Do we have to maintain H1 b status when u r 1 month close to get your priority date getting current? What do you advise?

This is a common and stressful moment in the employment-based green card process, and the short general answer is yes: for most people, keeping H-1B status (or another lawful nonimmigrant status) until the green card application is actually filed matters a great deal. 

Applying for the green card from inside the United States is called adjustment of status (Form I-485). It can only be filed when an immigrant visa is "immediately available" for your priority date and category. For employment-based applicants, the law also bars adjustment for anyone who is out of status on the filing date, has not maintained lawful status since entering, worked without authorization, or is not in a lawful nonimmigrant status when applying. Under INA § 245(k), applicants in the EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and EB-5 categories (and certain religious workers) may still adjust if, since their most recent lawful entry, they have not accumulated more than 180 days total of status violations or unauthorized work. That cushion counts every violation together and restarts only with a new lawful entry.

The Visa Bulletin is a monthly State Department forecast, and priority dates can stall or move backward. USCIS also decides each month whether employment-based applicants may file under the earlier "Dates for Filing" chart or must wait for the later "Final Action Dates" chart; for August and September 2026 it required the Final Action Dates chart. A date that looks one month away can become several, and any lapse in status during the wait counts against the 180 days.

If the job ends. Current regulations give H-1B workers and their H-4 family members a discretionary grace period of up to 60 consecutive days (or until the current H-1B validity ends, if sooner), once per validity period, during which they are not treated as having lost status solely because employment ended. Working is not permitted during that time (8 C.F.R. § 214.1(l)(2)). Important caveat: on September 11, 2026, DHS published a proposed rule to eliminate this grace period entirely for H-1B, L-1, O-1, E, and TN workers and their dependents (91 Fed. Reg. 57807). It is only a proposal, with public comments accepted through November 10, 2026, and the grace period remains in effect until a final rule takes effect. If it is finalized as written, a worker whose job ends would be considered out of status the very next day. A

Regulations give H-1B workers and their H-4 family members a discretionary grace period of up to 60 consecutive days (or until the current H-1B validity ends, if sooner), once per validity period, during which they are not treated as having lost status solely because employment ended. Working is not permitted during that time (8 C.F.R. § 214.1(l)(2)). People in that window commonly evaluate a new H-1B employer, a change to another status such as H-4 through a spouse, or, for some with an approved I-140, a compelling-circumstances work permit, which provides authorized stay but not nonimmigrant status. Each option affects the later green card filing differently.

 A spouse or child adjusting with the principal applicant files a separate application and must independently meet these same status rules, with the same 180-day cushion.

As general information, the lowest-risk path most practitioners describe is to enter the filing window in valid status, holding the 180-day cushion in reserve for the unexpected rather than spending it in advance. Because the answer for a specific family turns on exact dates, each person's current status, whether the I-140 is approved, and which chart USCIS designates that month, this is a situation where individualized advice from an immigration lawyer before any status lapse is well worth the consultation.

This is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.