60 days or 30? F-1 grace periods under the new rule

For decades, "the grace period" meant one number: 60 days. The rule that ends duration of status on September 15, 2026 replaces that single number with four — 60, 30, 15, or zero, depending on who you are and how your stay ends. This page sorts them out, for students planning their last semester and for the advisors who now have to answer "how long do I have?" with a follow-up question instead of a number. 91 FR 44976; 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(v)

The four numbers at a glance

The regulation calls these "departure periods" rather than grace periods, and the renaming is honest. They are windows to wrap up and leave — or to file something that lawfully changes the plan. They are not extra status.

Who still gets 60 days

The 60-day period survives for transition students: those in the U.S. on September 15, 2026, maintaining F-1 status, admitted for duration of status. As long as they remain in the country under that old-rules treatment, their completion carries the familiar 60 days. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1)

That 60-day period does real work under the transition rules. It counts as part of the period of admission for the March 18, 2027 OPT carve-out — meaning the 60-day period still counts as being "within your admission" for the I-539 carve-out. But one trap: the I-765 has its own filing window, which now closes 30 days after the program end date with no transition-student exception. So file within 30 days of program end (and by March 18, 2027) — a filing on day 31 through 60 satisfies the carve-out clock yet lands outside the OPT window itself. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1)(i); 214.2(f)(11)(i)(B)(2) It also sits at the end of the transition timeline itself: protection runs through the later of the I-20 or EAD end date in place on September 15, 2026, capped at September 15, 2030, and then the 60 days begin — which is how the rule's outermost date lands on November 14, 2030. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1)(i)-(iii)

One event forfeits the 60: leaving and returning after September 15, 2026. Re-entry converts a transition student to the fixed-date system, and the departure period becomes 30 days from then on. A winter-break trip home can quietly cut a future grace period in half.

The new default: 30 days

Students admitted after September 15, 2026 live under the fixed-period system, and their number is 30. The 30-day period is built into the admission itself — it is included on the I-94 after the program dates. Completing the program early does not stretch it; early completion also carries 30 days. 8 CFR 214.1(a)(4), 214.2(f)(5)(i), (f)(5)(v)

Two filings can lawfully happen inside those 30 days, and each comes with a limit worth stating plainly:

• OPT. The same rule shortened the post-completion OPT filing window: it now closes 30 days after the program end date — half the 60 days the old rule allowed, with the 90-days-before opening unchanged. The requested OPT start date can be at most 30 days after program end. So the filing window and the departure period now end together, which is symmetric and also unforgiving: file in the back half of the window and there is no slack left. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(11)(i)(B)(2)
• An I-539 extension. USCIS must receive it before the authorized stay ends — and the 30-day period still counts as authorized stay for this purpose. But an extension filed during the 30 days carries a real cost: while it is pending, the student may study only, not work. Filed before program end, a timely I-539 preserves more — on-campus, CPT, and economic-hardship work authorization automatically extends up to 240 days. The lesson for both students and advisors: file extensions before the program ends, not during the departure period. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(7), (f)(5)(viii)

15 days, and zero

An authorized withdrawal — leaving the program with the school's authorization — carries a 15-day departure period. Fifteen days is enough time to book a flight and pack; it is not enough time to weigh options. Students considering withdrawal should have the conversation with their international student services office before withdrawing, while the full range of choices still exists. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(v)

A status violation carries no departure period at all. This is the sharpest edge in the new framework. Under duration of status, a violation started a reinstatement conversation; under the fixed-date system, the regulation attaches no departure window to it. Reinstatement itself still exists (8 CFR 214.2(f)(16) is unchanged) — but it is a discretionary application, not a safety net. The practical takeaway is old advice with higher stakes: problems are cheapest when raised early, while they are still compliance questions rather than violations. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(v)

A comparison that shows the stakes

Take two students who both finish a master's program in May 2027. Student A was in the U.S. on September 15, 2026 and never left: the 60-day cushion is theirs. (Note their timing problem, though — a May 2027 OPT filing lands after the March 18, 2027 carve-out date unless DHS extends it, so whether an I-539 is needed for the OPT period is exactly the kind of question to put to an advisor early. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1)(i)-(iii)) Student B arrived in January 2027, after the changeover: 30 days, built into the I-94. Same program, same graduation stage, half the runway. The difference was set the day each was admitted — which is why the first question in any advising conversation this year is "when did you last enter the U.S.?" 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1), 214.2(f)(5)(v)