Somalia Redesignated for TPS and TPS Extended for 18 Months; Certain EADs Automatically Extended Through Sept. 17, 2025
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas extended and redesignated Somalia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months, from Sept. 18, 2024, through March 17, 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 applied for or are beneficiaries of TPS for Somalia. 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 Sept. 17, 2025, the validity of EADs with a Card Expires date of Sept. 17, 2024, or March 17, 2023, issued under the TPS designation for Somalia. TPS Somalia applicants or beneficiaries presenting an auto-extended EAD 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 the EAD auto-extension.
SAVE will be able to verify an individual's TPS or pending TPS application (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 Somalia's TPS extension and redesignation, please refer to 89 FR 59135, dated July 22, 2024.
For up-to-date information, please check uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status.