How Long Does TPS Last and How to Keep Your Status

How long does TPS last depends on two clocks running at once: the designation clock for your country, which the Secretary of Homeland Security sets for somewhere between 6 and 18 months at a time, and your own clock, which keeps running only as long as you re-register on time and remain eligible.¹ In practice, repeated extensions have kept some countries on the list for over three decades, while the recent wave of terminations has ended that protection for others on 60 days’ notice.

What the Statute Sets

Under 8 U.S.C. 1254a, an initial TPS designation lasts no less than 6 months and no more than 18 months.¹ At least 60 days before that period runs out, the government has to review conditions in the country and decide whether to extend or terminate. An extension can run another 6, 12, or 18 months.

If DHS misses the 60-day deadline, the designation extends automatically for another 6 months. That fallback is why an expected termination announcement that arrives late can push your protection forward by half a year without anyone doing anything.

How Long TPS Has Actually Lasted

The “temporary” in the name is misleading. Because extensions can be granted indefinitely, several countries have carried TPS for many years:

Somalia, first designated September 16, 1991, ran for over 34 years before its 2026 termination.
Sudan was first designated November 4, 1997.
Honduras and Nicaragua were both first designated January 5, 1999.
El Salvador was first designated March 9, 2001.
Haiti was first designated January 21, 2010.

People who registered in those early years have lived and worked under TPS for most of their adult lives. The gap between a short-term humanitarian statute and a decades-long lived reality is the single most important thing to understand about how long the status can last.

The 2025–2026 Terminations

Starting in 2025, the Department of Homeland Security terminated designations that had been renewed for years. As of early 2026, the following countries have been terminated or scheduled for termination:²

Nepal, terminated August 5, 2025.
Honduras, terminated September 8, 2025.
Nicaragua, terminated September 8, 2025.
Burma (Myanmar), terminated January 26, 2026.
Haiti, termination slated for February 3, 2026.
Ethiopia, termination slated for February 13, 2026.
South Sudan, termination announced November 2025.
Somalia, termination slated for March 17, 2026.

A termination cannot take effect earlier than 60 days after publication in the Federal Register or the expiration of the most recent extension, whichever comes later.¹ In the recent wave, transition periods have generally been about 60 days.

Keeping Your Individual Status Alive

Even when your country’s designation is extended, your own TPS is not automatic. It lasts only as long as you meet the ongoing requirements.

Re-Register Every Extension Window

Each time DHS extends a designation, it opens a re-registration window (typically 60 days) announced in the Federal Register. You must file Form I-821 during that window.³ Missing the window is one of the most common ways people lose TPS, and it is entirely preventable.

If you miss it, USCIS may accept a late filing when you can show good cause, such as serious illness, hospitalization, a death in the family, homelessness, or a language barrier that kept you from understanding the deadline.⁴ Send a written explanation with supporting documentation. Without good cause, USCIS will withdraw your status.

Continuous Presence and Residence

You have to have been continuously physically present in the United States since your country’s most recent designation date, and continuously residing here since the date set for your country.² Brief, casual, and innocent departures are generally permitted, but USCIS decides case by case whether a particular absence qualifies. All absences must be disclosed when you apply or re-register.

Criminal Bars

A conviction can end your TPS at any point, even years after you first got it. You are ineligible if you have been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States.⁵ For TPS purposes, a felony is any crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, regardless of the sentence actually served; a misdemeanor is a crime punishable by one year or less.

Your Work Permit Runs on a Shorter Clock

Your Employment Authorization Document has its own expiration, and the rules changed in July 2025. TPS holders with a pending EAD renewal used to receive an automatic extension of up to 540 days.⁶ Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for TPS-based EAD renewals pending or filed on or after July 22, 2025, the automatic extension is capped at one year or the remaining duration of the TPS designation, whichever is shorter.⁷

If your receipt notice shows a received date of July 21, 2025 or earlier, the old 540-day rule still applies, but any portion falling after July 22, 2025 is capped at one year from that date or the TPS designation period, whichever is shorter. A gap in work authorization can cost you your job even when your underlying TPS remains valid, so check the dates on your receipt notice carefully.

What Ending Looks Like

When the termination date arrives, your TPS benefits stop. Your work authorization expires. The protection from removal disappears. Your legal status reverts to whatever it was before you received TPS, which for many long-term holders means becoming undocumented and removable.

The 60-day transition window is meant to give you time to leave the country or pursue an alternative status if one is available. Because that window is short, the time to look at other options is before a termination is announced, not after.

Long Does Not Mean Permanent

One boundary matters here regardless of how long you have held the status: TPS itself provides no path to a green card or citizenship. You could hold TPS for 25 years and be no closer to permanent residence through TPS alone. If you qualify independently through family, employment, or another category, that is a separate application.

There is a further complication for TPS holders who originally entered without inspection. The Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that TPS recipients who entered without inspection are not eligible to adjust to permanent resident status from within the United States. Leaving to interview at a consulate abroad can trigger re-entry bars of up to 10 years for prior unlawful presence, which makes that route impractical for many without a waiver. This is a technical corner of immigration law where a wrong step has severe consequences, and legal counsel is worth the cost.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1254a – Temporary Protected Status
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status
4
eCFR. 8 CFR 244.17 – Annual Registration
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1254a – Temporary Protected Status
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Automatic Employment Authorization Document (EAD) Extension
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Update to TPS Page on EAD Automatic Extensions