What Is TPS in the USA: Eligibility, Benefits, and How to Apply

Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, is a federal immigration program in the USA that lets people from certain countries live and work in the United States when conditions back home make returning unsafe. The Department of Homeland Security designates a country for TPS when it is torn by armed conflict, hit by an environmental disaster, or affected by other extraordinary and temporary conditions. Protection lasts only as long as the designation lasts, and the program does not lead to a green card or citizenship on its own.

How TPS Works

The Secretary of Homeland Security can designate a foreign country, or a part of one, for TPS when conditions fall into one of three statutory categories: ongoing armed conflict that would pose a serious threat to returning nationals, an environmental disaster that substantially disrupts living conditions, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions that prevent safe return.¹ Each initial designation lasts between 6 and 18 months. Before it expires, the Secretary reviews whether conditions still warrant protection. If they do, the designation is extended for another 6, 12, or 18 months.

TPS is temporary by design. It grants legal status and work authorization for the duration of the designation, and nothing more. Holding TPS does not prevent you from pursuing other immigration benefits you independently qualify for, such as a family-based or employment-based green card.² The Supreme Court held in Sanchez v. Mayorkas (2021) that TPS itself does not count as a lawful “admission.” If you entered the United States without inspection, TPS alone will not satisfy the admission requirement needed to adjust status to permanent resident from inside the country.³

Who Qualifies for TPS

You must be a national of a country that DHS has designated for TPS, or a person without nationality who last lived in that country.⁴ Beyond nationality, the main requirements are:

Continuous physical presence. You must have been physically in the United States since the effective date of the most recent designation for your country.
Continuous residence. You must have lived in the United States continuously since a date the Secretary specifies for your country’s designation.
Timely filing. You must apply during the initial registration period or a re-registration window. Late filings are possible only if you can show good cause for missing the deadline.

The continuous presence and residence rules have some give. Brief, casual, and innocent absences from the United States do not break either clock, as long as the trip was short, had a legitimate purpose, and did not violate any laws.

Certain criminal histories and security concerns will disqualify you. You cannot receive TPS if you have been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States.⁴ Certain grounds of inadmissibility also apply, including participation in persecution or terrorism-related activity, though limited waivers exist for humanitarian purposes or to preserve family unity.

What TPS Gives You

While your country’s designation is active, TPS provides three core protections:

Protection from removal. You cannot be deported for the duration of the designation.
Work authorization. You can apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and work legally for any employer.
Travel authorization. With advance approval from USCIS, you can leave and re-enter the United States.

TPS holders are considered lawfully present in the United States, which qualifies them for a limited-term driver’s license in every state under the REAL ID Act. These licenses are typically valid only for the duration of your authorized stay.

What TPS Does Not Give You

TPS is not a green card and not a path to one on its own. It also does not open the door to most federal public benefits. TPS holders are not classified as “qualified” immigrants under the 1996 welfare law (PRWORA), so programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and CHIP are generally off-limits at the federal level. Some states run their own programs with broader eligibility, but the federal rule is restrictive.

Which Countries Are Currently Designated

As of mid-2026, USCIS lists these countries as designated for TPS: Burma (Myanmar), El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.²

That list tells only part of the story. The current administration has moved to terminate TPS for many of these countries, and the situation is tangled in litigation:

Terminations blocked by courts. Federal judges have stayed or postponed terminations for Haiti, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Burma. Those TPS holders retain status for now while the cases move through the courts.
Terminations with contested outcomes. Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua saw their designations formally terminate in 2025. A district court vacated those terminations, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed that order, leaving beneficiaries uncertain.
Venezuela. The Supreme Court allowed the termination to take immediate effect in October 2025. Some beneficiaries who received EADs before February 2025 retain work authorization through October 2, 2026, but the underlying TPS designation has ended.
Countries without published termination dates. El Salvador, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Lebanon, and Yemen remain designated without announced termination actions as of this writing.

This is a volatile moment for the program. Court orders can change on short notice. If your country appears on this list, check the USCIS TPS page for the most current information about your specific designation before making decisions about work, travel, or filing.²

Keeping Your Status Through Re-Registration

TPS is not a one-time approval. Every time your country’s designation is extended, you must re-register during the re-registration window to keep your status. USCIS publishes the window for each country in a Federal Register notice, typically about 60 days long.²

Missing that window is one of the most common and costly mistakes. If you fail to re-register, your legal status reverts to whatever it was before TPS. For many people, that means becoming undocumented, losing work authorization, and facing possible removal proceedings. USCIS has discretion to accept a late filing if you can show good cause, such as serious illness, hospitalization, a death in the family, homelessness, or language barriers that prevented you from understanding the process. Include a letter explaining what happened and supporting evidence.

Re-registering by filing Form I-821 carries no fee. If you also file Form I-765 to renew your EAD, the renewal fee applies. When DHS extends a designation, it often automatically extends the expiration date on existing EADs through the Federal Register notice, so your current work permit may keep working even before the re-registration is decided.⁵

How to Apply

The primary form is Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status. If you also want work authorization, file Form I-765 at the same time.⁶ All eligible applicants can now file Form I-821 online through the USCIS website, though paper filing by mail remains an option.

Documentation

You need to establish three things: your identity and nationality, when you entered the United States, and that you have lived here continuously since the relevant designation date. A valid passport is the strongest evidence of identity and nationality; a birth certificate or a national identity document with a photograph also works. Your I-94 record or passport entry stamps are the most direct evidence of entry.

Continuous residence is where applications most often run into trouble because people struggle to document every month. USCIS will consider rent receipts, utility bills, pay stubs, hospital or medical records, school records, and employment contracts. The goal is to cover the whole period from your designation date to the present with as few gaps as possible. Affidavits from community leaders, employers, or religious organizations can help fill gaps, though they carry less weight than official records.

2026 Filing Fees

USCIS implemented inflation-adjusted fees effective January 1, 2026:⁷

Form I-821 (initial TPS application): $510
Form I-765 (initial EAD): $560
Form I-765 (EAD renewal): $280
Biometrics services fee: $30

Re-registration filings of Form I-821 carry no fee.² Fee waiver options are limited under current rules. Only the $30 biometrics fee is eligible for a waiver through Form I-912; the main filing fees for Form I-821 and I-765 are not waivable for initial TPS applicants.⁸ That is a change from previous years, when broader waivers were available.

If a Designation Ends or You Are Denied

When a country’s TPS designation is terminated and no court order blocks it, beneficiaries lose their TPS protections. Legal status reverts to whatever it was before TPS was granted. For many people, that means returning to undocumented status, losing work authorization, and becoming subject to removal.

Terminations usually do not happen overnight. The government typically publishes a Federal Register notice months before the effective date. As 2025 and 2026 have shown, however, last-minute court orders can freeze or unfreeze a termination on short notice, creating stretches of uncertainty.

If your country’s designation is ending or in legal limbo, or if USCIS denies your application, talk to an immigration attorney about other forms of relief you might qualify for, such as asylum, cancellation of removal, or a family- or employment-based petition. A denial can be appealed to the Administrative Appeals Office using Form I-290B, and the deadline is short.⁹ Waiting until the termination date arrives to start exploring alternatives is the single biggest mistake people make.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1254a – Temporary Protected Status
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status
3
Library of Congress. Inspected and Admitted or Paroled Into the United States
4
eCFR. 8 CFR Part 244 – Temporary Protected Status for Nationals of Designated States
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Automatic EAD Extensions for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Beneficiaries
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Announces FY 2026 Inflation Increase for Certain Immigration-Related Fees
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Additional Information on Filing a Fee Waiver
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion