TPS Extension: Country Status, Re-Registration, and Work Permits

A TPS extension keeps your Temporary Protected Status and work authorization alive past their scheduled expiration, but in 2026 whether you still have TPS at all depends on your country of nationality, whether a federal court has paused your country’s termination, and whether you filed your re-registration on time. The country-by-country picture has shifted repeatedly over the last year, so the first thing to confirm is which of three buckets your country falls into.

Where Each Country Stands in 2026

Fifteen countries currently appear on the USCIS TPS list: Burma (Myanmar), El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.¹ The list alone is misleading, because DHS has issued termination notices for the majority of those designations. The real status of your protection depends on which of three groups your country belongs to.

Terminations in Effect

Venezuela’s 2023 TPS designation was terminated after the Supreme Court allowed the termination to take immediate effect on October 3, 2025. The separate 2021 Venezuela designation terminated on November 7, 2025. Beneficiaries who received an Employment Authorization Document on or before February 5, 2025, with an expiration date of October 2, 2026, keep their work authorization through that date, but TPS itself is gone.¹

Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua saw their designations terminated in mid-to-late 2025. A federal judge in the Northern District of California vacated those terminations on December 31, 2025, but the Ninth Circuit stayed that ruling on February 9, 2026, finding the government was likely to succeed on appeal. For beneficiaries from those three countries, the terminations currently stand.¹

Terminations Paused by Federal Courts

Five countries were headed for termination in the first quarter of 2026 when federal judges stepped in. Their TPS remains in effect for now, but the injunctions can be reversed on appeal at any time.¹

Haiti: termination set for February 3, 2026, stayed by the D.C. District Court on February 2, 2026.
Somalia: termination set for March 17, 2026, stayed by the District of Massachusetts on March 13, 2026.
Burma (Myanmar): termination set for January 26, 2026, postponed by the Northern District of Illinois on January 23, 2026.
Ethiopia: termination set for February 13, 2026, stayed by the District of Massachusetts on January 30, 2026.
South Sudan: termination set for January 5, 2026, stayed by the District of Massachusetts on December 30, 2025.

Active Designations

Ukraine’s designation was extended for 18 months beginning April 20, 2025, through October 19, 2026. The re-registration window for existing beneficiaries ran from January 17 through March 18, 2025.² El Salvador’s designation was also extended in early 2025. Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen remain designated without publicly announced termination notices. Because this situation changes quickly, check the USCIS TPS page for your country before you act.

Re-Registering to Keep Your TPS

When DHS extends a designation, existing beneficiaries have to re-register during a window that typically runs 60 days. Missing that window can cost you your status, so the dates in the Federal Register notice for your country are the single most important piece of information to track.

The core filing is Form I-821, which you can submit online through a USCIS account or mail to the designated lockbox.³ If you want a new work permit at the same time, include Form I-765.⁴ You can file the I-765 separately later, but filing both together avoids a gap in work authorization.

You still have to meet every eligibility requirement independently. That means continuous physical presence in the United States since the effective date of your country’s most recent designation, and continuous residence since the date DHS specified for your country. Brief, casual, and innocent departures do not automatically break these requirements, but be ready to document any trips. Criminal history creates hard bars: a conviction for any felony or for two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States makes you ineligible, and certain grounds related to national security, drug offenses, and serious crime cannot be waived. A single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana is the lone drug-related exception.⁵

Gather documentation showing where you have lived since your initial designation date. Lease agreements, utility bills, employment records, and similar documents help establish continuous residence and physical presence. You will also need your Alien Registration Number and proof of nationality, such as a passport. If filing by mail, include two passport-style photographs.

USCIS adjusted its fee schedule effective January 1, 2026, under the inflation-adjustment provisions of H.R. 1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act).³ Check the current USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055) before filing. TPS is one of the few categories that still carries a separate biometrics services fee rather than folding it into the main application cost.⁶ If you cannot afford the fees, file Form I-912 to request a waiver, either by documenting household income below the poverty guidelines, showing you receive a means-tested benefit, or explaining financial hardship in detail.⁷

After you file, USCIS sends Form I-797C as a receipt.⁸ Keep it. It confirms your application is pending and can function as proof of continued work authorization while your case is processed. You will then be scheduled for a biometrics appointment at a local Application Support Center. Missing it without rescheduling can lead USCIS to treat your application as abandoned.

If You Missed the Deadline

USCIS can accept a late re-registration if you show good cause for the delay.⁹ Include a written letter explaining truthfully why you could not file on time, and attach supporting evidence. USCIS has not published an exhaustive list of acceptable reasons, but circumstances that may qualify include serious illness or hospitalization, a death in the family, homelessness, personal emergencies, language barriers, or receiving incorrect information about the process. Document what you can. If a family member was hospitalized, include medical records showing the dates.

What Happens to Your Work Permit

Employment Authorization Documents tied to TPS use category codes A12 (granted TPS) or C19 (applicants found preliminarily eligible).¹⁰ How long your card stays valid after its printed expiration date depends on when you filed your renewal.

A significant rule change took effect October 30, 2025: DHS eliminated the general practice of automatically extending EADs for up to 540 days while renewal applications are pending. TPS-related EADs are specifically exempted from that elimination, and TPS extensions provided through Federal Register notices continue to operate under their own rules.¹¹

Renewal filed before July 22, 2025: the up-to-540-day automatic extension applies, but any portion of that extension falling after July 22, 2025, cannot last longer than one year from that date or the duration of the TPS designation, whichever is shorter.¹²
Renewal filed between July 22 and October 29, 2025: the automatic extension is limited to one year or the duration of TPS, whichever is shorter. You cannot claim the full 540 days even if your I-797C receipt lists it.¹²
Renewal filed on or after October 30, 2025: the general 540-day automatic extension is gone, but TPS-based EADs may still be extended through the Federal Register notice tied to your country’s designation.¹¹

To prove ongoing work authorization to an employer, present your expired EAD alongside the applicable Federal Register notice or your I-797C receipt showing a timely-filed renewal.¹⁰ USCIS recommends filing your renewal up to 180 days before your EAD expires.¹³

What Losing TPS Costs You

When TPS ends, whether through a country termination or a missed re-registration, you revert to whatever status you held before TPS was granted. For many people, that means no lawful status at all. You become removable and begin accruing unlawful presence, which triggers increasingly severe consequences the longer it continues.

More than 180 days but less than one year of unlawful presence followed by departure from the United States triggers a three-year bar on re-entry. A year or more of unlawful presence followed by departure triggers a ten-year bar.¹⁴ These bars apply whether you leave voluntarily or are removed. Waiting to see what happens is rarely a good strategy.

Two Things TPS Does Not Automatically Do

TPS does not extend to your spouse or children. Each person seeking TPS files a separate application and independently meets every eligibility requirement.¹⁵ USCIS may accept a late initial application from someone who had a qualifying family relationship to a TPS-eligible spouse or child during the original registration period, but the applicant still has to satisfy all other criteria on their own.

TPS also does not authorize international travel. Leaving the country without advance permission is one of the fastest ways to lose your status. File Form I-131 and receive approval before you go.¹⁶ If your TPS is approved, USCIS issues Form I-512T; if your I-821 is still pending, you receive Form I-512L, an advance parole document. Even with authorization, re-entry is not guaranteed, and DHS decides at the port of entry whether to admit you back into TPS status.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status
2
Federal Register. Extension of the Designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-765, Application for Employment Authorization
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1254a – Temporary Protected Status
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Guidance for TPS Beneficiaries Filing Late Re-Registration Applications
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure
11
Federal Register. Removal of the Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Documents
12
E-Verify. Update to TPS Page on EAD Automatic Extensions
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. DHS Ends Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Application for Temporary Protected Status
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records