Top 10 Questions

TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, allows people from certain countries to live and work in the United States during a humanitarian crisis in their home countries.

Here are some reasons the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) can authorize TPS for countries:

• Armed conflict, such as civil war, threatening people’s safety
• Environmental disasters such as a hurricane or earthquake that disrupts living conditions
• Extraordinary and temporary conditions in the country that prevent the safe return of the population

The Secretary of DHS can authorize TPS for 6, 12, or 18 months at a time. This authorization can be extended or terminated.

As of March 31, 2024, there were an estimated 863,880 people with TPS living in the United States.

People with TPS are essential workers who have lived and worked in the U.S. for years and even decades. Many people with TPS work in construction, the hotel and restaurant industry, landscaping and childcare. Many also operate their businesses. Hundreds of thousands TPS holders live in homes that they own and pay mortgages to U.S. banks.

Many TPS recipients are deeply embedded in American families and communities. For example, over 900,000 U.S. citizens live in households with at least one person currently eligible for TPS, including more than 400,000 U.S. citizen children.

• Afghanistan
• Cameroon
• El Salvador
• Ethiopia
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Lebanon
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• Nikaragua
• Somalia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Syria
• Ukraine
• Venezuela
• Yemen

• Arrived in the U.S. and continued to live in the U.S. since a specific date;
• Filed an application with a filing fee and passed security and criminal checks.

According to an April 2017 study, ending TPS would cause a reduction of $45.2 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a $6.9 billion reduction in Social Security and Medicare contributions over the next decade. Ending TPS would also cause employers to face approximately $967 million in the turnover costs of replacing and training laid off TPS holders.

TPS offers humanitarian protection to people unable to return to their home countries due to natural disasters, war and other extraordinary situations. Providing this protection is a moral imperative. While preserving TPS brings economic benefits to the U.S., it would also allow American families to stay together — U.S. citizen children would remain with their parents and grandparents.