El Salvador TPS Extension: Re-Registration, EADs, and Travel

The El Salvador TPS extension currently in effect runs from March 10, 2025 through September 9, 2026, an 18-month extension announced in Federal Register notice 90 FR 5953 on January 17, 2025.¹ The 60-day re-registration window for this cycle ran from January 17 through March 18, 2025. If you already had El Salvador TPS and re-registered on time, your status and work authorization are covered through September 9, 2026. If you missed the window, you still have a narrow path to file late for good cause, but the clock and the consequences are both real.²

How Long the Extension Lasts

The extension began on March 10, 2025 and ends September 9, 2026.¹ No further extension beyond that date has been announced. Whether the designation is renewed again depends on the Secretary of Homeland Security’s review of conditions in El Salvador before the current period expires, so watch USCIS announcements as that date approaches. A decision not to extend would trigger a wind-down period in which beneficiaries would need to move to another immigration status or prepare to depart.

Who the Extension Covers

This is not open to new applicants. The extension applies only to people who already held valid El Salvador TPS and re-registered during the designated window. Eligibility still requires continuous residence in the United States since February 13, 2001 and continuous physical presence since March 9, 2001 — the same dates that have applied since El Salvador was first designated in 2001.²

Federal law bars anyone convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States, and other inadmissibility grounds (including security concerns or involvement in persecution) can also disqualify a beneficiary.³ Eligibility must be maintained throughout the designation period, not just at the moment of filing.

Re-Registering: Forms, Fees, and What to Gather

Re-registration means filing Form I-821, the Application for Temporary Protected Status. Most beneficiaries file Form I-765 at the same time to renew the Employment Authorization Document. Both can be filed online through a USCIS account or mailed to the designated USCIS lockbox.⁴

As of January 1, 2026, the fee for Form I-821 is $510 and the fee for a TPS-based EAD renewal on Form I-765 is $280.⁵ If you can’t afford them, request a fee waiver on Form I-912 with documentation of income, debts, and unusual expenses.⁶

Before you file, pull together your Alien Registration Number (A-Number), a full history of your addresses, any travel outside the United States, and valid ID such as a previous EAD or passport. The information on your forms should match what you filed in previous TPS applications. After USCIS receives the application it issues a receipt notice with a tracking number, and some applicants are called in for biometrics. Track the case through the USCIS online portal so you don’t miss a request for evidence.

If You Missed the March 18, 2025 Deadline

Missing the window does not automatically end your TPS, but the path back is narrow. USCIS has discretion to accept a late re-registration if you show good cause for the delay.⁷ Failing to re-register without good cause is itself grounds for TPS withdrawal.²

To file late, submit the re-registration application with a written letter explaining why you missed the deadline, backed by whatever documentation you have. USCIS has not published a definitive list of acceptable reasons. Circumstances that may qualify include serious illness or hospitalization, a death in the family, homelessness, language barriers that kept you from understanding the deadline, or receiving incorrect information about TPS. If a late filing is denied, the fallout stacks up quickly: loss of TPS, loss of work authorization, loss of associated benefits, and possible removal proceedings if no other status is in place. Get legal help fast if you’re in this position.

Automatic EAD Extensions

To bridge the gap while USCIS works through re-registration filings, the government automatically extended the validity of certain EADs through March 9, 2026. This applies to cards bearing category code A-12 or C-19 with any of these expiration dates printed on the card:⁸

March 9, 2025
June 30, 2024
December 31, 2022
October 4, 2021
January 4, 2021
January 2, 2020
September 9, 2019
March 9, 2018

A separate automatic extension of up to 540 days from a card’s printed expiration date is available to beneficiaries who filed Form I-765 during the re-registration period. Both extensions can run at the same time, but neither carries work authorization past September 9, 2026.¹

Showing Work Authorization to Your Employer

Your physical EAD card still shows the old expiration date, which confuses employers. To verify your authorization, present the expired EAD together with a copy of Federal Register notice 90 FR 5953. The employer should enter March 9, 2026 as the new expiration date on Form I-9.⁹ For the 540-day extension, employees may also need to show a Form I-797C receipt notice from the renewal filing, though TPS-based EADs have a special rule where the category codes on the card and the receipt do not have to match.¹⁰

Keep physical and digital copies of the Federal Register notice and any USCIS receipt notices. If an employer refuses to accept an automatically extended EAD, that may constitute an unfair immigration-related employment practice; employers must accept valid documents and cannot demand specific ones beyond what Form I-9 requires.

Travel Outside the United States

TPS by itself does not give you the right to travel abroad and return. You must get advance permission before leaving by filing Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents.¹¹ If approved, USCIS issues a travel authorization document (Form I-512T for approved TPS beneficiaries). Leaving without that authorization can cause USCIS to withdraw your TPS entirely and reopen any prior removal proceedings against you.¹²

Even with an approved travel document, re-entry is not guaranteed. A DHS officer makes that call at inspection, and there is no right to appeal a denial of a travel request. Do not leave the country without approved travel authorization in hand. This is one of the most common ways people lose TPS, and USCIS does not treat it as a fixable mistake.

1
Federal Register. Extension of the Designation of El Salvador for Temporary Protected Status
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: El Salvador
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1254a – Temporary Protected Status
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Announces FY 2026 Inflation Increase for Certain Immigration Related Fees
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver
7
eCFR. 8 CFR 244.17
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador Extended for 18 Months; Certain EADs Automatically Extended Through March 9, 2026
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for El Salvador Extended for 18 Months; Certain EADs Automatically Extended Through March 9, 2026
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 5.1 Automatic Extensions Based on a Timely Filed Application to Renew Employment Authorization
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records
12
eCFR. 8 CFR 244.15 – Travel Abroad