Two Form I-129 grace periods end one day apart. The old 02/27/26 edition is rejected from November 9, but the old mailing address still works through November 9. Petitions already printed and waiting are the risk. GlobalCodio checks every package against the day it actually ships.
Two grace periods on Form I-129 end around Monday, November 9. They do not end on the same day. That one-day gap is where a petition that looked ready can come back unopened.
I-129 is the form behind H-1B, L-1, O-1 and most other temporary work petitions, plus TN and E extensions. On October 7, 2026, USCIS changed where it should be mailed. It also issued a new edition of the form, dated 09/09/26. For a few weeks, the old way and the new way have both been accepted. Both cushions end on November 9.
What changes on November 9
The old form edition goes first. USCIS will reject the 02/27/26 edition if it is postmarked or submitted on or after November 9. So a package on the old edition has to be postmarked before Monday.
The old mailing address lasts one day longer. USCIS will accept packages sent to the previous filing location if they are postmarked on or before November 9. From Tuesday, November 10, that grace period is over.
Put together: on Monday, November 9, the old address still works, but the old edition does not. A package can pass one check and fail the other. As with the I-485 cutover in September, a rejection is not a request for more evidence (RFE). The package comes back unreviewed, and the filing date goes with it.
The risk is in petitions that are already prepared
September's form changes had no grace period, so teams switched everything over on a single day. This one is different. A grace period lets old work keep moving - and old work is easy to forget.
Think about what is waiting to go out right now. A petition printed last week on the old edition, waiting for a signature. A courier label saved with the old address. An extension a manager asked to hold until a new salary is confirmed. Each was correct when it was prepared. Each can be wrong by the day it ships.
There is a quieter trap too. USCIS wants every page in a package to come from the same edition, and it may reject a package that mixes them. That happens when someone reprints one page to fix a typo - and the fresh download is the new edition.
The Forms Agent checks each package against the date it will actually be mailed, not the date it was drafted. A petition built on the old edition and still unsent at the cutover is flagged to be rebuilt, before anyone signs it.
Where you mail it now depends on the case
The new filing address is not one address. USCIS now points employers to a list, and the right location depends on the reason for filing. A new H-1B, an L-1 extension and a TN change of status may not go to the same place. That makes the address part of each case, not part of the office template. CodioForms keeps the filing location with the case, so the cover letter, the label and the checklist all match.
Filing online avoids the address question, but only some I-129 types can be filed online today. And as we wrote when USCIS gained the power to make forms online-only, that switch can arrive with little warning.
Why the form changed, and why it matters for HR
The new edition was built for a fee rule that took effect on September 9. Some employers must now pay an extra fee on every H-1B and L-1 petition. USCIS counts an employer as covered if it has 50 or more US employees and more than half of them hold H-1B or L-1 status.
For a corporate mobility team, the edition and the fee travel together. A petition from a covered employer that was prepared on the old edition could be missing both. The Document Validation Agent checks the edition, the fee and the signature before anything leaves the building.
What to do before November 9
Find every I-129 that is drafted but not yet mailed, and check its edition. Rebuild anything on the 02/27/26 edition that will not be postmarked before November 9. Update saved address templates and courier labels now. And tell managers who are holding a petition that the hold now carries a cost.
In GlobalCodio, that list is one search. The Deadline Agent carries both dates across the caseload, so nobody has to remember which grace period ends when.
You cannot predict the next form change. You can be ready for any version of it.
This will not be the last I-129 change this year. DHS has also proposed that every H-1B and L-1 extension be reviewed from scratch, with comments closing on November 13.
Grace periods feel like extra time. In practice they are when old and new paperwork travel side by side, and that is where mistakes hide. GlobalCodio builds and runs the operation that checks every package against the day it ships - in the background, so November 9 is just another Monday. If your outbox still has I-129s in it, let's talk.