Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a critical protection tool used to safeguard foreign nationals residing in the United States from deportation when conditions in their home countries make it unsafe to return.

TPS has been recently in the news when the Trump administration revoked the Biden administration’s 18-month extensions of TPS for people from Venezuela and Haiti. These decisions could impact over 1 million people who were previously eligible for protection.

Get the facts on TPS and what it means for people who cannot return to their home countries due to safety concerns.

What is Temporary Protected Status (TPS)?

The U.S. Congress established TPS in 1990 as a protective immigration status for people from countries affected by ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, an epidemic, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions that make a safe return to their home countries impossible.

Zahra and Hadisa share a conversation on the campus of ASU.
Zahra (left) and Hadisa both fled Afghanistan in 2021. Now, they study at Arizona State University.
Photo: Nisha Datt for the IRC

To qualify for TPS, a person must already live in the U.S. Specifically, they must have been continuously physically present and residing in the U.S. before the date the status was designated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This means that people who arrive in the U.S. after that date are not eligible. TPS can last between 6 to 18 months, and can be extended by DHS.

People who qualify for TPS can live and work in the U.S. legally for the duration of the status. However, TPS does not come with a pathway to lawful permanent status.

How is TPS extended?

All TPS designations have an expiration date. DHS is required to extend or terminate these designations 60 days before the status expires. When TPS is extended, DHS can also decide to re-designate it. That change allows individuals who arrived after the prior designation date to apply for the status. 

For instance, in July 2024, the Biden Administration announced that it would both extend and re-designate TPS for Yemen. The country was entering its seventh year of war and remains one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Previously, the administration had extended and re-designated TPS for Yemen through July 2021, meaning anyone who arrived after 2021 did not qualify. The Biden Administration decision reset that cut off to people who were living in the U.S. as of July 2024.

Whenever TPS is extended for a country, people with TPS must re-register for the status.

Against a view of a desert mountain, a man sits with his son on his lap.
Abdul Ghafar sits with his son Adbdullah outside their home in Mosuk Village in Radfan, Lahj, Southern Yemen. The country is facing one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.
Photo: Kellie Ryan for the IRC

How is TPS different from refugee resettlement?


TPS is a program for people already living in the United States. It is also temporary, meaning holders are not given a pathway to permanent status or citizenship. 

Refugee resettlement helps those outside the U.S. who had to flee their countries due to violence or persecution by allowing them to rebuild their lives in the U.S., with a pathway to lawful permanent resident status and eventually citizenship. Yet, fewer than one percent of refugees across the globe have a chance to resettle.

The Biden Administration had taken steps to rebuild the refugee resettlement program after its decimation during the first Trump administration, including by setting an ambitious admissions goal of 125,000 for fiscal year 2025; however, the second Trump Administration indefinitely paused all new refugee admissions on his first day in office.

Learn more about refugee resettlement.

How is TPS different from asylum?

TPS is a program for people already living in the United States. Specifically, they must have been continuously physically present and residing in the U.S. before the date the status was designated by DHS.

Asylum seekers are individuals who flee their country and apply for asylum after arriving in the U.S. They must prove they cannot return due to persecution based on race, religion, nationality, social group membership, or political opinion. Asylum seekers present their case to an asylum officer or in immigration court, and legal representation can significantly impact their outcome.

Once granted asylum, they become asylees, gain legal permanent protection from deportation, and can apply for permanent residency and citizenship. They’re also eligible to work, travel abroad, and bring their spouse or children under 21 to the U.S.

One of the key differences is that TPS only offers temporary protection for those needing safety. TPS holders who also qualify for asylum may still apply for asylum to secure permanent status.

Lincy Sopall, who was granted asylum in the U.S., sits at a desk holding a pencil and looking at a sheet of paper. Her supplies for her fashion design studio are behind her.
Lincy Sopall, a transgender woman who faced abuse and persecution in Honduras, received asylum in the U.S. in 2018 and works as a fashion designer. She says of her decision to flee: "I had only two choices: leave Honduras and live or stay and die."
Photo: Andrew Oberstadt for the IRC

Which countries have TPS designations?

Seventeen countries currently have TPS designations. They are Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.

A woman picks her way through the rubble of her village in northeastern Syria.
A woman picks her way through the rubble of her war-ravaged village in northeastern Syria.
Photo: IRC

Venezuelans, Salvadorans and Haitians currently comprise the most TPS holders, totaling over 700,000 beneficiaries. The Biden Administration determined that Venezuela met the conditions for a TPS designation in 2021 as its humanitarian crisis deepened. El Salvador received TPS designation following two devastating earthquakes in 2001; subsequent developments have led to its extension and re-designation for over 20 years. Haitians qualifying for TPS have been allowed to stay in the U.S. since the catastrophic 2010 earthquake; conditions in the country have also led to the extension and re-designation of TPS for the country. On February 24, 2025, DHS partially reversed the Biden administration’s July 2024 extension and redesignation of TPS for Haiti, reducing the period of protection granted to Haitians from 18-to-12 months.  Unless extended, TPS for Haitians will expire on August 3, 2025, impacting an estimated 520,694 eligible Haitians in the US. 

People walk past earthquake-damaged buildings in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 2010
Haitians qualifying for TPS have been allowed to stay in the U.S. since the 2010 earthquake.
Photo: Gerald Martone/IRC

Recognizing the dangers that Afghan nationals in the U.S. may face after the change in government, the Biden Administration designated TPS for Afghanistan in March of 2022. They later also designated TPS for Cameroon, Ethiopia and Ukraine, allowing 75,000 Ukrainians in the U.S. to live and work in the country temporarily. In November of 2024, the administration designated TPS for Lebanon, allowing approximately 11,000 people to apply for protection. In the last weeks of the Biden administration, they also reissued designations for El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela, though the latter was subsequently revoked by the Trump administration.

TPS was established by Congress through the Immigration Act of 1990 which was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. It has been used by U.S. presidents of both parties for over three decades. The program has provided humanitarian relief to people fleeing armed conflict, natural disasters, and other crises, with designations made under multiple administrations—including for Hondurans and Nicaraguans in 1999 under Clinton, Salvadorans in 2001 under George W. Bush, Haitians in 2010 under Obama, and Syrians in 2012.

In a doorway to a home, a couple sits on a stoop and looks away from the camera.
An Afghan family who recently arrived in the U.S. Newly-arrived Afghans have to apply for permanent protection through the U.S. asylum system, which is already facing a backlog of cases.
Photo: Andrew Oberstadt for the IRC

How does the IRC help?

The International Rescue Committee offers high-quality, low-cost immigration legal services and citizenship assistance in 29 cities across the United States. As part of our immigration programs, the IRC helps eligible individuals apply for and renew their TPS status, identifies TPS holders for other forms of relief, and assists with legal services to seek these forms of relief where applicable. 

Learn more.

How you can help

People with TPS are contributing members of American communities, schools, and workplaces. Ending TPS would harm American communities and put people protected by TPS in danger.  

Ask President Trump to keep in place humanitarian protections for people residing in the U.S. from Afghanistan, Haiti, Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela and other countries. It is not yet safe for them to return home and it would be wrong to return them to danger.