Temporary Protected Status for Citizens of Nepal and Honduras Extended

The Department of Homeland Security will not be enforcing the termination of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) for nationals of Nepal and Honduras until further notice, following a court appeal similar to the case that challenged the terminations of TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador.

As a result,  documentation such as Employment Authorization (EADs), Forms I-797, Notice of Action (Approval Notices), and Forms I-94 (Arrival/Departure record) have been automatically extended to March 24, 2020 for Nepali nationals with the EAD category codes “A-12” or “C-19” and one of the expiration dates that have been issued under the TPS designation for Nepal: 06/24/2018 and 06/24/2019. Documentation for Honduras has not been extended and remains in effect through January 5, 2020.

For employers of TPS beneficiaries from Nepal, the DHS’s Federal Register Notice (“Notice”) and the current EAD should be used to update Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, E-Verify, and USCIS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) accordingly.  TPS beneficiaries will need to maintain their status and must continue to meet all individual requirements for TPS eligibility. These requirements can be found here.

For employers of TPS beneficiaries from Honduras, DHS will issue a Federal Register Notice approximately 45 days before January 5, 2020, that will announce an automatic extension of TPS-related documentation. The automatic extension in the “Notice” above therefore does not apply.

For more information regarding TPS, please see our previous blog post. This alert is for informational purposes only.  Please contact us if you would like to discuss this development further.