The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that the temporary protected status (TPS) designation has been extended for Honduras until July 5, 2018, and will be terminated for Nicaragua as of January 5, 2019. Details are below.

Honduras

The designation of Honduras for TPS was set to expire on January 5, 2018. The Secretary of Homeland Security did not make a determination on Honduras’s designation by November 6, 2017, the statutory deadline. Accordingly, the TPS designation of Honduras is automatically extended for 6 months, from January 6, 2018, through July 5, 2018. The 60-day re-registration period began December 15, 2017, and runs through February 13, 2018.

In the notice announcing the extension on December 15, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security said that before July 5, 2018, the Secretary will review the conditions in Honduras and decide whether extension, redesignation, or termination is warranted in accordance with the TPS statute. During this period, “beneficiaries are encouraged to prepare for their return to Honduras in the event Honduras’s designation is not extended again and if they have no other lawful basis for remaining in the United States, including requesting updated travel documents from the Government of Honduras,” DHS said.

Nicaragua

The TPS designation of Nicaragua is also set to expire on January 5, 2018. The Secretary of Homeland Security announced on December 15, 2017, that the TPS designation of Nicaragua will be terminated effective January 5, 2019. The 60-day re-registration period began December 15, 2017, and runs through February 13, 2018. DHS said that “[i]t is important for re-registrants to timely re-register during this 60-day period and not to wait until their EADs expire.”

Nationals of Nicaragua (and those having no nationality who last habitually resided in Nicaragua) who have been granted TPS and wish to maintain their TPS and receive TPS-based employment authorization documents (EADs) valid through January 5, 2019, must re-register for TPS in accordance with the procedures set forth in the notice.

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