United States: DHS Curtails Haiti TPS Extension from 18 Months to 12 Months
February 21, 2025
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At a glance
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has announced that the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti will now expire on August 3, 2025, rather than the previously scheduled expiration date of February 3, 2026.
- The registration period for eligible individuals to submit initial Haiti TPS applications will now run until August 3, 2025, rather than February 3, 2026.
- Any Haiti TPS documents, including employment authorization documents (EADs), issued with a February 3, 2026 expiration date will now be considered to expire on August 3, 2025. DHS has announced that employers must update their records accordingly.
The issue
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has partially vacated the Biden administration’s June 2024 decision to extend and redesignate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status, reducing the extension and redesignation period from 18 months to 12 months. According to an advance copy of a Federal Register notice, TPS for Haiti will now expire on August 3, 2025 – six months earlier than the previously scheduled expiration date of February 3, 2026.
Because the designation period will terminate earlier, the vacatur also reduces the first-time registration period under the redesignation. First-time registration will now end on August 3, 2025.
Among the reasons Secretary Noem asserts for the curtailment is that former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas did not sufficiently justify the need for the maximum 18-month extension of benefits to be granted to Haiti TPS beneficiaries.
Effects of the vacatur
Pending cases: If approved, pending TPS re-registration applications, initial applications, and associated EAD applications filed pursuant to the June 2024 extension and redesignation will be accorded an expiration date of August 3, 2025, rather than February 3, 2026. Individuals with pending applications who choose to withdraw their applications may request a refund of any filing fees.
Approved cases: TPS approval notices and associated I-94s and EADs approved pursuant to the June 2024 extension and redesignation that show an expiration date on February 3, 2026 will be considered valid, but only until the new, truncated expiration date of August 3, 2025. DHS will not recall EAD cards issued with the now superseded February 3, 2026 expiration date or reissue those cards with the new, corrected expiration date of August 3, 2025.
Impact on I-9s: According to the advance copy of the Federal Register Notice, employers that accepted Haiti TPS EAD cards with a code A-12 or C-19 that expire on February 3, 2026 as proof of an employee’s work authorization must update their records to note that such documents now expire on August 3, 2025.
Possible challenges
The decision to curtail Haiti’s TPS extension follows last month’s decision by Secretary Noem to rescind the Biden administration’s Venezuela TPS extension and expansion. Advocacy organizations have filed lawsuits challenging DHS’s Venezuela TPS action, and the partial vacatur of the TPS extension for Haiti could prompt similar court challenges.
What this means
The curtailing of Haiti’s TPS designation means that individuals who have been or are approved for TPS under the June 2024 extension and redesignation will receive TPS protections and associated work authorization only until August 3, 2025, rather than February 3, 2026.
In addition, employers will need to review their I-9 and related records to identify any employees who presented Haiti TPS EADs with a code A-12 or C-19 that expire on February 3, 2026 as proof of work authorization, and correct their records to indicate the new expiration date of August 3, 2025.
The DHS Secretary is required to review Haiti’s TPS designation by June 4, 2025, and must make a decision by that date whether to extend TPS beyond the new expiration date of August 3, 2025. In the unlikely event the Secretary were to fail to make a decision by June 4, 2025, the TPS designation would be automatically extended by six months.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
