Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas has announced the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti for an additional 18 months, from February 4, 2023, through August 3, 2024, due to extraordinary conditions in Haiti. He also redesignated Haiti for TPS, allowing Haitian nationals residing in the United States as of November 6, 2022, to apply for TPS through August 3, 2024, so long as they meet all eligibility requirements.
Haitians entering the United States after November 6, 2022, are not eligible for TPS and, like other individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States, will be subject to removal.
Secretary Mayorkas extended and redesignated Haiti for TPS due to the extraordinary and temporary conditions in Haiti, including a prolonged political crisis; grave insecurity and gang crime that worsened a dire economic situation; a lack of access to food, water, fuel and health care during a resurgence of cholera; and the recent catastrophic earthquakes.
In order to qualify for Haitian TPS, you must:
- Be a national of Haiti;
- Be continuously physically present in the United States since at least November 6, 2022;
- Not be inadmissible to the United States or be barred from asylum for certain criminal or national security-related reasons, such as individuals who have been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors.
If you are Haitian and living in the United States since November 6, 2022, you do not automatically receive TPS, but instead you must register during a specific registration period and pay a filing fee.
If you apply and your application for TPS is approved, you receive a temporary stay of deportation and temporary authorization to work in the United States. TPS beneficiaries are also eligible for advance parole, which gives you permission to travel abroad and return to the United States, but you must apply for this travel permission separately. Beneficiaries are not eligible for any public assistance by virtue of their TPS status.
Other countries have also been designated for TPS. These include: Ethiopia, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Cameroon, El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen.
If you or someone you know is a national of any of these countries and would like more information about the TPS program, please contact the Law Office of Gregory J. Eck for additional information.