation and $30,000 for each later one, including a STEM extension, paid by the school |
| Tue., Nov. 10 | Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period, 91 FR 57807 | USCIS-2026-0364 | Removes the up to 60-day grace period after employment ends for E, H-1B, L-1, O-1 and TN workers and their families |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Removing Deference to Prior USCIS Determinations of Eligibility, 91 FR 65119 | USCIS-2026-0529 | Ends the rule that USCIS generally defers to its own prior approval when the same petitioner extends the same worker on the same facts |
All three must be submitted through regulations.gov under the docket number above. The OPT notice states that comments sent by email or letter will not be treated as comments. We found no extension of any of these deadlines as of November 3.
Why these three belong in one memo
Read together, they describe the full life cycle of a sponsored employee:
- Hiring. The OPT fee would put a $70,000 decision, made by a university you have no contract with, between your offer and a graduate's start date. A STEM graduate who also uses a summer internship would cost the school $100,000 across two recommendations.
- Keeping. Without deference, every H-1B, L-1 or O-1 extension starts from zero. DHS's own analysis puts the delay from an added request for evidence at about 64 calendar days, which can run past the 240 day continued work authorization window.
- Separating. Without the grace period, the date HR writes on a separation letter becomes the date the employee, a spouse and any children lose status, with no time to find a new sponsor or change status.
Our full analyses of each rule are linked below. This piece is the calendar and the method.
How to write a comment that counts
An agency is not required to respond to every comment, but it must respond to significant ones, and a final rule that ignores an important aspect of the problem can be set aside under Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association v. State Farm, 463 U.S. 29 (1983). Opinion rarely meets that bar. Numbers do.
- Say who you are in one sentence: industry, headcount, how many people you sponsor.
- Give your own data. How many F-1 graduates you hired in the last three years and how many converted to H-1B. How many extensions you filed and how many drew a request for evidence. How many sponsored employees you separated and how many found a new sponsor within 60 days.
- Tie each number to a question DHS did not answer. For example, the deference proposal prices an added request for evidence at about $22 in paperwork but does not price a lapse in work authorization. The grace period proposal does not discuss H-1B portability or the separate 10-day period.
- Propose an alternative. A narrower rule, a transition period, an exception for pending cases. An alternative the agency must consider is harder to ignore than an objection.
- File one comment per docket. A single letter addressing all three is unlikely to be read into all three records.
What to do this week
- Assign one person to each docket and calendar Friday, November 6, as the internal deadline, so the comments are not being written on the weekend before the OPT deadline.
- Pull the three data sets above from your HRIS and your immigration counsel's case list.
- Separately from the comments, inventory OPT recommendations, pending extensions and planned separations. Each rule, if finalized, will turn on dates you can already see.
If you would like help preparing a comment or running the inventory, call Samper Law at (781) 321-3700.
Related analysis
- DHS Proposes a $70,000 OPT Fee. Comments Close November 9.
- DHS Wants to End the 60-Day Grace Period. Comments Close November 10.
- USCIS Wants to Stop Deferring to Its Own Approvals.
Sources
- Optional Practical Training Fees, 91 FR 64566 (Oct. 8, 2026), Docket ICEB-2026-0100; comments due November 9, 2026.
- Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period, 91 FR 57807 (Sept. 11, 2026), Docket USCIS-2026-0364; comments due November 10, 2026.
- Removing Deference to Prior USCIS Determinations of Eligibility, 91 FR 65119 (Oct. 14, 2026), Docket USCIS-2026-0529; comments due November 13, 2026.
- 8 CFR 274a.12(b)(20); Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association v. State Farm, 463 U.S. 29 (1983).
General information, not legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney client relationship.
Founder and Managing Attorney of Samper Law, Lidice leads the firm's uncompromising litigation standards with relentless advocacy and strategic precision honed across federal and state courts.