Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for El Salvador Extended for 18 Months; Certain EADs Automatically Extended Through March 9, 2026
As required by the statute, at least 60 days before the expiration of a current Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation or extension, the secretary of homeland security, after consultation with appropriate government agencies, must review the conditions in the foreign state to determine whether conditions for the TPS designation continue to be met. After this required review, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas extended TPS for El Salvador for 18 months, from March 10, 2025, through Sept. 9, 2026.
Individuals with a pending or approved TPS application may qualify for certain public benefits and REAL ID driver’s licenses and identification cards. When applying for a federal, state, or local government benefit, individuals will need to show a document proving they are beneficiaries of TPS for El Salvador. They may provide a TPS Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with a category code of A12 or C19, or a copy of their Form I-797, Notice of Action, for a current Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status.
Given the time frames for processing TPS re-registration applications, USCIS has automatically extended through March 9, 2026, by Federal Register notice, the validity of EADs issued under the prior TPS designation of El Salvador with a “Card Expires” date of:
- March 9, 2025;
- June 30, 2024;
- Dec. 31, 2022;
- Oct. 4, 2021;
- Jan. 4, 2021;
- Jan. 2, 2020;
- Sept. 9, 2019; or
- March 9, 2018.
TPS El Salvador beneficiaries presenting an EAD referenced in this Federal Register notice do not need to show any other document, such as a Form I-797 or I-797C, Notice of Action, to prove that they qualify for this automatic EAD extension.
SAVE will be able to verify an individual’s TPS (and any employment authorization) using information from any documents noted above. In some instances, the benefit-granting agency may need to institute additional verification to do so.
For more information regarding El Salvador’s TPS extension, please refer to 90 FR 5953, dated Jan 17, 2025.
For up-to-date information, please check uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status.