Today, July 8th, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially announced the termination of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Honduras and Nicaragua, effective September 8, 2025. This means that Honduran and Nicaraguan nationals who have been residing in the U.S. under TPS will no longer have status and employment authorization past September 8, 2025.
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What does this mean for employers?
If your organization employs individuals whose I-9 paperwork was completed based on the TPS program for Honduras and Nicaragua, you have an obligation to reverify by September 8, 2025. Honduran and Nicaraguan TPS holders will list "Honduras" or "Nicaragua" on their Employment Authorization Document (EAD) cards and be in the A12 or C19 category. By September 8, 2025, if Honduran and Nicaraguan workers cannot provide alternative work authorization, they should cease all work at your organization. If you have questions about the I-9 reverification process for impacted workers, please feel free to reach out to us.
As with so many other announcements and initiatives from the current administration, we expect this to be appealed. We will provide updates if and when they become available.
Importantly, from a bigger picture standpoint, the termination of TPS for Honduras and Nicaragua will have huge impacts on the hospitality industry's workforce. Currently, there are about 72,000 Honduran and 4,000 Nicaraguan TPS holders in the workforce, where a vast majority of the workers work in the hospitality industry. In general, the largest population of TPS holders reside in Florida (about 296,000 individuals) due to its huge immigrant population. When you combine this announcement with previously announced terminations of other TPS and Humanitarian Parole holders, this is very, very big news for the hospitality industry. Therefore, we urge you to take a step back and think about how you will be able to staff your organization in the weeks and months ahead. As always, we are happy to be part of these conversations.
What does this mean for Honduran and Nicaraguan TPS beneficiaries?
Unless these individuals have applied for other immigration benefits, they will need to depart the U.S. by September 8, 2025. If your organization has a worker who is impacted, we recommend that the worker reach out to their personal immigration lawyer right away to discuss their options before making any decisions.
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.
