Re-Registration Period Now Open for Aliens with TPS under Somalia’s Designation

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that current beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under Somalia’s designation who want to maintain their status through Sept. 17, 2021, must re-register between March 11, 2020 and May 11, 2020.

Re-registration procedures, including how to renew employment authorization documents (EADs), have been published in the Federal Register and are available at uscis.gov/tps.

All applicants must submit Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status. Applicants may also request an EAD by submitting Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, when they file Form I-821 or separately at a later date. Like all USCIS forms, both forms are free for download from the USCIS website at uscis.gov/forms.

USCIS will issue new EADs with a Sept. 17, 2021, expiration date to eligible beneficiaries under Somalia’s TPS designation who timely re-register and apply for an EAD. Given the time frame for processing TPS re-registration applications, USCIS recognizes that not all re-registrants will receive a new EAD before their current EAD expires on March 17, 2020. Accordingly, the validity of those EADs is automatically extended for 180 days, through Sept. 13, 2020.

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf decided that the statutory conditions supporting Somalia’s TPS designation on the basis of ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions continue to exist and the designation should be extended for 18 months. Acting Secretary Wolf made his decision after reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. government agencies. As a result, Somalia’s TPS designation is extended through Sept. 17, 2021.