Temporary Protected Status was designed as a pause, not a path. It shields nationals of a designated country from removal and lets them work while conditions at home make return unsafe. Designations run for six to eighteen months and can be extended indefinitely. Several had been, for a decade or more.
The second Trump administration has spent 2025 unwinding that. Between February and November, DHS published Federal Register notices terminating the designation of almost every country on the list. Each notice sets an effective date, usually 60 days after publication, the statutory minimum. Lawsuits delayed several. By mid-November most are in force.
Country by country
Venezuela. The 2023 designation was terminated by notice on February 5, 2025, effective April 7. Judge Edward Chen in the Northern District of California postponed the termination on March 31. The Supreme Court stayed his order on May 19. The district court then set the termination aside on September 5, and on October 3 the Supreme Court allowed it to take immediate effect. The older 2021 designation was terminated separately on September 8, effective November 7. Both are now over.
Haiti. Terminated by notice on July 1, 2025, effective September 2. Judge Brian Cogan in the Eastern District of New York enjoined that termination the same day, restoring the designation through February 3, 2026. DHS has since issued a fresh notice ending it on that date.
Honduras and Nicaragua. Both terminated by notices on July 8, effective September 8. Judge Trina Thompson in the Northern District of California postponed the terminations on July 31; the Ninth Circuit stayed her order on August 20. Both are terminated.
Nepal. Terminated by notice on June 6, effective August 5. Caught in the same case as Honduras and Nicaragua, the termination took effect on August 20 after the stay.
Afghanistan. Terminated by notice on May 13, effective July 14. A Fourth Circuit administrative stay in CASA v. Noem pushed that to July 21. Terminated.
Cameroon. Terminated June 4, effective August 4.
Syria. Terminated September 22, effective November 21.
South Sudan. Terminated November 6, effective January 5, 2026.
Burma. Terminated November 25, effective January 26, 2026.
Ethiopia. Not terminated as of this writing; the designation is due to expire on December 12, 2025 unless extended.
The cases to watch are National TPS Alliance v. Noem, No. 3:25-cv-01766 (Venezuela and Haiti) and No. 3:25-cv-05687 (Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal), both in the Northern District of California. Relief has been granted and stayed repeatedly, sometimes within days.
Your work permit
This is the point most often misunderstood. A TPS-based work permit carries category A12 (TPS granted) or C19 (prima facie applicant). When the designation terminates, those cards stop being valid on the termination date, regardless of the "Card Expires" date printed on them. USCIS publishes I-9 Central notices for each country telling employers to reverify affected workers on Form I-9, Supplement B.
The October 30, 2025 interim final rule that ended automatic work permit extensions preserved the TPS-specific extensions granted by country notice. That is cold comfort here. Once a designation is terminated, no such notice exists.
What to do
- Read your own country's Federal Register notice. The termination date in it controls, not your card, not your employer's assumption.
- Look for other relief now. Asylum, with its one-year deadline and the new fees. Adjustment of status through a family or employment petition. U or T status for crime or trafficking victims. Cancellation of removal for those who end up in court with ten years' presence and qualifying relatives. TPS holders often have more options than they assume, and fewer than they hope.
- Watch the docket. The Northern District of California cases have changed the effective dates more than once. A termination that is in force this week may be postponed next week, and reinstated the week after.
- Do not travel without advice. Advance parole for TPS holders was never robust and is now a serious risk.
- Get licensed help. A licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative, not a notario.
The program's name always promised temporariness. For hundreds of thousands of people who have lived here since the Clinton or Obama years, 2025 is the year the promise was kept.