TPS Syria Extended and Redesignated for 18 Months; EADs Automatically Extended Through Sept. 30, 2023

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas extended and redesignated Syria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) (PDF) for Syria for 18 months, from Oct. 1, 2022, through March 31, 2024.  

Individuals with a pending or approved TPS application may qualify for certain public benefits and REAL ID driver's licenses and identification cards.  When applying for a Federal, state, or local government benefit, individuals will need to show a document proving they applied for or are beneficiaries of TPS for Syria.  They may provide a TPS Employment Authorization Document (EAD) with a category code of A12 or C19, or a copy of their Form I-797, Notice of Action, for a current Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status.

Given the time frames for processing TPS re-registration applications, USCIS has automatically extended the validity of certain EADs issued under the prior TPS designation for Syria (those with a "Card Expires" date of Sept. 30, 2022; March 31, 2021; Sept. 30, 2019; or March 31, 2018) through Sept. 30, 2023.  TPS for Syria applicants or beneficiaries presenting an auto-extended EAD do not need to show any other document, such as a Form I-797 Notice of Action, to prove that they qualify for the EAD auto-extension.

SAVE will be able to verify an individual's TPS and employment authorization or pending TPS application (and any employment authorization) using information from any documents (including any auto-extended EAD) noted above.  In some instances, the benefit-granting agency may need to institute additional verification to do so.

For more information regarding Syria's TPS designation and redesignation, please refer to 87 FR 46982, dated Aug. 1, 2022.

For up-to-date information, please check uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status or call the USCIS TPS Hotline at 202-272-1533. (Please note that this is not a toll-free number.)