Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

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By: Dawn M. Lurie and Greg Morano*

Seyfarth Synopsis:  On October 31, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) announced that it would preserve the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador.  To comply with the federal court order in Ramos et al. v. Nielsen et al, DHS’s Federal Register Notice (“Notice”) protects the TPS designation for each country and provides automatic extensions to existing work authorization documents.  TPS and related documentation for Nicaragua and Sudan are now automatically extended through April 2, 2019.  The TPS expiration dates for El Salvador and Haiti remain unchanged; September 9, 2019 for El Salvador and July 22, 2019 for Haiti.

TPS: What is the Status of the Program?

The Trump Administration attempted to terminate TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador.  On October 3, 2018, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the termination of TPS and loss of work authorization for TPS beneficiaries.  The court case is ongoing with DHS appealing the injunction order to a higher court.

If the court case is not fully resolved by the time a designated TPS is set to terminate, DHS will issue a Federal Register notice extending TPS documentation for nine months.  This means that your employees will continue to work without interruption, but you will need to update Forms I-9 with the “Auto-Extensions”.  For assistance with identifying automatically extended documents and executing the automatic extensions, see our prior post here.

If a higher court permits DHS to terminate TPS, the beneficiaries’ status will terminate either 120 days after the court order, or on the TPS termination date, whichever is later.

Seyfarth will continue to monitor the court case and provide updates. Continue Reading DHS Complies With Court Order, Preserves TPS for Four Countries

By: Dawn M. Lurie and Greg Morano*

Seyfarth Synopsis: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rules concerning auto extensions of employment authorization and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) can be confusing, and it is important employers know how to update Forms I-9 for TPS beneficiaries.  We have previously reported on USCIS terminating TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Haiti while initially deferring a decision for Honduras.  Since then, the government terminated TPS for Nepal on 05/22/2018 and for Honduras on 06/05/2018.  The decision affects approximately 9,000 Nepalese foreign nationals and approximately 57,000 Honduran foreign nationals.

What Happened?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has terminated TPS for Nepal and Honduras with delayed effective dates.  For Honduras, TPS will terminate on January 5, 2020.  For Nepal, TPS will terminate on June 24, 2019.  This means that TPS recipients of the respective countries have until the above-mentioned dates to continue to live, and, if so authorized, work in the United States.

Continue Reading TPS Terminations and the Form I-9

By: Dawn M. Lurie, Alexander Madrak and Greg Morano*

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued automatic extensions of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries from Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, and most recently, El Salvador. Employers should be prepared to recognize these automatically extended EADs and correctly handle the resulting influx of Form I-9 updates.

What’s the Latest on TPS?

While the government is back in business, the path to immigration reform seems as tumultuous as ever. The chances to reverse the termination of TPS are slim, and the impact is slowly beginning to sink in for TPS beneficiaries and employers alike. An Immigration Forum Fact Sheet on TPS notes: “Recent data estimate that TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti contribute a combined $4.5 billion in pre-tax wages or salary income annually to our nation’s gross domestic product.”

What Do Employers Need to Know?

Continue Reading Auto Extension Influx: Automatic Extension of El Salvador TPS EADs

By: Dawn M. Lurie and Alexander Madrak

With the recent slew of news from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) concerning Temporary Protected Status (TPS), it is important employers know how to update Forms I-9 for TPS beneficiaries.  Over the last several months, we reported on USCIS terminating TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Haiti while deferring a decision for Honduras.  The debate in Congress surrounding the loss of status to almost 300,000 individuals continues to intensify.  Employers are also affected by the phase out of TPS as they consider how to handle the TPS beneficiaries in their workforce, some of whom have been with companies for many years.

Continue Reading More Form I-9 Confusion for Employers: TPS and Limited Automatic Extensions