United States: USCIS Extends TPS Employment Authorization Documents for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan
June 21, 2024
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At a glance
- USCIS is extending through March 9, 2025 the validity of TPS EADs issued to TPS beneficiaries under the designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. The current auto-extension was set to expire on June 30, 2024.
- Impacted beneficiaries will receive Form I-797 notices from USCIS noting the auto-extension. These notices can be used in combination with certain expired TPS EADs for I-9 employment authorization verification purposes.
The issue
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is extending the validity of certain Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) issued to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries under the designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan through March 9, 2025, extended from June 30, 2024. The agency will send a Form I-797, Notice of Action, to notify TPS beneficiaries benefitting from the extension, including beneficiaries who are eligible to re-register for TPS and those who currently have a pending application to renew their TPS EAD.
For Form I-9 employment verification purposes, employees may show the Form I-797, along with a TPS-based EAD showing an A12 or C19 code and listing one of the expiration dates shown on the USCIS I-9 Central website, as proof of continued work authorization through March 9, 2025. According to USCIS, this document combination is considered an unexpired EAD for Form I-9 purposes.
Background
In order to maintain TPS benefits, beneficiaries must re-register for TPS under the most recent extension for the designated country by submitting Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status during the re-registration period.
In late 2022, USCIS extended TPS protection and employment authorization documents through June 30, 2024 (from December 31, 2022) for TPS beneficiaries under the designations of El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan. In late 2023, USCIS extended the re-registration periods for all of these designations except Haiti, as follows:
- El Salvador re-registration runs through March 9, 2025;
- Honduras re-registration runs through July 5, 2025;
- Nepal re-registration runs through June 24, 2025;
- Nicaragua re-registration runs through July 5, 2025; and
- Sudan re-registration runs through April 19, 2025.
While the re-registration periods for these designations end on different dates, USCIS’s new EAD auto-extension means that EADs for registered beneficiaries under these designations are all extended through the same date - March 9, 2025.
It is anticipated that Haiti will soon receive a separate extension of its TPS designation, which currently expires on August 3, 2024. The extension should be accompanied by its own separate EAD auto-extension, which still currently runs only through June 30, 2024.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
