On Nov. 10, 2022, the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the continuation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for beneficiaries from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, and for some beneficiaries from Haiti and Sudan. The announcement confirms that the designated beneficiaries will be granted an automatic extension of TPS-based Employment Authorization through June 30, 2024.
The announcement confirms as well that: 1) the designated beneficiaries do not need to pay a fee or file any application to maintain TPS and 2) they are employment-authorized incident to status and are not required to have an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).
By way of background, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is granted by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security to eligible foreign-born individuals who are unable to return home safely due to conditions or circumstances preventing their country from adequately handling the return. Countries can be designated for TPS on the basis of situations such as:
- ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war),
- an environmental disaster (such as earthquake or hurricane),
- an epidemic, or
- other extraordinary and temporary conditions.
TPS can be granted to an individual who is a national of a designated country, has filed for status during a specified registration period, and who has been continuously physically present in the U.S. since a designated date.
If a person is granted TPS, during a designated period, he/she are:
- Not removable from the U.S.
- Not detainable by DHS on account of immigration status,
- Eligible for an employment authorization document, and
- Eligible for travel authorization.
The U.S. currently provides TPS to over 500,000 foreign nationals from the following countries: Afghanistan, Ukraine, Venezuela (+300,000), El Salvador (+250,000), Honduras (+80,000), Haiti (+56,000), Nepal (+14,000), Syria, Nicaragua, Burma, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and South Sudan. In order to qualify for TPS, a person must be in the U.S. and must meet certain qualifying criteria relating to dates of presence in the U.S.
Note that a person who has been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the U.S. is not eligible for TPS. In addition, a person who has been found inadmissible as an immigrant under INA Section 212(a) for crimes or security-related grounds, or who is subject to any of the mandatory bars to asylum, or who fails to meet the continuous physical presence and continuous residence in the U.S. or who fails to meet initial or late initial TPS registration requirements will not be granted TPS.
Eligible beneficiaries may still request and obtain an Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) by filing Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, along with a filing fee or a fee waiver. For those who do not have a valid, unexpired EAD, the Federal Register Notice explains how TPS beneficiaries, their employers and government agencies can determine the TPS/employment authorized status of the beneficiaries.
The DHS notice does not cover individuals who were newly granted TPS under the 2021 designation for Haiti or the 2022 designation for Sudan. Those individuals are governed by different rules which require them to apply for protected status before the close of the registration periods on February 3, 2023 for Haiti, and October 19, 2023 for Sudan. For more information on TPS, click here. To discuss eligibility for TPS, please contact us.