Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

What Is TPS

Temporary Protected Status is a federal immigration status for people already in the United States whose home country is too dangerous to return to. It protects them from deportation and gives them a work permit for as long as their country’s designation lasts, usually 6 to 18 months at a time, renewable while the danger lasts. It is not a green card and does not lead to citizenship on its own.

To qualify, a person must be a national of a designated country, be here by a date the government sets, register during the window, and pass background checks. A felony or two misdemeanors disqualifies an applicant. TPS covers only people already here by the date each notice sets, so it is not open to later arrivals.

If You Have TPS Now

The answer depends on your country. Open the situation closest to yours. This is general information from USCIS and the statute, not legal advice, and a lawyer can check what applies to you.

Find your situation

Each one lists the current rule, where it comes from, and a next step.

I am from Venezuela and my work permit says October 2, 2026

1. That permit (EAD) stayed valid through October 2, 2026, if it was issued on or before February 5, 2025. That date has passed, so it no longer authorizes work.
2. Book a legal screening now through the Immigration Advocates Network directory. Ask whether you qualify for asylum or another status.
3. If you have not filed for asylum, ask about the one-year deadline. Federal regulations count holding TPS until a reasonable period before you file as an extraordinary circumstance (8 CFR 208.4(a)(5)(iv)).

Status: ended. The 2023 Venezuela designation was terminated, and the Supreme Court let the termination take full effect on October 3, 2025. The October 2 cutoff is on the USCIS TPS page.

My country's TPS was terminated

1. From the date your country's termination took effect, you no longer have TPS protection or TPS work authorization. Check your country's date in the table below.
2. Find out whether you have any other status or pending case, such as asylum, a family petition, or a green card application. Those are separate, and a TPS termination does not decide them.
3. Do not travel abroad until a lawyer has reviewed your case. Leaving the country can abandon some pending applications.
4. Get a free or low-cost legal screening through the Immigration Advocates Network directory.

Status: final for now. After Mullin v. Doe, courts cannot review most challenges to a termination. A termination does not order anyone deported. It removes the protection that had been stopping removal.

I am from El Salvador

1. USCIS says Salvadoran TPS holders keep their protection and work authorization until DHS announces a decision.
2. If an employer questions your permit, show it together with the notice on the USCIS El Salvador page.
3. Check that page every week. If a re-registration window opens, file Form I-821 to keep TPS and Form I-765 for a work permit, inside the window.

Status: no decision published. The designation ran through September 9, 2026. The statute extends a designation for six months when the Secretary does not decide at least 60 days before it expires.

I am from Ukraine, Sudan, or Lebanon

1. Your TPS is still in effect. Lebanon's runs through November 27, 2026. Ukraine's and Sudan's run through October 19, 2026, and the decision deadline for both passed on August 20 with no notice.
2. Watch your country's USCIS page. When a re-registration window opens, file Form I-821 and, for a work permit, Form I-765. Filing late can cost you your status.
3. Keep copies of every USCIS notice and your current permit in one place.

Status: active. The Supreme Court described the rule in Mullin v. Doe: if the Secretary takes no action, a designation "automatically extends for another six months."

I have a pending asylum case or another application

1. Keep going to every hearing and appointment. Your TPS ending does not close your other case.
2. Keep your address current with USCIS and the immigration court, so you do not miss a notice.
3. Ask a lawyer whether your other case gives you work authorization of its own.

USCIS says an application for TPS does not affect an application for asylum or any other benefit, and the reverse is also true.

Decades of Protection, Ended in Months

8 of the 14 designations ended since 2025 had lasted more than ten years. Somalia’s ran almost 34 years. Hondurans and Nicaraguans had held TPS since Hurricane Mitch in 1999. Seven ended between July 20 and August 18, 2026, after the Supreme Court’s June ruling.

1. Somalia 1991–2026
2. Sudan 1997
3. Nicaragua 1999–2025
4. Honduras 1999–2025
5. El Salvador 2001
6. Haiti 2010–2026
7. South Sudan 2011–2026
8. Syria 2012–2026
9. Nepal 2015–2025
10. Yemen 2015–2026
11. Venezuela (2021 group) 2021–2025
12. Burma (Myanmar) 2021–2026
13. Ukraine 2022
14. Afghanistan 2022–2025
15. Cameroon 2022–2025
16. Ethiopia 2022–2026
17. Venezuela (2023 group) 2023–2025
18. Lebanon 2024

200020102020

How long each TPS designation has run, 1991 to 2026

Item	Began	Ended	Length
Somalia	September 16, 1991	August 14, 2026	34 years
Sudan	November 4, 1997	Still in effect on October 6, 2026	28 years
Nicaragua	1999	September 8, 2025	26 years
Honduras	January 5, 1999	September 8, 2025	26 years
El Salvador	March 9, 2001	Still in effect on October 6, 2026	25 years
Haiti	January 21, 2010	July 27, 2026	16 years
South Sudan	October 13, 2011	August 7, 2026	14 years
Syria	March 29, 2012	July 27, 2026	14 years
Nepal	June 24, 2015	August 5, 2025	10 years
Yemen	September 3, 2015	July 20, 2026	10 years
Venezuela (2021 group)	March 9, 2021	November 7, 2025	4 years
Burma (Myanmar)	May 25, 2021	August 7, 2026	5 years
Ukraine	April 19, 2022	Still in effect on October 6, 2026	4 years
Afghanistan	May 20, 2022	July 14, 2025	3 years
Cameroon	June 7, 2022	August 4, 2025	3 years
Ethiopia	December 12, 2022	August 18, 2026	3 years
Venezuela (2023 group)	October 3, 2023	April 7, 2025	1 year
Lebanon	November 27, 2024	Still in effect on October 6, 2026	1 year

Bars start at each country's first designation and end on the effective termination date. Open bars are still in effect. Sources: each country's Federal Register notice; USCIS TPS page, updated September 3, 2026.

The length is why the word “temporary” is at the center of the fight. A designation is set for 6 to 18 months, and for decades Secretaries of both parties kept renewing the ones where conditions had not improved. Writing for the Court in Mullin v. Doe, Justice Alito noted that “although designed to afford ‘temporary’ relief, TPS designations in practice have often lasted for decades” (opinion). El Salvador’s designation dates to March 9, 2001.

Which Countries Have TPS Right Now

Only 4 designations still protect anyone: El Salvador, Ukraine, Sudan, and Lebanon. The table below was checked against USCIS on October 6, 2026. Holder counts are DHS’s own estimates from each country’s latest notice, taken on different dates, so treat them as orders of magnitude.

Three things in that table are worth saying out loud.

No termination is paused by a court anymore. As recently as July, several were. After Mullin v. Doe, USCIS set termination dates for all of them between July 20 and August 18, 2026: Yemen, Haiti, Syria, South Sudan, Burma, Somalia, and Ethiopia.

The countries still covered are covered by default. Lebanon’s designation was extended automatically in May 2026 because no decision was made in time. El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan passed their decision deadlines with no notice published.

Venezuela appears twice because it had two separate designations, from 2021 and 2023, each with its own termination.

Where the TPS Fights Stand

Most of the legal fight is over, but four questions are still open. This is where each stands on one date.

Where Each TPS Question Stands

As of October 6, 2026

• Court review of terminations Final ruling, mostly barred

  Mullin v. Doe, 6-3 on June 25, 2026, bars review of non-constitutional claims. Haiti's equal protection claim was found unlikely to succeed. (source)

• TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal In litigation, terminations in effect

  A district court vacated the terminations December 31, 2025. The Ninth Circuit stayed that order February 9, 2026, and the appeal is pending. (source)

• Venezuela work permits Ended, last cutoff passed

  Permits issued on or before February 5, 2025 with an October 2, 2026 expiration stayed valid through that date, which has passed. (source)

• TPS for El Salvador Paused, no decision published

  The designation ran through September 9, 2026. USCIS said September 3 that holders keep protection until an announcement. (source)

• Ukraine and Sudan Law, automatic extension

  No decision was published by the August 20, 2026 deadline for either. USCIS pages still list October 19, 2026.

• American Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 1589) Proposal

  Introduced February 26, 2025, with 220 cosponsors and no committee action. (source)

• SECURE Act (S. 2106) Proposal

  Introduced June 18, 2025 by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, with 35 cosponsors, in the Judiciary Committee. (source)

Source: Supreme Court opinion list and Mullin v. Doe; USCIS TPS pages; Federal Register; govinfo bill status

How TPS Works

Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990. The law gave the power to the Attorney General, who acted through the Immigration and Naturalization Service. When Congress created the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, the power moved to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and USCIS now runs the program.

The statute, 8 U.S.C. 1254a, covers armed conflict, natural disasters, and other extraordinary conditions. It gives the Secretary three grounds, and every designation has to rest on at least one.

The rest of the machinery runs on dates, and each one matters to a holder:

• The decision deadline. The Secretary must decide at least 60 days before a designation expires whether to extend or end it. If no decision is made in time, the designation extends automatically for six months. That is how Lebanon’s was extended in May 2026.
• The termination clock. A termination takes effect no sooner than 60 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register, or when the current designation expires, whichever is later.
• The registration window. First-time applicants can file only during the initial registration period in the notice, with narrow exceptions for late filing. Holders must re-register each time a designation is extended, on Form I-821, and file Form I-765 if they want a work permit. Missing the window without good cause can cost a person their status.
• The two presence tests. Applicants must show continuous residence since one date and must have been continuously physically present since another, both printed in the country’s notice. Brief, casual, and innocent trips abroad do not break either clock.

What TPS gives is specific. It protects a holder from deportation, provides work authorization through an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), and may come with travel authorization to leave and return. It does not give lawful permanent residence, and nothing about it survives the designation ending.

There is a smaller sibling program worth knowing by name. Deferred Enforced Departure, or DED, also pauses removal for one country’s nationals, but it comes from the president’s foreign affairs power, not a statute. Nationals of Liberia held TPS and then DED for decades before Congress created a path to permanent residence for them in 2019, the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness provision.

What Happens the Day TPS Ends

No court hearing marks the day. A designation ends, and the protection it gave ends with it.

The work permit expires with the designation, which is usually the first thing anyone notices, because an employer has to re-verify and a paycheck stops. Protection from deportation ends at the same moment. The person goes back to whatever status they held before TPS. For most, that is none, which means they can be placed in removal proceedings. Time spent unlawfully present can also trigger bars on inadmissibility that block a later application for status.

What does not happen is a removal order. A termination does not order anyone deported. It removes the shield that had been stopping the Department of Homeland Security from acting on grounds that were always there.

TPS vs Asylum vs DACA

People mix up the three main protections for immigrants without permanent status, and the differences decide what a person can do next. TPS turns on conditions across a whole country, asylum turns on persecution of one person, and our DACA explainer covers the program for people brought here as children.

The practical gap is the green card row. Asylum can lead to permanent residence, but it requires proving that a specific person was targeted, which most people fleeing a hurricane or a collapsing economy cannot do. TPS fills that gap for whole groups and leaves them with no permanent place to land. The two can run side by side: USCIS says a TPS application does not affect an asylum application, and having TPS can pause the one-year deadline to file for asylum.

The 2025 and 2026 Terminations

The unwinding took 18 months. It started with Venezuela, moved country by country through 2025, and ended with a Supreme Court ruling that cleared the last court orders in the way.

1. 1990 Congress creates TPS The Immigration Act of 1990 lets the government shield nationals of countries in crisis from deportation.
2. 2021-2023 Biden-era designations Venezuela, Burma, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cameroon, and Ethiopia are designated as conflict and collapse drive people out.
3. Feb 2025 DHS ends Venezuela's 2023 designation The first of 14 designations DHS terminated over the next 13 months.
4. Oct 2025 Venezuela termination takes full effect The Supreme Court lets it proceed on October 3 while the lawsuit continues.
5. Early 2026 Courts pause Haiti; Ninth Circuit lets three end Judges pause the Haiti termination and others. On February 9 the Ninth Circuit lets Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal stay terminated.
6. Jun 2026 Mullin v. Doe, 6-3 The Court rules that most challenges to a termination cannot be reviewed. (source)
7. Jul-Aug 2026 Seven terminations take effect Yemen, Haiti, Syria, South Sudan, Burma, Somalia, and Ethiopia, between July 20 and August 18.

Sources: Federal Register; USCIS; Supreme Court of the United States.

TPS from creation to the 2026 terminations: 1990: Congress creates TPS (The Immigration Act of 1990 lets the government shield nationals of countries in crisis from deportation.). 2021-2023: Biden-era designations (Venezuela, Burma, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cameroon, and Ethiopia are designated as conflict and collapse drive people out.). Feb 2025: DHS ends Venezuela's 2023 designation (The first of 14 designations DHS terminated over the next 13 months.). Oct 2025: Venezuela termination takes full effect (The Supreme Court lets it proceed on October 3 while the lawsuit continues.). Early 2026: Courts pause Haiti; Ninth Circuit lets three end (Judges pause the Haiti termination and others. On February 9 the Ninth Circuit lets Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal stay terminated.). Jun 2026: Mullin v. Doe, 6-3 (The Court rules that most challenges to a termination cannot be reviewed.). Jul-Aug 2026: Seven terminations take effect (Yemen, Haiti, Syria, South Sudan, Burma, Somalia, and Ethiopia, between July 20 and August 18.).

1990: Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990, giving the executive branch a way to pause deportations for nationals of countries hit by war, disaster, or other extraordinary conditions.

2021 to 2023: The Biden administration designated Venezuela, Burma, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cameroon, and Ethiopia, and redesignated several older countries, as conflict and economic collapse pushed people to seek safety here.

February 2025: The Trump administration, through DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, terminated Venezuela’s 2023 designation, the first of 14 designations it terminated through March 2026. Every TPS decision DHS published in that period ended or cut back protection. The only extensions, for South Sudan in May 2025 and Lebanon in May 2026, happened automatically because no decision was made in time.

October 2025: The Supreme Court let the Venezuela termination take full effect on October 3, 2025, while the lawsuit over it continued.

Early 2026: Federal judges paused the Haiti termination and several others. On February 9, the Ninth Circuit went the other way for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal, staying a lower court order that had vacated their terminations.

June 2026: In Mullin v. Doe, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the TPS statute bars court review of non-constitutional challenges to a termination, and that the Haitian plaintiffs were unlikely to prove their race discrimination claim. Justice Alito wrote for the Court.

July and August 2026: Seven terminations that courts had paused took effect, from Yemen on July 20 to Ethiopia on August 18.

TPS by the Numbers

The people losing TPS are not recent arrivals. Most have been here for years, and the largest groups came from countries the government itself judged unsafe for a decade or more.

The largest terminated groups were Haitians, about 353,000 by DHS’s count, and Venezuelans across two designations, about 616,000. Hondurans were next at about 72,000. Of the countries still covered, El Salvador is by far the largest, with about 232,000 people eligible to re-register when DHS last extended it in January 2025.

What the Termination Notices Say and What Congress Can Do

Every designation that ended had been based on the government’s own finding that conditions in the country met the statute’s test. The termination notices say conditions have improved. The Syria notice, the Supreme Court recounted, “acknowledged that serious problems remained,” and the Court said it “described improved conditions in Syria but by no means painted a rosy picture” (opinion).

After Mullin v. Doe, courts can review little beyond constitutional claims. A permanent path for long-term holders, like the one Congress created for Liberians in 2019, would take an act of Congress.

The Honest Disagreement

The Supreme Court’s majority and dissent lay out the two cases.

The case for ending designations starts with the word “temporary.” Writing for the majority in Mullin v. Doe, Justice Alito noted that “although designed to afford ‘temporary’ relief, TPS designations in practice have often lasted for decades,” and that the statute “plainly bars” courts from considering most challenges to them. The Court described the administration’s position as opposition to “the TPS program as it has been implemented in the past.”

The case for protecting holders comes from the dissent, immigrant advocates, and the lower courts that paused terminations. Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, argued that “the statute allows judicial review of whether the Secretary adhered to the procedures it mandates,” including the required consultation about country conditions. On Haiti, she pointed to the President’s statements in the record and wrote that “it is hard to imagine the statements being made today of any White community.” The majority answered that none of the statements “was overtly racial.”

Both opinions point to Congress. Writing for four justices in one part of the opinion, Justice Alito said that if a Secretary abused the program, “Congress would have ample means to stop that abuse, including, for example, through the annual appropriations process.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I go from TPS to a green card?

Not through TPS itself. A TPS holder can apply for a green card through another route they qualify for, such as a family or employment petition, and USCIS says registering for TPS does not block that. The American Dream and Promise Act and the SECURE Act would create a direct path, but neither has passed.

Can someone with TPS get deported?

Not while their designation is in effect, unless they lose TPS for a crime or other disqualifying reason. Once a country’s designation ends, holders with no other status can be placed in removal proceedings.

Is TPS for Nepal terminated?

Yes. Nepal’s TPS ended August 5, 2025. A district court vacated the termination on December 31, 2025, but the Ninth Circuit stayed that order on February 9, 2026, so the termination is in effect while the appeal continues.

Is TPS the same as asylum?

No. TPS is based on conditions across a whole country and does not lead to a green card. Asylum requires proving that a specific person faces persecution, and it can lead to permanent residence. A person can apply for both.

How long does TPS last?

Each designation runs 6 to 18 months, and the Secretary of Homeland Security decides whether to extend or end it at least 60 days before it expires. If the Secretary makes no decision in time, the law extends it automatically for 6 months. That is why some countries have held TPS for decades: El Salvador since 2001 and Honduras from 1999 until 2025.

When did TPS start?

Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990. Somalia, designated in 1991, held it the longest, almost 35 years, until its termination took effect August 14, 2026.

What You Can Do

1. If you hold TPS or just lost it, get a legal screening first. The Immigration Advocates Network directory lists free and low-cost providers by state. Ask about asylum and any family or employment petition before a deadline passes.

2. If you know someone affected, share the situation guide above. It covers each country’s current rule and next step.

3. Ask your representative to co-sponsor the American Dream and Promise Act. H.R. 1589 has 220 cosponsors and has not had a committee vote. Ask whether they will press for one.

4. Ask your senators to co-sponsor the SECURE Act. S. 2106 would let people who have or had TPS, and have lived here continuously for three years, apply for permanent residence.

5. Support legal aid where you live. Local immigration legal services are the difference between a holder who finds another path and one who does not.

6. Send the letter below to your members of Congress. It asks for one thing: co-sponsor the permanent-path bill in their chamber.