The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that it is expanding access to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Sudan and South Sudan, allowing more immigrants from those nations who are already present in the United States to apply for work authorization and protection from deportation.
DHS newly designated Sudan and extended and re-designated South Sudan for 18 months due to a series of natural disasters and widespread unrest and armed conflict which have created an ongoing humanitarian disaster in both nations. Both countries have experienced severe food and clean water shortages related to unprecedented flooding in the past three years, as well as ongoing mass internal displacement. Before today, a person from South Sudan would have had to be in the United States since 2016 to qualify for TPS, and since 2013 if the person is from Sudan.
To be eligible for the new TPS designations, Sudanese and South Sudanese immigrants must already have been in the U.S. on March 1, 2022. TPS is designated for a country by the Secretary of DHS, and can be granted to eligible immigrants who either cannot return safely to their home country or whose country cannot adequately handle their return.
There are an estimated 700 Sudanese people with TPS currently, and today’s designation will allow an additional 2,390 to apply. The redesignation will allow an additional 235 South Sudanese nationals to apply for TPS in addition to the 97 who have it now. Both designations will run for 18 months.
DHS posted the notice of TPS designation for South Sudan in the Federal Register on March 2, 2022. A separate notice of TPS designation for Sudan is expected in the coming days.