I-821 Application for Temporary Protected Status
Registers for Temporary Protected Status, which shields nationals of a designated country from removal and allows them to work while the designation lasts. It has to be filed during a registration window, and it has to be renewed at every re-registration period. TPS is a status, not a path to a green card.
- Fee
- $510 for initial registration, $0 for re-registration, plus a $30 biometric services fee in both cases
- Fee waiver
- partial
- Who files
- Nationals of a TPS-designated country, and people with no nationality who last habitually resided there.
- Where to file
- Online through a USCIS account, or by mail to the lockbox named in the country-specific Federal Register notice.
- Processing time
- 12.4 months (FY 2026 national median through June 30, 2026)
Usually filed with
Part of these processes
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- The administration terminated or declined to extend TPS for several countries during 2025 and 2026, with much of it in litigation. Processing has doubled since FY 2025, from 6.1 to 12.4 months. Check the current Federal Register notice for the country before filing anything - the registration window and the filing address change every cycle.
Official page. https://www.uscis.gov/i-821. Download the form there, never from a third-party site; check the edition date and fee before filing.