WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that current beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under Somalia’s designation who want to maintain their status through the 18-month extension period ending on March 17, 2020, must re-register between Aug. 27, 2018, and Oct. 26, 2018.
Re-registration procedures, including how to renew employment authorization documents (EADs), have been published in the Federal Register and on uscis.gov/tps.
All applicants must submit Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status. Applicants may also request an EAD by submitting, at the time they file Form I-821, Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, or separately at a later date. Like all USCIS forms, both forms are free for download from the USCIS website at uscis.gov/tps.
USCIS will issue new EADs with a March 17, 2020 expiration date to eligible Somalia TPS beneficiaries who timely re-register and apply for EADs. Given the timeframe involved with processing TPS re-registration applications, however, we recognize that not all re-registrants will receive new EADs before their current EADs expire on Sept. 17, 2018. Accordingly, we have automatically extended the validity of those EADs for 180 days, through March 16, 2019.
On July 19, 2018, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen announced that the statutory conditions supporting Somalia’s TPS designation on the basis of ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary conditions continue to exist and that the designation should be extended by 18 months. Secretary Nielsen made her decision after reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. government agencies. As a result, Somalia’s TPS designation has been extended through March 17, 2020.
