What is Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigration purposes?

What is Temporary Protected Status (TPS)?

TPS is a temporary benefit and DHS Secretary has discretionary authority, and she may designate a country for TPS due to the following temporary conditions in the country such as:

• Ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war)

• An environmental disaster (such as earthquake or hurricane), or an epidemic

• Other extraordinary and temporary conditions

Please note that the TPS granted (status) does not lead to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status or does not grant any other immigration status. To be granted a TPS beneficiary, the applicant (beneficiary) country of origin must be designated as TPS eligible country by DHS Secretary. Specifically, the applicant / beneficiary must meet the eligibility standards at INA section 244(c)(1)–(2),8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(1)–(2). If eligible, the applicant must apply for the TPS registration. However, registration does not prevent the applicants from such as –

• Applying for other nonimmigrant status (if applicable)

• Filing for adjustment of status based on other immigrant petition (other eligibility)

• Applying for any other immigration benefit or protection for which you may be eligible

To be granted any other immigration benefits, the applicant must still meet all the eligibility requirements for the other specific immigrant categories.  However, TPS granted status does not affect another application such as asylum applications or any other immigration application etc. Likewise, the denied case of other any other immigration cases does not affect TPS. In some case, the grounds of denial of the other immigrant applications could also lead to denial of TPS.

What are the key advantages of TPS granted applicant?

If the applicant was granted the TPS or found to be eligible for TPS beneficiary, they have the following privileges such as:

• Are not removable from the United States

• Can obtain an employment authorization document (EAD) if they continue to meet the requirements of TPS.

• May be granted travel authorization (but it depends on DHS discretion)

What are the factors of the TPS eligibility for re-registration?

Since TPS is a temporary immigration status and based on DHS Secretary’s discretionary decision, when the DHS Secretary terminates TPS designation for the beneficiary’s country (ies), the TPS status becomes ineligible, and the beneficiary’s immigration status return to their initial (original) immigration status or category before TPS granted status or any other immigration status or category they received while TPS granted status, as long as it is still valid beyond the TPS termination date.