United States: Federal District Court Allows Employment Authorization for Beneficiaries of El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan TPS to Expire
August 5, 2026
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At a glance
- A federal district court has declined to enjoin a government policy that curtailed the validity of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) employment authorization for beneficiaries from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan.
- The court’s decision means that USCIS is cleared to enforce its planned termination of employment authorization for these TPS beneficiaries, which was originally set for July 22 but was previously extended by court order through August 5.
The issue
Today, a federal district court in Massachusetts ruled that plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed in a lawsuit challenging the curtailment of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) employment authorization for beneficiaries from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan. The ruling means that the government may proceed with its planned termination of employment authorization for these beneficiaries, which was originally set to occur on July 22 but was temporarily postponed by the court through August 5, 2026.
The case is Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS, No. 1:26-cv-13038 (D. Mass., filed July 1, 2026).
Background
On July 22, the court granted an emergency stay to temporarily prevent the retroactive application of a U.S. government policy affecting expiration dates for TPS employment authorization, as well as to temporarily halt the collection of an annual fee from asylum applicants.
Employment authorization for TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan was due to expire on July 22, 2026, under recent government guidance interpreting various interacting policies and legal authorities, including the H.R.1 legislation passed in July 2025 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) that limited TPS EADs to one year; various TPS termination actions; and the maximum 540-day EAD auto-extension applicable to EAD renewal applications filed prior to October 30, 2025. Plaintiffs challenged the government’s retroactive interpretation of these policies, arguing that they impermissibly shortened TPS employment authorization previously granted to affected beneficiaries. The district court temporarily ruled in their favor on an emergency basis, promising to issue a decision on the stay request by today.
In today’s decision, the court ruled that it was not improper for the government to have retroactively applied H.R. 1’s one-year limit on EADs for TPS beneficiaries. Though the court cast doubt on some aspects of government’s interpretation of the TPS statute with respect to employment authorization, it determined that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that the government’s application of H.R. 1’s one-year limit rendered that policy unlawful.
Stay of certain new asylum-related policies
Though the TPS stay was declined, the court granted a nationwide injunction against a provision that would have ordered the rejection of an asylum application and initiation of removal proceedings against asylum applicants who failed to pay a new annual asylum fee established by H.R. 1.
What’s next for affected TPS beneficiaries and their employers
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is expected to issue instructions concerning the lapse of employment authorization for TPS beneficiaries from El Salvador, Ukraine, and Sudan. Fragomen will provide further updates as details become available.
If you have questions about this alert, or any issue related to employment authorization under Temporary Protected Status, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen. This alert is for informational purposes only.
