H-1B Six-Year Limit Calculator
Estimate the last day of your six-year period, add back documented time outside the United States, account for prior L-1 years, see your I-94 date alongside it — and find out which of the two routes past six years your answers actually point at.
- No login
- No email required
- Your dates stay in your browser
- About 3 minutes
What this answers, and what it cannot
It will tell you
- An estimate of the last day of your six-year period, with the working shown.
- Your I-94 date separately, and which of the two binds first.
- How many days documented time abroad adds back.
- Which extension route your answers point at, and what it would still need.
- The 180-day deadline to file an I-140 on an approved certification.
It will not tell you
- Your actual period of authorized admission. Only your records show that.
- That you are eligible for an extension. Only USCIS decides that.
- How many recaptured days an officer would actually grant.
- What your lawful status is. Your I-94 governs that, not this page.
- An answer it has no basis for. A missing decisive answer produces “need more information”, not a guess in your favour.
The six years is a cap on the period of authorized admission, which USCIS counts from the admission periods actually granted to you — the dates on your I-94 records and approval notices. This tool estimates it forward from a single start date instead, so it cannot see gaps between petitions, an I-94 shorter than the petition that supported it, or time you spent in another status. Treat the result as a planning estimate and reconcile it against your own records before relying on it.
Your estimate
Enter the date your H-1B status began and your estimate appears here: the last day of your six-year period, your I-94 date alongside it, which of the two binds first, and which extension route your answers point at.
The six years is a cap on the period of authorized admission, which USCIS counts from the admission periods actually granted to you — the dates on your I-94 records and approval notices. This tool estimates it forward from a single start date instead, so it cannot see gaps between petitions, an I-94 shorter than the petition that supported it, or time you spent in another status. Treat the result as a planning estimate and reconcile it against your own records before relying on it.
Why trust this calculator?
- Designed by Deepak Middha, a Chartered Accountant and finance educator
- Built using publicly available guidance and documented assumptions
- An educational planning tool — not personalized financial or legal advice
- Reviewed and updated regularly
- Privacy friendly — inputs stay in your browser
- Methodology is published and open to read
- Known limitations are documented, not hidden
Where the clock starts — the input people get wrong
Use the date your H-1B status actually began, not the date the petition was approved. If you entered the United States on an H-1B visa, that is your date of admission in H-1B status. If you were already here and changed status, it is the effective date on the approval notice, which is often later than the approval date itself. An approval alone does not start the clock: a petition approved for consular processing starts counting only when you are admitted.
Admitted from abroad
The clock starts on the date you were admitted in H-1B status. A petition approved for consular processing starts nothing until then — an approval can sit for months while you wait for a visa appointment, and none of that time counts against you.
Already in the US
The clock starts on the effective date of the approved change of status, which is printed on the approval notice and is often later than the approval date. Using the approval date instead can cost you months of six-year time that you still have.
The date shown is the LAST day of your estimated six-year period, not the first day after it. A person first admitted in H-1B status on 1 March 2021, with no time abroad to add back and no prior L-1 time, reaches the end of six years on 28 February 2027 — so that is the date shown, and 1 March 2027 would be the first day beyond six years.
The two routes past six years, and what ends each one
Almost every misunderstanding about the six-year limit comes from treating these as one rule, or from thinking they end only if something is denied. Both lists below are longer than that.
One-year extensions (1 year at a time)
8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(D)
- What triggers it
- A PERM or an I-140 filed at least 365 days ago. The filing may be pending — it does not have to be approved. You must be the named beneficiary of a non-frivolous filing, and days from two different filings cannot be added together to reach 365.
- What ends it
- — The approved permanent labor certification expires. This is a standalone trigger, not a decision anyone makes — an approved certification lapses if it is not filed in support of an I-140 in time.
- — A final decision to deny the labor certification, or, if it was approved, to revoke or invalidate that approval.
- — A final decision to deny the I-140, or, if it was approved, to revoke it.
- — A final decision to deny — or to APPROVE — the immigrant visa application or the I-485. Approval ends the route because it is no longer needed, but it does end it.
- — Administrative or other closure of the labor certification, the I-140, or the adjustment application.
- Who can file it
- Any employer. The regulation says the H-1B petitioner need not be the employer that filed the qualifying certification or petition.
Three-year extensions (up to 3 years at a time)
8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(E)
- What triggers it
- An approved I-140 in EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3, and no visa number available for your category and country of birth. A pending I-140 does not qualify, however long it has been pending — and neither does an approved one where your priority date is current.
- What ends it
- — A final decision to revoke the approval of the I-140.
- — A final decision to approve — or to deny — the immigrant visa application or the I-485.
- — Your priority date becoming current, which removes the visa unavailability the route depends on. The employer has to show that unavailability as of the day it files.
- Where the increment comes from
- The regulation, not the statute. The statute says only that status may be extended until the adjustment application is decided; the 3-year figure is regulatory.
The restriction almost nobody knows about
If your priority date became current and you did not file an I-485 or apply for an immigrant visa within one year of a visa being authorized for issuance, you can lose this route altogether. The clock pauses if visas become unavailable again and restarts when one is next available, and USCIS can excuse a missed deadline where the cause was outside your control — but it is a real bar, and it catches people who waited for a better job before filing.
If your employer is suspended from PERM, the ending lists above are the ones that matter, and they are better news than most coverage implies. A suspension of processing is not one of the events that ends this route: it is neither a denial, a revocation, an invalidation, nor a closure, and 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(D)(3) adds that a denial or revocation is not final while an appeal period is open or an appeal is pending. A frozen application is still a pending application for the 365-day test. What a suspension does not postpone is the separate expiry of an already-approved certification, which lapses on its own schedule. The suspension tracker covers the rest, including what is confirmed and what is still unknown.
Recapturing time you spent outside the United States
This is the part of the six-year limit most people do not know exists, and for someone who has travelled regularly it can be worth months. The regulation is unusually generous in two respects: the absence only has to exceed 24 hours, and the reason for it is expressly irrelevant — a family holiday recaptures exactly as a client visit does.
What it is not is automatic. The regulation puts the burden on the employer filing the petition to request a specific number of days and to document them, and says USCIS may grant all, part or none of what is requested. These are the records it names:
- passport entry and exit stamps
- Form I-94 arrival and departure records
- airline tickets or boarding passes
- a chart of the dates spent outside the United States, referencing the documents above
Recapture is not automatic. The regulation puts the burden on the employer filing the petition to request a specific number of days and document them, and USCIS may grant all, part or none of what is requested. Treat recaptured days as a claim you need records for, not as time you already have.
Two inputs worth getting right
Prior L-1 time, and what is not L-1 time
H and L principal time aggregate into one six-year allowance, so L-1 years come off the front. Use the actual dates from your approval notices rather than a count of months. What does not count:
- — Time as an L-2 or H-4 dependent. The limit aggregates time in the H and L principal classifications; dependent time is not counted against it.
- — Time in any other status — F-1 or OPT, J-1, O-1, TN, E-3, B-1/B-2. None of it consumes the six years.
- — Time spent outside the United States during an L-1 period, on the same basis that H-1B absences do not count.
Your I-94, which is a separate limit
Your I-94 end date and the six-year cap are two different limits and they bind independently. An I-94 often ends earlier — because the petition was approved for a shorter period, or your passport expires first. Whichever comes first is the date that governs your stay, so this tool shows them separately rather than blending them into one figure. Retrieve your current I-94 from the CBP site rather than working from memory.
Retrieve your I-94 from CBPHow this calculator works+
Inputs
- The date your H-1B status actually began — admission in H-1B status, or the effective date of an approved change of status. Not the approval date.
- Your current I-94 end date, held and reported separately from the six-year estimate.
- Total days spent outside the United States during H-1B or L-1 validity, counting only absences longer than 24 hours.
- Prior L-1 principal periods, entered as actual start and end dates. Dependent time and time in other statuses are excluded.
- Your current green card stage, and the date that stage was filed or approved.
- Where an I-140 is approved: whether a visa number is available for your category and country of birth, and whether a year ever passed with a visa available and no application filed.
- Whether your employer is on the announced PERM suspension list.
Calculation assumptions
- The six-year period is computed as six calendar years from the date status began, less one day — which makes the reported date the LAST day of the period. 29 February clamps to 28 February rather than rolling into March.
- This is a forward estimate from one start date, not a sum of the admission periods actually granted. It cannot see gaps between petitions, an I-94 shorter than its petition, or time spent in another status. The page says so wherever the figure appears.
- L-1 periods are counted inclusively from the dates entered, so 1 June to 30 June is 30 days. No month-to-day conversion is used.
- Every day entered as time abroad is treated as recapturable. In reality recapture must be requested and documented by the petitioner, and may be granted in part or refused.
- The 365-day test is assessed against the date an extension would begin — the day after the six-year period ends — because the regulation permits filing before the 365 days have run provided they have run by the time the extension takes effect.
- The I-94 never enters the six-year arithmetic. It is compared against it and reported as the governing date when it falls first.
- The suspension checkbox changes no date and no verdict. It only adds a section about routes that do not depend on your employer filing.
Decision logic
- Estimated last day = (six calendar years from the start date, less one day) − documented L-1 days + documented days abroad.
- The result is "Extension route available" where the conditions for either route are met on the answers given; "Clock running" where a qualifying filing reaches 365 days before an extension would begin but has not yet; "At risk" where neither route is open, or the date has passed; and "Need more information" where a decisive answer is missing — most often whether a visa number is available.
- The three-year route requires an approved I-140 AND no visa number available. A current priority date closes it, which the tool reports as a change of route rather than a loss, because the adjustment application is then the step in front of you.
- The one-year route is barred outright where the reader indicates a visa became available and more than a year passed without an application being filed.
- Where a certification is approved and no I-140 has been filed, the 180-day expiry date is calculated from the grant date and shown with the days remaining — and that expiry is itself one of the events that ends the one-year route.
Limitations
- It cannot tell you whether USCIS would approve an extension, how many recaptured days it would grant, or whether a visa number is available for you — it asks you for that last one rather than assuming.
- It produces an estimate from a single start date, not your actual period of authorized admission.
- It assumes the dates you entered are the dates on your notices. A wrong start date moves every output.
- It is educational and is not legal, immigration or tax advice.
Worked example
Someone whose H-1B status began on 1 March 2021, who spent 140 documented days outside the US on qualifying trips, held L-1 status from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019 (1,095 days, counted inclusively), and whose employer filed a PERM on 1 June 2025: the base date is 28 February 2027, less 1,095 days and plus 140 days, giving an estimated last day in early 2024 — already past, which is exactly the case where the tool stops estimating and says to take the approval notices to an attorney. Change the L-1 period to a single year and the estimate lands in 2029, the PERM passes 365 days well before it, and the one-year route reads as available.
When professional advice may be appropriate
Any question about whether you qualify for an extension, how much time can be recaptured, whether your priority date is current, or what a suspended or denied certification means for your case belongs with a qualified employment-based immigration attorney. The dates here are a starting point for that conversation, not a substitute for it.
Privacy note
Every date is calculated in your browser. Nothing is stored, nothing is transmitted, and the PDF is generated on your device.
Three rules that get confused with these
All three involve an I-140 and a number of days, which is why they end up merged in people’s heads. They are separate tests with separate consequences.
Priority-date retention — no waiting period at all
Retention attaches when the petition is approved. There is no 180-day condition and no elapsed-time condition of any kind, and with several approved petitions you keep the earliest date. It is forfeited only where USCIS revokes the petition for one of four reasons:
- — Fraud, or a willful misrepresentation of a material fact.
- — Revocation by the Department of Labor of the approved permanent labor certification that accompanied the petition.
- — Invalidation by USCIS or the Department of State of the permanent labor certification that accompanied the petition.
- — A determination by USCIS that the petition approval was based on a material error.
The corollary matters as much: a revocation on some other ground — an employer withdrawing the petition, or its business closing — is not on that list, so it does not by itself cost you the date.
8 CFR 204.5(e)
Surviving withdrawal or the employer closing — 180 days after approval
A petition withdrawn, or whose petitioning employer’s business terminates, 180 days or more after approval — or 180 days or more after the associated I-485 was filed — remains approved unless revoked on other grounds. Two things this does not do: it does not protect against automatic revocation when the underlying certification is invalidated, which no elapsed time cures; and it does not preserve the job offer, which is rescinded either way.
8 CFR 205.1
Porting to a new job — 180 days is one condition of five
This is the one most often shortened to just the 180 days. The full test:
- — Your I-485 has been filed and has remained unadjudicated for 180 days or more.
- — There is a qualifying I-140 that is already approved — or that was pending when you notified USCIS of the new job offer and is subsequently approved.
- — That petition's approval has not been revoked.
- — The new job is in the same or a similar occupational classification: one that resembles the sponsored occupation in every relevant respect, or shares its essential qualities or has a marked resemblance to it.
- — You can show it on Form I-485 Supplement J — either because USCIS asks you to, or because you file it to establish the new offer yourself.
INA 204(j) and 8 CFR 245.25
What an approved I-140 preserves in practice — including how to get a copy you do not have, and what happens when an employer withdraws it — is covered properly on the approved I-140 guide.
If your employer is on the PERM suspension list
Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini were announced as suspended from PERM in October 2026. Your six-year date is unchanged by that — the clock and the extension rules are exactly the same — but which routes remain open to you is not. The tracker keeps what is confirmed apart from what is only reported and what nobody has said yet.
Open the PERM suspension trackerWhat this page deliberately does not cover
This is a dates tool. Three adjacent subjects have their own pages on this site, and repeating them here would only produce two half-answers instead of one good one.
- What an approved I-140 actually preservesGetting a copy you do not have, what an employer withdrawal does, portability in practice, and the compelling-circumstances employment authorisation document.
- The 60-day grace period after a layoffA different clock entirely — it starts when employment ends, not when your six years do, and it is capped by your I-94.
- All the options after a layoff, comparedTransfer, change of status, leaning on a pending green card case, or departure — side by side.
Frequently asked questions
How long can I stay in the US on an H-1B?
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Six years. The statute says the period of authorized admission in H-1B status may not exceed 6 years, and the regulation counts H and L principal time together toward that same total rather than giving each its own allowance. Two things change the figure: documented time spent outside the United States can be added back, and two separate exemptions allow extensions beyond six years where a green card case is far enough along.
How do I calculate my H-1B max-out date?
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Properly, you add up the periods of admission you were actually granted — the dates on your I-94 records and approval notices — because that is what the six-year cap limits. The calculator above does something simpler and clearly labelled: six calendar years from the date your status began, less documented L-1 time, plus documented days abroad. That is a planning estimate, not a figure from your record, and it cannot see gaps between petitions or an I-94 shorter than the petition behind it.
Is the date shown my last authorized day, or the first day after?
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The last day of the estimated six-year period. Someone first admitted in H-1B status on 1 March 2021, with no L-1 time and nothing to add back, is shown 28 February 2027 — so 1 March 2027 would be the first day beyond six years. The distinction matters because an extension has to take effect from the day after, and the 365-day test for the one-year route is measured against that start date.
Is my I-94 date the same as my six-year date?
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No, and conflating them is how people get caught out. They are independent limits and whichever arrives first governs your stay. An I-94 often ends earlier — because the petition was approved for a shorter period, or your passport expires first. The calculator asks for both and shows them separately, and tells you which one binds first rather than quietly reporting the more comfortable number.
Does time spent outside the US count toward the six years?
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No — and this is the most valuable thing on this page for most people. Time spent physically outside the United States for more than 24 hours during the validity of an H-1B petition does not count toward the six years, and can be added back in a later petition. The regulation says explicitly that the reason for the absence is irrelevant, so holidays count exactly as business trips do. It is not automatic: the employer must request a specific number of days and document them, and USCIS may grant all, part or none.
Can I extend my H-1B after six years?
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Yes, by one of two routes with different triggers. One-year extensions are available where a PERM or an I-140 has been on file for at least 365 days. Extensions of up to 3 years need an approved I-140 AND no visa number available for your category and country of birth — if your priority date is current, that second route closes, because it exists only for people held back by the per-country limit. Neither route is permanent: each ends on a defined list of events.
What happens when my H-1B reaches six years with no green card process?
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Neither extension route is open to you, because both depend on a green card filing. H-1B status ends and you would need either to change to another status you qualify for, or to leave the United States. The practical deadline is earlier than the six-year date: a PERM filed today needs 365 days to mature, so the last useful filing date is roughly a year before you max out.
Can I reset the H-1B six-year clock?
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Yes, but the price is high. A fresh six-year allowance requires residing and being physically present outside the United States for 12 months — a full year of living abroad, not a year of absences adding up, though brief trips to the US for business or pleasure are allowed within it. Recapturing documented time abroad is a different and far more common move: it extends the existing allowance rather than restarting it.
Does L-1 time count toward the H-1B six-year limit?
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Yes, if it was L-1 principal status. The regulation sets the limit at six years spent in the United States under the H and/or L classifications, so they aggregate into one allowance. Three years in L-1 followed by H-1B leaves roughly three years of H-1B time, not six. But time as an L-2 or H-4 dependent does not count, and neither does time in F-1, OPT, J-1, O-1, TN or any other status — people routinely over-count dependent years and frighten themselves with a date years too early.
Can waiting too long to file an I-485 cost me my extension eligibility?
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Yes, and almost nobody knows this. If you are the beneficiary of an approved petition and a visa number became available for your category and country, and you did not file an I-485 or apply for an immigrant visa within one year of that, the one-year extension route can be barred outright. The clock pauses if visas become unavailable again, and USCIS can excuse a missed deadline where the cause was beyond your control — but it catches people who waited for a better job before filing.
Talk to an immigration attorney
Three questions on this page genuinely need a professional: how many days of time abroad you can actually recapture, whether your priority date is current for your category and country, and whether a frozen or denied certification still supports an extension in your case. All three turn on documents rather than dates, and all three are quick for someone with the file in front of them.
Nothing on this page is a substitute for advice about your own case, and the questions here turn on facts a page cannot see — your filing dates, your receipt notices, your I-94, your country of birth. The two tools below exist to make that conversation shorter and cheaper, because an attorney charging by the hour should not be spending it establishing what you already know.
Finding one: LayoffNext does not recommend, refer or vet attorneys, and earns nothing from anyone you contact. Every US state bar runs a lawyer-referral or verification service, which is the reliable way to confirm that someone is licensed and in good standing before you pay them. The American Bar Association’s lawyer referral directory lists them. If cost is the obstacle, a nonprofit legal services provider may be able to help: the Justice Department keeps the official list of recognized pro bono immigration providers.
Sources & methodology
Every legal figure on this page — the six years, the 365 days, the 180 days, the 24-hour threshold, both extension increments and all three of the 180-day rules — lives in a single configuration file that carries, for each one, the statute or regulation it was verified against. The calculator, this copy and the FAQ all read from that file, so the page cannot contradict itself.
Each figure was read off the primary text on October 8, 2026: the electronic Code of Federal Regulations for the regulations, and the US Code and the public laws for the statutes. Law-firm summaries and agency web pages were used to locate provisions, never as the source of a number.
Three corrections made after this page first shipped, recorded here because a reader who saw the earlier version deserves to know. It carried a “six-year allowance” of 2,192 days — a figure that appears in no legal source and has been removed in favour of calendar arithmetic clearly labelled as an estimate. It reported anyone with an approved I-140 as protected, which ignored that the three-year route requires a visa number to be unavailable. And it said extensions end only on a denial or revocation, which omitted three of the five events the regulation lists, including the expiry of an approved certification and the approval of an adjustment application.
One correction worth recording separately, because it is a common error elsewhere: the 3-year extension increment is not in the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act. The statute says only that status may be extended until the adjustment application is decided. The increment comes from 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(E)(1).
- INA 214(g)(4) / 8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(4) — the six-year maximum — U.S. Code (Office of the Law Revision Counsel)That the period of authorized admission in H-1B status may not exceed six years. Note the statute caps a period of admission; it does not state a number of days. · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13) — the six-year limit, L-1 aggregation, recapture of time abroad, and the two exemptions — Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThat H and L principal time aggregate ((iii)(A)); that absences over 24 hours may be recaptured and that the burden is the petitioner's ((iii)(C)); the one-year lengthy-adjudication-delay exemption, its five ending events, the appeal rule and the one-year failure-to-apply bar ((iii)(D)(2), (3) and (10)); and the three-year per-country-limitation exemption, its requirement of visa unavailability as of filing, and its own ending events ((iii)(E) and (E)(2)). · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act, Pub. L. 106-313 §§104(c) and 106, as amended by Pub. L. 107-273 §11030A — U.S. Government Publishing OfficeThe statutory basis for both extension routes: the 365-day rule in §106(a) as amended, and the per-country-limit extension in §104(c). The three-year increment is regulatory, not statutory. · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- 20 CFR 656.30 — validity and invalidation of labor certifications — Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThat an approved certification expires if not filed in support of an I-140 within 180 calendar days of the grant (656.30(b)(1)), and that its filing date may be used as a priority date (656.30(a)(2)). · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- 8 CFR 204.5(e) — retention of a priority date — Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThat retention attaches on approval with no elapsed-time condition, that the earliest of multiple approved petitions' dates applies, and that only four grounds of revocation forfeit the date — so a revocation on other grounds does not. · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- 8 CFR 205.1 — automatic revocation of approved petitions — Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThat an approved petition survives withdrawal or the employer's business terminating 180 days or more after approval, or 180 days or more after the associated I-485 was filed; that it is automatically revoked if the supporting labor certification is invalidated regardless of elapsed time; and that the job offer is rescinded either way. · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- INA 204(j) / 8 U.S.C. 1154(j) — job flexibility for long-delayed applicants — U.S. Code (Office of the Law Revision Counsel)That an I-140 remains valid for a new job where the I-485 has been pending 180 days or more and the new job is in the same or a similar occupational classification. · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- 8 CFR 245.25 — the conditions and process for adjustment portability — Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsThat portability additionally requires an approved (or subsequently approved) qualifying petition whose approval has not been revoked, defines same and similar occupational classification, and establishes Form I-485 Supplement J as the means of showing the new offer. · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
- Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record — retrieve your own travel history — U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionThe arrival and departure records the regulation names as recapture evidence, the date your H-1B status began, and the I-94 end date that governs your authorized stay independently of the six-year cap. · Last verified Oct 8, 2026
Important disclaimer
This calculator produces an estimate from the dates you enter. It is not your period of authorized admission, it is not a decision by any agency, it does not establish your lawful status, and it is not legal advice. Immigration outcomes depend on your specific status, history, and facts, and the rules change. This page is educational only and is not legal advice. Confirm everything with a licensed immigration attorney or official USCIS guidance before acting.
Founder of LayoffNext. Chartered Accountant and finance educator who builds free tools for people navigating layoffs.
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