Visa Lawyer Blog
In response to a court ordered preliminary injunction, that blocked the government’s plans to end the temporary protected status (TPS) of immigrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Haiti, and Nicaragua, the government has outlined a detailed plan to comply with the judge’s order.
As previously reported, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen issued a preliminary injunction temporarily stopping the United States government from rescinding the temporary protected status designation for immigrants from Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti, and Nicaragua.
Before the preliminary injunction the TPS designations would officially terminate as follows:
- Sudan, TPS Designation was to terminate on November 2, 2018
- Nicaragua, TPS Designation was to terminate on January 5, 2019
- Haiti, TPS Designation was to terminate on July 22, 2019
- El Salvador, TPS Designation was to terminate on September 9, 2019
To comply with the court order, USCIS has notified the court that the agency will be publishing a notice in the Federal Register, announcing that the TPS designations for Sudan, Haiti, El Salvador, and Nicaragua will remain in effect as long as the preliminary injunction remains in effect pending the resolution of the case. The Department of Homeland Security will continue to recognize the validity of TPS-related Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), Form I-94 Arrival and Departure Records, and Forms I-797 Notices of Action otherwise known as Approval Notices, to demonstrate the lawful status sand employment authorization of affected TPS beneficiaries.
Sudan and Nicaragua: In addition, the Department of Homeland Security will automatically be extending the validity of specified TPS-related EADs. EADs with the category codes “A-12” or “C-19” with any of the following expiration dates shown below, that have been issued under the TPS designations of Sudan and Nicaragua, will be extended through April 2, 2019.
Expiration dates:
- 11/02/2017
- 01/05/2018
- 11/02/2018
- 01/05/2019
USCIS will issue EADs valid through April 2, 2019 to beneficiaries of TPS Sudan and TPS Nicaragua who apply for an EAD and who have been approved for re-registration following the most recent TPS registration period for their country, or who have a pending re-registration application with USCIS, provided such pending re-registration and EAD applications are approved following publication in the federal register.
In addition, the validity of specified Forms I-94, Forms I-797 Notices of Action (approval notices) for affected beneficiaries pursuant to the TPS designations for Sudan and Nicaragua will automatically be extended through April 2, 2019.
Forms I-94 and Forms I-797 Notices of Action that are being extended are:
Haiti and El Salvador:
TPS beneficiaries from Haiti and El Salvador who have been approved for re-registration currently have TPS-related documentation that will remain in effect for more than 6 months. The Six month auto-extension that DHS plans to announce in the upcoming federal register notice will not apply to them.
TPS beneficiaries from Haiti and El Salvador with currently pending re-registration and EAD applications that are later approved by USCIS will receive TPS-related EADs, Forms I-94, and/or Forms I-797 (Approval Notices) with the same validity dates as the beneficiaries from those countries whose applications have already been approved.
If the Court’s order is not reversed or invalidated before the initial 6 month auto-extension of documentation for TPS beneficiaries from Sudan and Nicaragua, a subsequent federal register notice will be issued 30 days before April 2, 2019, automatically extending the appropriate TPS-related documentation for TPS beneficiaries from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador, for a period of nine months. If issued, the subsequent federal register notice would automatically extend the TPS-related documentation for TPS beneficiaries from Sudan and Nicaragua until January 2, 2020.