18-Month Extension and Re-designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status
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Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today announced the re-designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and extended the country’s current TPS designation for 18 months—through Jan. 22, 2013.
Secretary Napolitano first announced that she was designating Haiti for TPS on Jan. 15, 2010, after major earthquakes devastated the country. Following consultations with other federal agencies, Secretary Napolitano has determined that current conditions in Haiti support extending the designation period for current TPS beneficiaries and re-designating Haiti for TPS in order to re-establish the continuous residence date as Jan. 12, 2011.
Under the 2010 designation, TPS applicants needed to show that they had continuously resided in the United States since Jan. 12, 2010. Under the new re-designation, eligible individuals who arrived up to one year after the earthquake in Haiti may now apply for TPS. Many of these individuals were authorized to enter the United States immediately after the earthquake on temporary visas, humanitarian parole and other measures.
Later this week, USCIS will post a Federal Register notice and provide additional guidance on:
- How to register or re-register for TPS;
- What individuals with pending TPS applications should do; and
- When to begin filing TPS applications.
Please continue to visit www.uscis.gov or call 1-800-375-5283 to obtain the latest information about filing for TPS and to learn more about the TPS application process.