DHS Extends Protections to TPS Beneficiaries From Terminated Countries in Compliance with Court Order

On November 4, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Federal Register Notice automatically extending the validity of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) documentation for eligible TPS holders from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through January 4, 2021.

This extension is based on the preliminary injunctions out of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Ramos, et al. v. Nielsen, et. al. and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Saget, et. al., v. Trump, et. al, and the order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to stay proceedings in Bhattarai v. Nielsen.

As the lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s termination of TPS for several countries carry on, the preliminary injunctions secured in October 2018 and March and April of 2019 have succeeded in temporarily halting the termination of TPS. As a result, DHS may not effectuate the termination of TPS for these countries.

The extension applies only to TPS holders who either properly filed for re-registration during the most recent DHS-announced re-registration period for their country, or any applicable previous DHS-announced re-registration periods for their country, or have a re-registration application that is still pending.

The notice automatically extends the validity of employment authorization, Forms I-797, Notice of Action and Forms I-94, Arrival/Departure Record. Although no application is currently necessary to receive these automatic extensions, the government may require applications at a later date.

The validity dates for the affected countries have been extended as follows: