TPS Temporary Protected Status
Temporary Protected Status lets nationals of a designated country stay and work in the United States while conditions there make return unsafe - armed conflict, a natural disaster, or other extraordinary conditions. It is not a visa and it is not a path to a green card. As of September 2026 the programme has been reduced to a handful of designations, almost all of which are running out, and the Supreme Court has held that the Secretary's decisions are largely unreviewable.
- Duración
- Six to eighteen months per designation period, set by the Secretary and renewable by extension. The status ends when the designation is terminated or allowed to expire. In practice the FY2026 designations run: El Salvador through 9 September 2026, Sudan and Ukraine through 19 October 2026, and Lebanon through 27 November 2026 - each of the first three terminating on the date it expires.
- Extensiones
- By Federal Register notice from the Secretary, ordinarily 60 days before expiry. If the Secretary makes no timely determination, the statute automatically extends the designation by six months - which is exactly what happened to Lebanon, extended to 27 November 2026 by notice at 91 FR 32069 on 29 May 2026. No re-registration period was open for any country as of 5 September 2026.
- Trabajo
- Yes, on Form I-765 in category (a)(12) for a TPS holder or (c)(19) for an applicant. Since the H.R. 1 implementation, 8 CFR 244.12 has been amended so that a TPS employment authorisation document is valid for one year or the remaining designation period, whichever is shorter. Automatic extension of expiring TPS work permits has been largely dismantled: USCIS attributes this to country-specific notices, the 30 October 2025 interim final rule ending automatic extensions, and H.R. 1 implementation on 22 July 2025, and says that in most instances these have reduced or eliminated the automatic extension periods. Four routes survive - a country-specific Federal Register notice, an individual Form I-797 notice of action, a renewal filed before 30 October 2025, and the H.R. 1-limited extension. USCIS states expressly that a holder cannot claim the full 540-day extension even if a Form I-797C notice lists it.
- Dependientes
- None. TPS is granted individually and there are no derivatives. A spouse or child must qualify in their own right as a national of the designated country meeting the presence and residence dates.
- Camino a la residencia permanente
- None on its own. TPS confers no independent route to permanent residence. A TPS holder who becomes eligible through a family or employment category must qualify under that category, and whether TPS travel authorisation or a prior parole cures a defective entry for adjustment purposes turns on facts outside TPS itself. Time in TPS does not count toward naturalisation.
- Tiempo de trámite
- Registration and re-registration adjudication times are published at egov.uscis.gov/processing-times and change monthly; specific figures are unverified here. What matters more in 2026 is the designation calendar, which is running out faster than the queue.
- Cupo anual y filas de espera
- None. TPS is not numerically limited and carries no priority date, so it does not appear in the Visa Bulletin. The constraint is designation, not numbers.
Quién califica
- A national of a country the Secretary of Homeland Security has designated, or a person with no nationality who last habitually resided there
- Someone who has been continuously physically present in the United States since the effective date of the designation, and continuously resident since the date the designation specifies
- Someone who registers during the initial registration period, or files a late initial registration where an exception applies. Children of TPS-eligible individuals face no time limitation on initial registration
- Barred: anyone convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors in the United States, anyone subject to the asylum bars including the persecutor bar, and anyone inadmissible on criminal or security grounds that cannot be waived
Requisitos
- Nationality of a designated country, or last habitual residence there for a stateless person
- Continuous physical presence and continuous residence as of the dates in the designating Federal Register notice
- Form I-821 filed during the registration or re-registration window, with biometrics
- No disqualifying convictions and no applicable bar
- Re-registration during every window announced for the country, without which status lapses
- Late re-registration is accepted for good cause with a letter explaining the delay
Cómo solicitar
- 1
Check whether your country is designated and whether a registration or re-registration window is open. As of 5 September 2026 none was open for any country.
- 2
File Form I-821 during the window - online filing is available for current designations - with evidence of nationality, continuous residence and continuous physical presence.
- 3
File Form I-765 at the same time or later if you need to work. Budget for the H.R. 1 fee on top of the filing fee.
- 4
Attend biometrics.
- 5
Re-register during every announced window. Late re-registration is accepted for good cause with a letter explaining the delay; late initial filing is available during an extension for listed categories, and children of TPS-eligible individuals face no time limit.
- 6
On an initial filing, a denied fee waiver can be cured by refiling with the correct fee before the deadline or within 45 days of the denial notice.
- 7
Do not assume your work permit auto-extends. Check the individual Form I-797 notice of action, which is the mechanism now used for El Salvador to 9 September 2026 and for Sudan and Ukraine to 19 October 2026.
Tarifas y formularios
| Form I-821 initial registration | $510, plus a $30 biometrics fee - $540 in total. H.R. 1 raised the statutory maximum from $50 to $500 and the FY2026 inflation adjustment took it to $510 |
| Form I-821 re-registration | $0, plus a $30 biometrics fee. A fee waiver on Form I-912 is available for the biometrics fee only |
| Form I-765 initial employment authorisation, category (a)(12) or (c)(19) | $520 paper or $470 online, plus a $560 H.R. 1 fee - $1,080 or $1,030 in total |
| Form I-765 renewal, category (a)(12) or (c)(19) | $520 paper or $470 online, plus a $280 H.R. 1 fee - $800 or $750 in total |
| Form I-131 TPS travel authorisation | $630 paper, $580 online |
| Form I-601 waiver of inadmissibility, only if a new waiver is needed | $930 when collected for USCIS at a consulate |
Qué cambió en 2025 y 2026
- 25 June 2026 - the Supreme Court decided Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security v. Doe, No. 25-1083, consolidated with Trump v. Miot, No. 25-1084, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), on certiorari before judgment from the Second Circuit (Syria) and D.C. Circuit (Haiti), argued 29 April 2026. It reversed and remanded. First, 8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)(5)(A) bars judicial review of non-constitutional challenges: 'determination' covers both the decision and the process leading to it, and 'with respect to' broadens the bar further. The Court rejected the procedural/substantive split, the country-conditions-only reading, and the ultimate/subsidiary-decision split. Second, applying Arlington Heights, the Haiti equal protection claim was unlikely to succeed: no cited statement was overtly racial, and the race-neutral explanation was that the administration opposes TPS as implemented and has terminated every designation coming up for renewal. Alito announced the judgment; Kagan dissented, joined by Sotomayor and Jackson. DHS applied it immediately, and every subsequent USCIS termination alert recites it.
- Terminations announced in 2025 and 2026, with the USCIS wind-down date: Venezuela 2023 designation, announced 5 February 2025 (90 FR 9040), effective immediately on 3 October 2025 following the Supreme Court's order; Afghanistan, 13 May 2025 (90 FR 20309), wind-down 22 July 2025; Cameroon, 4 June 2025 (90 FR 23697); Nepal, 6 June 2025 (90 FR 24151), 5 August 2025; Honduras and Nicaragua, both 8 July 2025 (90 FR 30089 and 90 FR 30086), both 8 September 2025; Venezuela 2021 designation, 8 September 2025 (90 FR 43225), 7 November 2025; Syria, 22 September 2025 (90 FR 45398), wind-down 27 July 2026; South Sudan, 6 November 2025 (90 FR 50484), 7 August 2026; Burma, 25 November 2025 (90 FR 53378), 7 August 2026; Haiti operative notice, 28 November 2025 (90 FR 54733), 27 July 2026; Ethiopia, 15 December 2025 (90 FR 58028), 18 August 2026; Somalia, 14 January 2026 (91 FR 1547), 14 August 2026; Yemen, 3 March 2026 (91 FR 10402), 20 July 2026.
- The state of designations at 5 September 2026: El Salvador runs through 9 September 2026 and terminates that date, confirmed by USCIS on 3 September 2026. Sudan and Ukraine run through 19 October 2026 and terminate those dates, Ukraine confirmed by USCIS on 3 September 2026. Lebanon is the only country on a live extension, automatically extended by statute to 27 November 2026 at 91 FR 32069 on 29 May 2026 because the Secretary made no timely determination. Venezuela is still listed but both designations are terminated; the residual is that beneficiaries whose documents bore a 2 October 2026 expiration date and were issued on or before 5 February 2025 keep work authorisation to 2 October 2026 under a Northern District of California order of 30 May 2025.
- No Federal Register termination notice is findable for El Salvador, Sudan or Ukraine despite the USCIS alerts stating all three terminate on expiry. Either the notices sit outside the Federal Register full-text index or the designations simply lapse. Unverified.
- 31 December 2025 - the Northern District of California vacated the Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua terminations in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, No. 25-cv-05687-TLT. The Ninth Circuit stayed that order on 9 February 2026 in No. 26-199, so those three terminations stand.
- 22 July 2025 - H.R. 1 implementation raised the Form I-821 initial registration fee cap from $50 to $500, taken to $510 by the 1 January 2026 inflation adjustment, and added the $560 initial and $280 renewal employment authorisation fees.
- 29 May 2026 - the interim final rule at 91 FR 22952, corrected at 91 FR 45637, amended 8 CFR 244.12 so that TPS employment authorisation is valid for one year or the remaining designation period, whichever is shorter.
- 30 October 2025 - DHS ended the automatic 180-day extension of employment authorisation documents for timely-filed renewals (90 FR 48799), which is the largest single reason TPS holders are now losing work authorisation between filings.
- TPS applicants remain exempt from the public charge ground under the 20 July 2026 final rule effective 18 September 2026.
Dónde suele fallar
- Assuming your work permit auto-extends. It largely does not any more. Check the individual Form I-797 notice of action and do not rely on a 540-day figure printed on it - USCIS says expressly that a holder cannot claim the full 540 days.
- Missing a re-registration window. Status lapses, and while late re-registration is accepted for good cause it requires a letter explaining the delay and it is discretionary.
- Treating TPS as a path to a green card. It is not one, and time in TPS counts toward nothing.
- Litigating a termination. After Mullin v. Doe, non-constitutional challenges to a designation or termination are barred from review, and the Court also found the Haiti equal protection theory unlikely to succeed.
- Assuming a court win holds. The Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua terminations were vacated on 31 December 2025 and reinstated by a Ninth Circuit stay five weeks later.
- Budgeting for the old fees. An initial TPS registration with a work permit now runs $510 plus $30 biometrics plus $520 plus $560 - over $1,600 for one person on paper.
- Waiting for a re-registration window that is not coming. Three of the five listed countries terminate on the date their current period expires.
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