Nicaragua TPS: Court Challenge, Alternatives, and Travel Risks

The Nicaragua TPS termination took effect at 11:59 p.m. local time on September 8, 2025, ending nearly 27 years of Temporary Protected Status for Nicaraguan nationals in the United States.¹ A federal judge in California vacated the termination on December 31, 2025, but the Ninth Circuit stayed that ruling on February 9, 2026, so the termination remains in force while the appeal continues.² If you were a beneficiary, you have already lost TPS as a matter of law, and there is no appeal from the termination decision itself.

What You Lose When TPS Ends

Losing TPS is automatic. On the 60th day after the Federal Register notice published on July 8, 2025, affected individuals reverted to whatever immigration status they held before TPS, if any of that status remained valid.¹ For a Nicaraguan national who entered without inspection years or decades ago and has held nothing but TPS since, that reversion means returning to undocumented status. If you obtained a separate lawful status while on TPS and it has not expired, you keep it.

Work authorization tied to TPS is gone. DHS automatically extended TPS-based Employment Authorization Documents through September 8, 2025, but after that date those EADs are no longer valid.¹ Employers enrolled in E-Verify receive notice through the system. Without another status or work permit, continuing to work is unauthorized employment, and the worker becomes removable.

Could the Court Case Bring TPS Back

The lawsuit still matters, but you should not plan your life around it. In National TPS Alliance v. Noem, the Northern District of California vacated the Secretary’s termination decision at the end of 2025. The Ninth Circuit then stayed that order in February 2026, finding the government was likely to succeed on appeal.² The merits of the appeal have not been decided. If the Ninth Circuit later reverses course or rules for the plaintiffs, protections could be reinstated. Until that happens, the termination stands, and USCIS treats former beneficiaries accordingly.

Check the USCIS Nicaragua TPS page for updates rather than relying on secondhand accounts. The posture of this case has changed more than once.

Pathways to Another Immigration Status

TPS was never a pathway to a green card, and no automatic route opens up now that it has ended. What former beneficiaries have are the same options available to any other foreign national in the country, and one of them has a specific catch worth understanding.

Family or Employer Petitions and the Sanchez Problem

If a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative can petition for you, or an employer is willing to sponsor you, an immigrant visa petition is possible. The harder question is whether you can adjust status inside the United States. Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act generally requires that the applicant have been “inspected and admitted or paroled.”

In Sanchez v. Mayorkas (2021), the Supreme Court held that a grant of TPS is not an “admission” for adjustment purposes. Because TPS does not come with what the Court called a “ticket of admission,” it does not cure an unlawful entry.³ A former TPS holder who first entered without inspection cannot adjust status inside the U.S. based on TPS alone, even with an approved petition.

There was a workaround while TPS was still active. TPS holders who traveled abroad with authorized advance travel and were inspected and admitted on return were treated by USCIS as having satisfied the “inspected and admitted” requirement.⁴ If you traveled and returned lawfully during your TPS period, that admission may still support an adjustment application if you have an approved petition. If you never did, that door has now closed for Nicaragua TPS holders, because the underlying travel authorization is no longer available under this designation.⁵

Asylum and Withholding of Removal

Anyone who fears persecution in Nicaragua on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group can pursue asylum or withholding of removal. These claims are separate from TPS and evaluated on their own merits. The State Department currently maintains a Level 3 “Reconsider Travel” advisory for Nicaragua, citing risks of wrongful detention and arbitrary enforcement of local laws, and those conditions can be relevant evidence in a protection claim.⁶ Asylum has its own filing deadlines and eligibility bars, so timing matters.

Travel Risks After Termination

Leaving the United States is now dangerous in two directions. First, the immigration side: if you accumulate more than 180 days of unlawful presence after losing TPS and then depart, you can trigger the three-year or ten-year bars on re-entry. Without a valid visa or advance parole in some other category, returning lawfully after departure will likely be blocked.

Second, Nicaragua itself. The State Department warns of wrongful detention by the Nicaraguan government, arbitrary law enforcement, and crime.⁶ These risks apply regardless of immigration considerations and weigh especially heavily for people who have publicly opposed the government or been away for years.

The TPS travel document, Form I-512T, issued after an approved Form I-131, is no longer available for Nicaragua nationals under this program.⁵

What to Do Now

The most useful step for most former beneficiaries is a consultation with an immigration attorney who can look at your specific history. That review should cover a few concrete questions. Do you have a prior status that resumed on September 8, 2025? Do you have a qualifying family or employment relationship that could support an immigrant petition? Did you ever travel on advance authorization while in TPS and return through inspection, which could preserve adjustment eligibility under the reasoning discussed in Sanchez? Do you have a credible fear of persecution or torture in Nicaragua that could support asylum, withholding, or Convention Against Torture protection?

If you are already in removal proceedings, or receive a notice to appear, do not miss court dates. If you are considering leaving the country voluntarily, get advice first about the unlawful-presence bars, because a departure can permanently reshape your options. And keep watching the litigation. The Ninth Circuit has not decided the merits, and the answer could still change.²

1
Federal Register. Termination of the Designation of Nicaragua for Temporary Protected Status
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Nicaragua
3
Supreme Court of the United States. Sanchez v. Mayorkas, 593 U.S. 68
4
U.S. Congress. Are Temporary Protected Status Recipients Eligible to Adjust Status?
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records
6
U.S. Department of State. Nicaragua Travel Advisory