TPS extended to January 4, 2021 for El Salvador and 5 more countries
The Department of Homeland Security announced on October 28, 2019 that an agreement had been reached between the U.S. and El Salvador that would allow the U.S. to extend the work authorization for current El Salvadorian TPS beneficiaries in the U.S. to be automatically extended through January 4, 2021. The current Employment Authorization Document, expired or not, along with the Federal Register Notice authorizing the extension will serve as evidence of ongoing work authorization for new employees and reverifications.
Additionally, in compliance with preliminary injunctions from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Ramos vs. Nelson, DHS has announced via Federal Register Notice that expiration dates for TPS-related documentation for the following countries will also be extended until January 4, 2021.
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Nepal
- Nicaragua
- Sudan
Should the preliminary injunctions be reversed, it is expected that termination of TPS designation for Sudan, Nicaragua,Haiti and El Salvador would take effect, although USCIS will provide an “orderly transition period” of 120 to 365 days, dependent upon the country. USCIS states that such periods would not happen automatically upon reversal of the preliminary injunction.
In the absence of a reversal of the preliminary injunctions, or other instructions from DHS to the contrary, TPS beneficiaries may present their expired employment authorization documents (EADs), along with a copy of the Federal Register notice as evidence of continuing work authorization through January 4, 2021.
To determine if an EAD belongs to a TPS beneficiary, employers can review the category (item #1). A TPS beneficiary will have the code A12 or C19. The country of birth (item #2) will provide the information needed to determine if the employee is from a country that has been granted an automatic extension.
