Temporary Protected Status

The United States offers Temporary Protected Status to individuals from countries that have suffered natural disasters or that are undergoing war or severe civil unrest, forcing the displacement of citizens of that country. Temporary protected status is a temporary immigration status granted to eligible nationals of designated countries.

Temporary Protected Status is effective as long as the conditions persist in the country in question. However, as the name clearly implies, TPS is only a short term solution, and it is available only to applicants from a few selected countries.

Currently designated countries include:

• Angola
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Burundi
• El Salvador
• Honduras
• Montserrat
• Nicaragua
• Sierra Leone
• Somalia
• Sudan

These countries are designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the program is administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  Countries are usually designated as eligible because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. 

Foreign nationals given temporary protected status are not given permanent residency status, though they may apply for another status while under the temporary one. Temporary Protected Status offers individuals from certain countries a way to stay in the United States as an alternative to asylum.

You may be eligible to apply for temporary protected status if:

• You are a national of a country designated for TPS. (You may also be eligible if you are a person who has no nationality but last habitually resided in a designated country.)

• You apply for TPS during the specified registration period.

• You have been continuously physically present in the United States since the TPS designation began, or since the effective date of the most recent re-designation.

• You have continuously resided in the United States since the date specified in the Federal Register notice of designation.

• You are admissible as an immigrant and are not otherwise ineligible for TPS.

An person is not eligible for TPS if he or she:

• Has been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States;

• Is a persecutor, or otherwise subject to one of the bars to asylum; or

• Is subject to one of several criminal-related or terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility for which a waiver is not available.

The United States Attorney General decides whether people from certain countries are eligible for TPS based on political instability, warfare or natural disaster. Once your country is designated, you are eligible to stay in the U.S. and not be deported. You will have to renew their application every year.

To learn more about Temporary Protected Status and to discuss your eligibility for this program, please contact the Sheena Law Firm to schedule a no obligation consultation TODAY!