On January 18, 2018, USCIS announced the opening of the re-registration period for Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The re-registration period began January 18, 2018, and ends on March 19, 2018. Eligible Haitians who timely re-register for TPS and apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) will be issued EADs with an expiration date of July 22, 2019. In the meantime, Haitian TPS beneficiaries with EADs showing a January 22, 2018 expiration date will receive an automatic extension of their EADs for an additional 180 days, that is, through July 21, 2018.
AILA received reports from members with Haitian clients whose Form I-821 and related I-765 had not yet been adjudicated, although they were timely filed during the May 24, 2017 – July 22, 2017 re-registration period. Specifically, these applicants’ EADs expired July 22, 2017, but their employment authorization was automatically extended through January 18, 2018. Though USCIS issued guidance yesterday in the Federal Register regarding individuals with employment authorization cards expiring on January 22, 2018, it was unclear as to whether Haitian beneficiaries with an EAD that expired on July 22, 2017, but whose applications had not yet been adjudicated, would be covered to legally work.
The January 18 announcement confirmed that applicants with an EAD expiration of July 22, 2017 who had unadjudicated, but timely filed I-821s and I-765s, would be covered by the 180-day automatic extension of their employment authorization documents, through July 21, 2018. Applicants have been instructed to show their employers their EADs with the July 22, 2017 expiration date, their I-765 renewal application receipt notice dated on or after May 24, 2017, as well as a copy of USCIS’s announcement, as evidence of employment authorization. Additionally, pursuant to the Federal Register Notice, individuals whose TPS and EAD applications were still pending as of January 18, 2018 will not be required to file a new application during this new re-registration period. Instead, once approved, TPS will be granted to Haitian applicants through July 22, 2019, and renewed EADs will also be valid through that same date.
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This information has been obtained from AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) and based on recent USCIS publications.