Providing Developments & Insight on Trending Topics in Employment Law

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Providing Developments &amp; Insight on Trending Topics in Employment Law

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Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protection for Venezuelan citizens under the 2023 designation will not be extended beyond the current expiration of April 2, 2025.

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There is a strong likelihood of legal challenges to this decision, which comes after the secretary of homeland security vacated an extension of TPS that was put in place by the prior administration.

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On Feb. 1, 2025, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in Venezuela no longer support the 2023 designation of Venezuela for TPS. This means that Venezuelans physically present in the U.S. under the 2023 TPS designation will no longer be able to work in the U.S. after April 2, 2025. Due to the vacating of a prior extension and legal action against terminations of TPS under the prior Trump administration, we expect that the vacating of the extension and the termination of TPS will likely face legal challenges.

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TPS was enacted as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It provides protection from deportation and work authorization for nationals of designated countries to which the secretary of homeland security has determined it is unsafe for them to return due to an ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions in the foreign state preventing its nationals from returning safely. Countries that are currently designated for TPS include Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.

Venezuela currently has two separate TPS designations: one from 2021 and one from 2023. <strong>This action only affects the 2023 designation of TPS and not the initial designation from 2021. </strong>The secretary of homeland security will make a separate determination, likely in early July, regarding the 2021 Venezuela TPS designation because that designation currently expires on Sept. 10, 2025.

The Department of Homeland Security posted the following guidance regarding I-9s for beneficiaries of the 2021 and 2023 Venezuela TPS designations:

EADs with a Category Code of A12 or C19 and a Card Expires date of March 10, 2024, or Sept. 9, 2022, associated with the 2021 TPS designation of Venezuela expire on March 10, 2025. Employers must reverify 2021 TPS Venezuela beneficiaries who presented these EADs before they start work on March 11, 2025. Beneficiaries of the 2023 TPS Venezuela designation who presented an EAD with a Category Code of A12 or C19 and an expiration date of April 2, 2025, must be reverified before they start work on April 3, 2025.

Employers that are aware of potentially affected employees should determine whether any employer-sponsored work authorization options might be available for such employees. This is especially urgent considering that the upcoming H-1B cap registration filing window will be open March 7-24, 2025.

Please contact the authors of this blog post or your BakerHostetler attorney contact if you have any questions.

Department of Homeland Security Terminates 2023 Designation of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela