Temporary Protected Status: An Overview

Modified

Modified: 
February 27, 2024

Published

Published: 
June 29, 2022

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of certain countries experiencing problems that make it difficult or unsafe for their nationals to be deported there. TPS has been a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of individuals already in the United States when problems in a home country make their departure or deportation untenable. This fact sheet provides an overview An individual who is eligible for TPS must register by submitting an application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If a person demonstrates eligibility and USCIS grants TPS, that person receives temporary protection from deportation and temporary authorization to work in the United States. TPS beneficiaries have also been eligible in the past for advance parole, which provides permission to travel abroad and return to the United States, but they must apply for it separately. In July of 2022, USCIS discontinued the use of advance parole for TPS recipients and instead created “Form I-512T, Authorization for Travel by a Noncitizen to the United States,” a TPS-specific travel document that uses a separate legal authority to permit TPS recipients to travel outside the United States and be admitted on their return. Beneficiaries are not eligible for any public assistance by virtue of their TPS status. 

Which countries have TPS?

As of May 2023, the following 16 countries were designated for TPS, and the designation had not expired:

  • Afghanistan (Extended until May 20, 2025)

  • Burma (Valid through May 25, 2024)

  • Cameroon (Extended until June 7, 2025)

  • El Salvador (Extended until March 9, 2025)

  • Ethiopia (Valid through June 12, 2024)

  • Haiti (Extended through August 3, 2024)

  • Honduras (Extended until July 5, 2025)

  • Nepal (Extended until June 24, 2025)

  • Nicaragua (Extended until July 5, 2025)

  • Somalia (Extended until September 17, 2024)

  • South Sudan (Extended until May 3, 2025)

  • Sudan (Extended until April 19, 2025)

  • Syria (Extended until September 30, 2025)

  • Ukraine (Extended until April 19, 2025)

  • Venezuela (Extended until April 2, 2025)

  • Yemen (Extended until September 3, 2024)

Which countries have had TPS in the past?

Since TPS was created, the following countries or parts of countries have had TPS designations that are now terminated:

  • Angola (Expired March 29, 2003)
  • Bosnia-Herzegovina (Expired February 10, 2001)
  • Burundi (Expired May 2, 2009)
  • Guinea (Expired May 21, 2017)
  • Guinea-Bissau (Expired September 10, 2000)
  • Province of Kosovo (Expired December 8, 2000)
  • Kuwait (Expired March 27, 1992)
  • Lebanon (Expired April 9, 1993)
  • Liberia (Expired May 21, 2017)
  • Montserrat (Expired August 27, 2004)
  • Rwanda (Expired December 6, 1997)
  • Sierra Leone (Expired May 21, 2017)

Does TPS create a path to permanent residence or citizenship?

TPS does not provide beneficiaries with a separate path to lawful permanent residence (a green card) or citizenship. However, a TPS recipient who otherwise is eligible for permanent residence may apply for that status. 

Generally, a person who entered the United States without inspection is not eligible to apply for permanent residence. Six federal appellate circuits previously ruled on this issue. Three federal appellate circuits (the Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits) ruled that a person with valid TPS status could adjust status to lawful permanent residence if otherwise eligible through a family-based or employment-based petition, even if he or she entered the United States without inspection. Three other federal appellate courts (the Third, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits) ruled that a TPS recipient who entered without inspection is not eligible to adjust to permanent residence 

In June 2021, the Supreme Court subsequently ruled that a TPS recipient who entered the United States without inspection is not eligible to adjust to permanent residence from within the United States, overturning the prior decisions by the Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits. In order to gain permanent resident status, a TPS recipient who initially entered the United States without inspection must depart the country to have a visa processed at a consular post. For many TPS holders, a departure to have a visa interview would trigger bars to re-entry for up to 10 years.  

Alternatively, some TPS recipients may be eligible to adjust status if they were granted advance permission from USCIS (referred to as advance parole), traveled abroad, and were paroled back into the United States. After July 2022, when USCIS discontinued the use of advance parole for TPS recipients, some TPS recipients may become eligible to adjust status after being granted authorization to travel through a TPS-specific travel document, and then being inspected and admitted upon their return. 

What happens to a TPS beneficiary when a TPS designation ends?

TPS beneficiaries return to the immigration status that the person held prior to receiving TPS, unless that status has expired or the person has successfully acquired a new immigration status. TPS beneficiaries who entered the United States without inspection and who are not eligible for other immigration benefits, for example, would return to being undocumented at the end of a TPS designation and become subject to removal. 

How are “Deferred Enforced Departure” and “Extended Voluntary Departure” related to TPS?

Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) is very similar to TPS but derives from the President’s foreign policy authority rather than from a specific law. There are no explicit criteria for making DED decisions or for determining who would be eligible for DED once a designation is determined. Just like TPS holders, DED beneficiaries receive a work permit and stay of deportation; however, they are not permitted to travel abroad.  

As of February 2024, there are three groups designated for DED: 

  • Liberian nationals (effective until June 30, 2024); 

  • Certain residents of Hong Kong (effective until February 5, 2025). 

  • Palestinian nationals (effective until August 14, 2025). 

Some Liberians originally covered by DED may have been eligible for permanent resident status under Section 7611 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF). Under the LRIF as enacted on December 20, 2019, certain Liberian nationals were given a one-year window to pursue permanent residency in the U.S. This window was subsequently extended for an additional year, through December 20, 2021. 

Extended Voluntary Departure (EVD) was the predecessor to TPS prior to the Immigration Act of 1990. It was a discretionary authority used by the Attorney General (at a time when the Immigration and Naturalization Service was housed in DOJ) to give nationals of certain countries experiencing turbulent country conditions temporary permission to remain in the United States. Congress eliminated EVD with the creation of TPS.



 

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