Final Re-Registration Period for Haitian and El Salvador Nationals on TPS

According to a USCIS notice published on January 18, 2018, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti nationals will expire on July 22, 2019. Starting January 18, current Haitian TPS beneficiaries will have 60 days to re-register for the final time in order to maintain status through the program’s expiration date. Employment authorization documents that will expire on January 22, 2018 will be automatically extended through to July 21, 2018. This decision came right after the Trump administration stated on January 17 that Haitian farmers and other laborers seeking to come to the United States as temporary, seasonal workers under the federal H-2A and H-2B guest worker program will no longer be eligible. There are currently approximately 46,000 Haitian nationals in the United States on TPS, the second biggest population behind the 200,000 El Salvador nationals.

The same USCIS notice also stated that TPS for El Salvador beneficiaries will expire on September 9, 2019. Current El Salvador beneficiaries will have 60 days starting from January 18 to re-register in order to maintain status through the program’s expiration date. Employment authorization documents that will expire on March 9, 2018 will be automatically extended through September 5, 2018. The 200,000 Salvadorans initially came to the United States nearly two decades ago after El Salvador was hit with a pair of devastating earthquakes in 2001.

So far, the Trump administration has terminated TPS for Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan nationals, leaving less than 100,000 people in the program. To learn more about TPS, please click here.