On March 1, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") announced that it would continue to preserve the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. As we have previously written, to comply with the federal court order in Ramos et al. v. Nielsen et al, DHS's Federal Register Notice ("Notice") yet again protects the TPS designation for each country and provides automatic extensions to existing work authorization documents. TPS and related documentation for Nicaragua, Sudan, Haiti, and El Salvador are now automatically extended through January 2, 2020.
Warning folks, this is a dense read, with complicated directions for those people in your organization that deal with the day to day of Form I-9s. If that's not you, pass this blog post on to the right person, and move on with your day.
On Oct. 3, 2018, in Ramos, et al. v. Nielsen, et al., No. 18-cv-01554 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 3, 2018) (PDF, 458 KB), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California enjoined DHS from implementing and enforcing the decisions to terminate TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador, pending further resolution of the case. Accordingly the government has been forced to continue to extend work authorization for individuals benefiting from the decision.
What is an Automatic Extension and How Do I Know if My Employee is Eligible?
The automatic extension means that certain employees with expired work authorization documents may continue to work without interruption. As a result, employers will need to update the affected employee's Forms I-9. For assistance with identifying automatically extended documents and executing the automatic extensions, see our prior post here.
Download >> TPS Update: Last Minute Automatic Extensions For El Salvador and Three Other Countries
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.