Seven Temporary Protected Status (TPS) countries have active deadlines — four of them expire this week. Syria's court-ordered Employment Authorization Document (EAD) extension expires March 13. Somalia terminates March 17 with no court protection. Burma and Haiti both expire March 15. Ethiopia's court order runs through April 8. South Sudan through April 10. Yemen's TPS terminates May 4. If you have employees with TPS-based work authorization (sometimes called a TPS work permit) from any of these countries, you need to act now.
On March 12, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued updated I-9 and E-Verify guidance for four TPS countries at once — Syria, Burma, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. This is unusual. It happened because the current administration has been moving to terminate TPS for multiple countries simultaneously, and federal courts have blocked several of those terminations with temporary stays. Those court orders are now expiring in a cluster — three this week alone — forcing USCIS to publish updated employer instructions for all of them at the same time.
The deadlines themselves are not new. What changed today is that USCIS confirmed the court-ordered dates are still in effect, issued formal I-9 and E-Verify instructions for each country, and signaled that employers need to prepare for reverification if the courts don't extend these stays again.
This guide covers every TPS country with an active or pending deadline, with the exact Form I-9 and E-Verify instructions for each. We update this page as court orders and USCIS guidance change. Bookmark this page and check back regularly.
Last updated: March 12, 2026.
| Country | Status | Current EAD Deadline | Action Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syria | Court-ordered stay | March 13, 2026 | Immediate — deadline is tomorrow |
| Burma | Court-ordered postponement | March 15, 2026 | Immediate — deadline is Saturday |
| Haiti | Court-ordered stay | March 15, 2026 | Immediate — deadline is Saturday |
| Ethiopia | Court-ordered stay | April 8, 2026 | Prepare — deadline in 4 weeks |
| South Sudan | Court-ordered stay | April 10, 2026 | Prepare — deadline in 4 weeks |
| Somalia | Terminating (no court stay) | March 17, 2026 | Immediate — deadline is Monday |
| Yemen | Terminating (no court stay) | May 4, 2026 | Prepare now — 60-day wind-down |
Important: All of these situations are fluid. Court orders can be extended, reversed, or modified at any time. Check the USCIS TPS page regularly and monitor this page for updates.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated TPS for Syria effective November 21, 2025. On November 19, 2025 — two days before termination — the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an order staying the termination. (Dahlia Doe v. Noem, 25-cv-8686, S.D.N.Y.)
The court-ordered EAD extension expires March 13, 2026. As of this writing, there is no announcement of a further extension. Employers with Syrian TPS workers should prepare for reverification.
Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) issued under Syria's TPS designation with any of these original expiration dates are extended per court order:
These instructions come directly from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) guidance issued March 12, 2026:
When completing a case in E-Verify, enter the expiration date of "March 13, 2026" from the Form I-9.
If the court extends the stay, USCIS will publish updated I-9 and E-Verify instructions with a new date. If the stay is not extended, Syria TPS-based EADs will expire and affected employees will need to present a new basis for work authorization. Monitor the USCIS TPS Syria page daily this week.
DHS terminated TPS for Burma effective January 26, 2026. On January 23, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued an order postponing the termination. (Aung DOE et al. v. Noem et al., No. 25-cv-15483, N.D. Ill.)
The court-ordered EAD extension expires March 15, 2026.
EADs issued under Burma's TPS designation with any of these original expiration dates are extended per court order:
These instructions come directly from USCIS guidance issued March 12, 2026:
When completing a case in E-Verify, enter the expiration date of "March 15, 2026" from the Form I-9.
If you have employees from Syria, Somalia, Burma, or Haiti, today is the day to pull your I-9 records and identify who's affected. Syria's deadline is tomorrow. Burma and Haiti expire Saturday. Somalia terminates Monday. Waiting until the last day creates reverification backlogs and increases the risk of errors — or worse, missed deadlines that put your organization out of compliance.
i9 Intelligence clients can use the Expiring Documents dashboard to identify affected employees automatically. If you're managing I-9s on paper or spreadsheets, our compliance team can help you sort through your records quickly.
Schedule a Free Compliance Call — Talk to our team about your TPS exposure before these deadlines hit.
Haiti's TPS was set to expire on February 3, 2026. On February 2, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order staying the termination. (Miot et al. v. Trump et al., No. 25-cv-02471-ACR, D.D.C.)
Haitian TPS EADs are extended through March 15, 2026 per court order.
EADs issued under Haiti's TPS designation with any of the following original expiration dates are extended per court order:
Enter the expiration date of "March 15, 2026" from the Form I-9.
For the full employer guide on Haiti TPS — including step-by-step instructions for updating existing I-9s — see our detailed article: Haiti TPS Court Stay: What Employers Must Do.
DHS terminated TPS for Ethiopia effective February 13, 2026. On January 30, 2026, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts issued an order staying the termination. (African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al., No. 26-cv-10278-BEM, D. Mass.)
The court-ordered EAD extension runs through April 8, 2026. This gives employers more lead time than the Syria, Burma, and Haiti deadlines — but the same preparation steps apply.
EADs issued under Ethiopia's TPS designation with either of these original expiration dates are extended per court order:
These instructions come directly from USCIS guidance issued March 12, 2026:
When completing a case in E-Verify, enter the expiration date of "April 8, 2026" from the Form I-9.
DHS terminated TPS for South Sudan effective January 5, 2026. On December 30, 2025, the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts issued an order staying the termination. (African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al., No. 25-cv-13939-PBS, D. Mass.)
The court-ordered EAD extension runs through April 10, 2026.
EADs issued under South Sudan's TPS designation with any of these original expiration dates are extended per court order:
These instructions come directly from USCIS guidance issued March 12, 2026:
When completing a case in E-Verify, enter the expiration date of "April 10, 2026" from the Form I-9.
Like Yemen, Somalia's TPS termination is not blocked by a court order. DHS terminated TPS for Somalia effective March 17, 2026. No federal court has issued a stay. Work authorization for approximately 1,100 Somalia TPS beneficiaries ends at 11:59 PM on March 17, 2026.
EADs issued under Somalia's TPS designation with category code A12 or C19 (listed in the "Category" field on the front of the EAD card). These EADs remain valid through March 17, 2026, regardless of the date printed on the card.
For more details on Somalia TPS, visit the USCIS TPS Somalia page.
Like Somalia, Yemen's TPS termination is not blocked by a court order. DHS announced the termination on February 13, 2026. The Federal Register notice was published March 3, 2026 (FR 2026-04179), setting the effective termination date as May 4, 2026.
Employers have a 60-day wind-down period. Yemen TPS-based EADs remain valid through May 4, 2026, regardless of the date printed on the card.
Yemen TPS EADs with these original expiration dates:
For the full step-by-step employer guide, see: Yemen TPS Termination: What Employers Need to Do.
If this feels chaotic, that's because it is. Here's what's happening across TPS countries:
This rolling pattern means employers cannot set a reverification date and forget it. Each court order extension requires updating the I-9 and E-Verify records again. For companies with employees across multiple TPS countries, this creates a constant compliance monitoring burden. For context on the broader enforcement environment driving these changes, see our ICE Worksite Enforcement Tracker.
"TPS court orders are creating a reverification treadmill for employers. Every time a court extends a deadline by 30 or 60 days, every affected I-9 needs to be touched again. Most employers don't have the systems or bandwidth to track this — and one missed update can turn into a violation," says Patricia, Director of Compliance at i9 Intelligence.
Regardless of which TPS country is involved, the Form I-9 process follows the same pattern when a court order extends EAD validity:
Note for electronic I-9 systems (practitioner guidance, not direct USCIS instruction): Many electronic I-9 platforms do not allow free text like "as per court order" in the Section 1 expiration date field. If your system requires a date, enter the court-ordered expiration date (e.g., March 13, 2026 for Syria) in Section 1 instead, and note the court order in the Additional Information box in Section 2. The key is that the correct expiration date is recorded and the court order is documented. Check with your I-9 software provider for system-specific guidance.
When completing a case in E-Verify, enter the specific expiration date provided by USCIS for that country. E-Verify is only used for new hires, not for reverification of existing employees.
With three TPS deadlines hitting this week, here is the priority checklist:
When TPS deadlines cluster like this, managing reverifications across multiple countries becomes a full-time job. i9 Intelligence tracks expiring documents automatically and our compliance team has 27+ years of experience navigating exactly these situations.
Schedule a Free Compliance Call — Our team will help you identify affected employees and walk you through the reverification process for each country.
Phone: (713) 668-6200 (Mon–Fri, 8 AM – 5 PM CT)
Email: support@i-9intelligence.com
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Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a designation that allows nationals of certain countries to live and work in the United States when conditions in their home country — armed conflict, natural disaster, or other extraordinary circumstances — make it unsafe to return. TPS beneficiaries receive Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) that employers must accept as valid List A documents for Form I-9 purposes. For a full explanation, see our guide: What Is Temporary Protected Status?
You must reverify — not automatically terminate. When a TPS-based EAD expires, ask the employee to present a new document showing continued work authorization. If they present valid documentation, record it in Supplement B and continue employment. If they cannot present new authorization by the expiration date, you cannot continue to employ them. Never terminate early based on TPS status or national origin — that violates anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA Section 274B).
If a court extends the stay and USCIS publishes a new date, you'll need to update the I-9 again with the new expiration date. Yes, this means touching the same records multiple times. This is the reality of the current court-order cycle.
No. E-Verify is only used for new hires. When reverifying an existing employee due to a TPS expiration, complete Supplement B on the Form I-9. Do not create a new E-Verify case.
Several other countries have active or recently modified TPS designations, including El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela. Check the USCIS TPS page for the current status of each country's designation and any applicable I-9 instructions.
