AG Extends Salvadoran TPS Another 12 Months; INS Automatically Extends Validity of EADs

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Asylum, Refugee, and Other
Protected Statuses

AG EXTENDS SALVADORAN TPS ANOTHER 12 MONTHS; INS AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDS VALIDITY OF EADs
Immigrants' Rights Update, Web Edition, July 15, 2002

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has published notice in the Federal Register extending the attorney general's designation of El Salvador as a country whose nationals and residents currently in the United States qualify for temporary protected status (TPS) and automatically extending the validity of employment authorization documents (EADs) issued to Salvadorans with TPS to Mar. 9, 2003. The Salvadoran TPS designation, which had been due to expire on Sept. 9, 2002, will now be in effect until Sept. 9, 2003. The INS estimates that 263,000 persons applied for TPS under the original program and are eligible to benefit from the extension.

TPS is granted to persons from countries that are designated by the attorney general as experiencing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or certain other conditions that prevent those persons from returning. TPS allows individuals to remain and work in the U.S. during the period of TPS designation. The attorney general made the current TPS designation for El Salvador on Mar. 9, 2001, in the wake of a series of severe earthquakes that caused numerous fatalities and left 1.6 million people without adequate housing. The current notice notes that the attorney general decided to extend the TPS designation because conditions warranting this designation continue to exist.

To register for the one-year extension, nationals of El Salvador (as well as individuals with no nationality who last habitually resided in El Salvador) previously granted TPS must apply for it during the 60-day registration period that will begin on Sept. 9, 2002, and end on Nov. 12, 2002. Such persons need only file Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, without the filing fee, as well as Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and two identification photographs (1½" x 1½"). Applicants who seek work authorization under the extension must submit the $120 filing fee or a fee waiver request with the Form I-765; those who do not need work authorization must still submit Form I-765, but without the fee. Applicants who previously registered for TPS and were fingerprinted do not need to be refingerprinted and do not need to submit the $50 fingerprinting fee. Prior registrants who were not previously fingerprinted because they were under 15 years of age but who now must be fingerprinted must also pay this fee.

In order to benefit from the extension, individuals who applied for TPS under the current program but who have not yet received approval of their application still must apply for the extension within the 60-day registration period.

Late initial registration is also available under the extension. In order to apply, an applicant must:

be a national of El Salvador, or a person with no nationality who last habitually resided in El Salvador;
have been continuously physically present in the U.S. since Mar. 9, 2001;
have continuously resided in the U.S. since Feb. 13, 2001; and
be admissible as an immigrant, except as otherwise provided under Immigration and Nationality Act section 244(c)(2)(A), and not ineligible under INA section 244(c)(2)(B).

Applicants for late initial registration must also be able to show that during the initial registration period, between Mar. 9, 2001, and Sep. 9, 2002, they:

were a nonimmigrant or had been granted voluntary departure status or any relief from removal;
had an application for change of status, adjustment of status, asylum, voluntary departure, or any relief from removal pending or subject to further review or appeal;
were a parolee or had a request for reparole pending; or
were the spouse or child of an individual currently eligible to be a TPS registrant.

The notice also announces the automatic extension of the employment authorization documents of Salvadorans who received EADS under the TPS program. The reason for this extension is that the INS recognizes that many reregistrants will not receive new EADs until after their current ones have expired, particularly since the initial registration period has not yet expired. The extension applies to Salvadorans who currently hold EADs that expire on Sept. 9, 2002, and have the notation "A-12" or "C-19" (under "Category" for Form I-766 EADs) or "274a.12(a)(12)" or "274a.12(c)(19)" (under "Provision of Law" for Form I-688B EADs). Such cards are automatically valid now until Mar. 9, 2003. However, the individuals who benefit from this extension still must reregister for TPS between Sept. 9 and Nov. 12, 2002, in order to have employment authorization throughout the extended TPS period.

67 Fed. Reg. 46,000-03 (Jul. 11, 2002).