TPS Is Not A Long-Term Plan: An Immigration Attorney Explains The Risks Of Waiting
Temporary Protected Status has shielded hundreds of thousands of immigrants for decades, but relying on it indefinitely, attorneys warn, is one of the most common and costly mistakes a noncitizen can make.
Author:K. N.Jul 10, 20260 Shares66 Views
Temporary Protected Status has shielded hundreds of thousands of immigrants for decades, but relying on it indefinitely, attorneys warn, is one of the most common and costly mistakes a noncitizen can make.
The name itself contains the answer. Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, was never designed to be a pathway to permanence. The letter "T" stands for temporary, and according to immigration attorneys who work with TPS holders daily, that distinction carries life-altering consequences for immigrants who treat the status as something more than it is.
In a recent conversation with Law News Network, Mikhail Arsentiev, an immigration attorney at Skylex, with extensive experience representing TPS holders, outlined what the status actually provides, what it does not, and why the most common mistake holders make is simply waiting.
What TPS Actually Is, And What It Is Not
TPS is a temporary immigration benefit granted by the Department of Homeland Security to nationals of countries experiencing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. The State Department, which oversees all U.S. embassies worldwide, first recommends TPS designation for a given country; DHS then formally grants it.
The status allows holders to live and work legally in the United States for a defined period, typically one to two years, after which it must be renewed. Historically, administrations across party lines have extended TPS for some countries far beyond what its architects intended. Nepal received TPS after its 2015 earthquake and saw it renewed repeatedly. Honduras and Nicaragua gained TPS designations following Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and held them for more than two decades. El Salvador has been covered since the early 2000s. Somalia has maintained TPS for decades.
"Democratic administrations under Clinton, Obama, and Biden consistently extended existing programs and added new countries," Arsentiev noted. "They also expanded eligibility to include people who arrived after the original cutoff dates."
But no matter how many times it has been renewed, TPS carries no immigration benefit that accumulates over time. Unlike systems in many European countries, where five or more years of legal residence can open a path to permanent residency, the United States does not operate that way. Twenty years of TPS confers no advantage in a green card application. The two tracks are legally separate.
The Risk Is Not If, It's When
The fundamental legal exposure for TPS holders is straightforward: the status will end. By statute, TPS is terminated when the State Department concludes that the conditions that prompted it, conflict, disaster, instability, have been resolved or sufficiently mitigated. At that point, the government's position is that nationals of the affected country can safely return home.
"When TPS ends, anyone who has not secured another immigration status will have nothing," Mikhail Arsentiev said. "They will either return to their home country or enter deportation proceedings, where a removal order may be entered against them."
Arsentievalso flagged a behavior pattern that compounds the risk: people whose TPS has already expired but who have filed for renewal often treat the pending application as a reason to delay other planning. "Every moment that a person has authorized presence in the United States, even while a TPS renewal is pending, should be used to explore long-term options. Waiting for the approval before you start thinking is a mistake I see repeatedly."
Ukraine And The August 2023 Cutoff
Ukrainian nationals represent one of the largest and most recent TPS populations in the United States. The current registration cutoff, August 2023, means that Ukrainians who arrived in the country after that date are not currently eligible to apply. Mikhail Arsentiev of Skylex said this cutoff is likely to shift.
"Even under the current administration, I believe the Ukraine TPS program should continue and that the cutoff date should be extended to cover those who arrived after August 2023," the attorney said. "The situation that prompted TPS has not changed."
Still, Arsentievwas direct about what that continuation should not mean for those it covers: TPS is a bridge, not a destination.
The Pathways Most TPS Holders Don't Know Exist
One of the most consequential points Arsentiev raised was about the gap between what TPS holders believe is possible and what immigration law actually provides.
"The average long-term immigrant, someone who has been here for 20 years and means well, typically knows two options: asylum, which requires showing persecution in your home country, and marriage to a U.S. citizen," Arsentiev said. "They don't know about the roughly 40 different visa categories a person might qualify for, or the more than 17 paths to a green card."
Employment-based immigration is among the most underutilized by TPS holders. The EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and EB-4 categories cover a broad range of workers, from individuals with extraordinary ability or advanced degrees to skilled and unskilled labor. Visa categories such as H-1B for specialty occupations, E-2 for investors, and R-1 for religious workers are additional routes thatArsentiev said are frequently overlooked.
"If someone is working for a U.S. employer, there is a real possibility they can obtain a green card through that employer," Arsentiev said. "Family-based immigration is another avenue. The issue is that people do not know what exists, and they trust the wrong sources."
Why People Miss Their Window
Immigration law in the United States is, by nearly any measure, among the most complex bodies of law in the world. Arsentiev described a regulatory framework spanning roughly 80,000 pages of statutory text administered by more than five separate federal agencies, layered with binding decisions from immigration judges and federal courts.
In that environment, informal advice, even from well-intentioned people with long U.S. residency,, carries serious risk. "A neighbor who has lived here for 20 years cannot properly assess your situation,"Arsentiev said. "They do not know immigration law. They know their own experience, and they project that onto yours."
The practical consequence, Arsentiev said, is that people act on incomplete information, or take no action at all, until it is too late to correct course. The window for pursuing certain immigration benefits can close based on changes in a person's status, their employer's situation, or shifts in policy. Some opportunities, once missed, cannot be recovered.
K. N.
Author
Latest Articles
Popular Articles