Temporary Protected Status for Honduras ended on September 8, 2025, closing a designation that had been in place since January 5, 1999. If you held TPS under the Honduras designation, you no longer have TPS-based protection from removal or TPS-based work authorization, and Employment Authorization Documents issued under that designation are no longer valid.1Federal Register. Termination of the Designation of Honduras for Temporary Protected Status What you can do now depends almost entirely on what other status, petitions, or travel history you already have in place.
What Your Status Is Now
When TPS ends, you revert to whatever immigration status you held before receiving it, provided that status is still valid.1Federal Register. Termination of the Designation of Honduras for Temporary Protected Status If you obtained a different lawful status while you were registered for TPS — a nonimmigrant visa, adjustment of status, another form of relief — you keep it as long as it remains valid beyond September 8, 2025.
For many long-term TPS holders, though, there was no other status. If you originally entered without inspection and never acquired anything else, you are undocumented again as of September 8, 2025. Any EAD that carried the A-12 or C-19 category code and derived from the Honduras designation stopped serving as proof of work authorization on that date.1Federal Register. Termination of the Designation of Honduras for Temporary Protected Status
Losing TPS does not, by itself, bar you from other immigration benefits. You can still apply for nonimmigrant status, seek adjustment of status based on an immigrant petition, or file for asylum or any other relief you qualify for.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status The question is which of those doors is actually open to you.
The Asylum One-Year Clock
Asylum applications generally must be filed within one year of arriving in the United States. Time spent in TPS stops that clock, so the years you spent registered do not count against the deadline, as long as the one-year period had not already expired before you received TPS.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Honduras
That tolling benefit lasts only for a reasonable period after TPS ends. If you have a possible asylum claim — a fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group — the window to file without a timeliness problem is closing. Move quickly.
Green Card Through Adjustment of Status
TPS never created a path to a green card on its own. To become a lawful permanent resident from inside the United States, you need an approved immigrant petition — most commonly a family-based petition from a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse, parent, or adult child, or an employer-sponsored petition — plus an available visa and admissibility.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Honduras
You also have to have been “inspected and admitted or paroled” into the country. This is the requirement that traps many former TPS holders who entered without inspection. But if you traveled abroad on TPS-authorized travel documents and returned, that return trip may satisfy the requirement.
Whether Your TPS Travel Counts
USCIS treatment depends on when you traveled:
- If you traveled before August 20, 2020, with advance parole, USCIS considers you to have been paroled on return, which meets the adjustment threshold.
- If you traveled between August 20, 2020, and July 1, 2022, a decision called Matter of Z-R-Z-C- briefly changed the rule, but USCIS rescinded that decision and now treats you as having been paroled as well.
- If you traveled on or after July 1, 2022, with Form I-512T, you are considered “inspected and admitted,” which also satisfies the requirement.
Both parole and admission from authorized TPS travel meet the statutory threshold for adjustment. Within the Fifth Circuit, all TPS-authorized travel, regardless of date, has been treated as an admission. Clearing that threshold is only one piece — you still need the approved petition, the visa, and admissibility — but without it, adjustment from inside the country is generally off the table.
If you have copies of an old I-512T or advance parole document from a trip during your TPS years, keep them. They may be the single most valuable piece of paper in a future green card case.
If You Never Traveled With TPS Authorization
If you entered without inspection and never left on TPS travel, adjustment of status inside the United States is generally unavailable. Consular processing — leaving the country to obtain your immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate abroad — can be an alternative, but it carries real risk. Unlawful presence accumulated in the United States can trigger three-year or ten-year bars on returning once you depart. This is a decision to make with a qualified immigration attorney, not on your own.
Criminal History Still Matters
The same criminal record that would have disqualified you from TPS will likely block other relief too. A single felony conviction in the United States or two or more misdemeanor convictions barred TPS eligibility, and those bars could not be waived. Additional bars applied to anyone who persecuted others, presented a national security concern, or was convicted of a particularly serious crime.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1254a – Temporary Protected Status
These same categories create serious problems for asylum, adjustment of status, and most other forms of relief. If you have any criminal history, disclose it fully to your attorney before filing anything.
Documents to Keep
USCIS is no longer accepting Honduras TPS applications or re-registrations, and there will be no further extension period. What matters now is preserving proof of what you had, because you may need it to support other immigration filings or to reconstruct your history.
Hold onto your prior TPS approval notices, Form I-797C receipt notices,5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action every expired EAD, any I-512T or advance parole document you were issued, and the underlying evidence of continuous residence and physical presence you compiled — rent receipts, utility bills, school and medical records, employment records. Foreign-language documents in your file should already have certified English translations; if any do not, get them translated before you need them.
The termination closes the TPS chapter for Honduras. It does not close every door. Whether another door opens for you depends on the petitions, travel history, and evidence you can put on the table now.