The Congressional Research Service refers to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as being “a blanket form of humanitarian relief,” helping foreign nationals within the United States who may not qualify for asylum but are nonetheless fleeing or reluctant to return to potentially dangerous situations. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states that the Secretary of Homeland Security can designate a foreign country for TPS because of conditions that temporarily prevent nationals from returning safely or when a country may be unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.
Countries with nationals under TPS include Somalia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cameroon, El Salvador, Haiti, Syria, Sudan, Nepal, South Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. Countries with nationals formerly under TPS include Kuwait, Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Montserrat, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Angola, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
TPS Requirements
A person can be eligible for TPS if they:
- Are a national of a country with a TPS designation or a person who does not have a nationality but last habitually resided in a designated country;
- File during an initial open registration or re-registration period, or they meet requirements for a late initial filing during any extension of their country’s TPS designation;
- Have remained continuously physically present within the United States since the effective date for the most recent designation date for their country; and
- Have continuously resided in the United States since their country’s specified date. Exceptions to the continuous physical presence and continuous residence requirements are permitted for brief, casual, and innocent departures from the United States. If a person applies or re-registers for TPS, they must inform USCIS of any absences from the United States since the continuous physical presence and continuous residence dates. USCIS determines whether exceptions apply to a person’s case.
A person may not be eligible for TPS or to maintain their existing TPS if they have any felony conviction or convictions for two or more misdemeanors committed within the United States, have been found to be inadmissible as an immigrant under applicable grounds in INA § 212(a), including possible non-waivable criminal or security-related grounds, are subject to any mandatory bars to asylum, including but not limited to participating in the persecution of another person or engaging in or inciting terrorist activity, failing to meet continuous physical presence and continuous residence requirements, failing to meet initial or late initial TPS registration requirements, or when a person is granted TPS, failing to re-register for TPS as required without good cause.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the number of approved individuals for each country as of April 2022 are as follows:
- Burma — 380
- El Salvador — 193,940
- Haiti (2010-2019) — 39,650
- Haiti (2021-2023) — 3,240
- Honduras — 58,625
- Nepal — 9,355
- Nicaragua — 3,130
- Somalia — 370
- South Sudan — 75
- Sudan (1997-2018) — 535
- Syria — 3,910
- Venezuela — 40,400
- Yemen — 1,335
Afghanistan, Cameroon, Sudan (2022-2023), and Ukraine all had no applicable approved individuals. Hong Kong, Liberia, and Venezuela were included in a table of countries currently under a Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) grant.
TPS Registration Process
A person must include all of the necessary forms, evidence, fees, and fee waiver requests when they are filing their TPS application, so a TPS package needs to include all of the following. You begin by filing Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, and people can also request employment authorization documents (EADs) by submitting a completed Form I-765, Request for Employment Authorization when filing Form I-821.
When a person is filing their initial TPS application, they will have to provide identity and nationality evidence to demonstrate they are a national of a country designated for TPS, date of entry evidence to prove when they entered the United States, and continuous residence evidence to prove they have been in the United States since the entry date. There is also identity and nationality evidence that comes in three forms.
Primary evidence includes a copy of a person’s passport, a copy of a person’s birth certificate with photo identification, and/or any national identity document bearing a person’s photograph and/or fingerprint issued by their country, including documents issued by their country’s Embassy or Consulate in the United States, including a national ID card or naturalization certificate. Secondary evidence includes nationality documentation, such as a naturalization certificate, even when it does not have a person’s photograph and fingerprint, a person’s baptismal certificate if it indicates a person’s nationality or a parent’s nationality, copies of a person’s school or medical records when they have information supporting a person’s claim that they are a national from a TPS country, copies of immigration documents proving a person’s identity and nationality, or affidavits from friends or family members with close personal knowledge of the date and place of a person’s birth and a person’s parents’ nationality.
Continuous residence evidence may include rent receipts, employment records, receipts or letters from companies, utility bills, school records from the schools that a person or their children have attended in the United States, hospital or medical records concerning treatment or hospitalization of a person or their children, or attestations by a church, union, or other organization officials who know a person and where they have been residing. Date of entry evidence can include a copy of a person’s passport, I-94 arrival/departure records, or any documents specified in continuous residence evidence.
Call Us Today to Speak with a Los Angeles TPS Attorney
If you need help seeking TPS protection in California, make sure you have legal representation. The Law Office of Todd Becraft understands the many fears people have in filing these cases, but we will know how to help you succeed with your own filing.
Our firm works very closely with every client, so you will be kept up to date on everything that is happening with your case. Call (213) 388-1821 or contact us online to schedule a consultation with our Los Angeles TPS attorney.
