Some Salvadorans Here Can Breathe a (Temporary) Sigh of Relief


If you're a Salvadoran whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is about to expire, you're in luck.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services announced today that the Department of Homeland Security will
extend the TPS for eligible nationals from the
current Sept. 9, 2010, date through the new expiration date of
March
9, 2012.

Secretary of
Homeland Security Janet Napolitano explains her reason after the jump–in triplicate!
]


July 9, 2010

18-Month Extension of Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador
Automatic 6-Month Extension for Employment Authorization Documents Included

WASHINGTON–U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS)
announced today that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will
extend
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of El Salvador
from the
current expiration of Sept. 9, 2010, through the new expiration date of
March
9, 2012. During the past year, DHS and the Department of State have
reviewed
the conditions in El
Salvador. Based on this review, Secretary of
Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has determined that an 18-month
extension is
warranted because the conditions that prompted the 2001 TPS designation
of El Salvador following a series of severe
earthquakes persist and temporarily prevent El Salvador from adequately
handling the return of its nationals.

Under the extension,
individuals who have been granted TPS are eligible to re-register and
maintain
their status for an additional 18 months. There are approximately
217,000
nationals of El Salvador
(and people having no nationality who last habitually resided in El
Salvador)
who may be eligible for re-registration. TPS does not apply to
Salvadoran nationals
who first entered the United
States after Feb. 13, 2001.

To maintain TPS status,
Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries must re-register during the re-registration
period
from July 9 until Sept. 7, 2010. It is important to re-register as soon
as the
re-registration period opens to allow sufficient time for USCIS to
complete all
the routine background checks and further application processing.
Applications
from Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries will not be accepted before July 9.

USCIS will issue a new
Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to eligible TPS beneficiaries
who
timely re-register and apply for EADs. However, USCIS will automatically
extend
the validity of existing EADs held by Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries for
six
months, through March 9, 2011. This automatic extension will allow
sufficient
time for eligible TPS beneficiaries to re-register and receive an EAD
without
any lapse in employment authorization. The
Federal
Register explains how TPS beneficiaries and their employers may determine which
EADs are
automatically extended.

TPS
beneficiaries must submit Form I-821, Application for Temporary
Protected
Status, to re-register.

Applicants
seeking an extension of employment authorization must file Form I-765,
Application for Employment Authorization, with the required fee. If an
individual is only seeking to re-register for TPS, the applicant must
still
file Form I-765 for data-gathering purposes; the filing fee is not
required.

Re-registrants age 14 and
older must submit the biometric fee. Applicants who are able to
demonstrate an
inability to pay may request a fee waiver for the application, biometric
service fees or both. Failure to submit the required application and
biometric
fees or a properly documented fee waiver request will result in the
rejection
of the re-registration application.

For
information on fee waivers, visit the Fee Waiver Guidance Web page at
www.uscis.gov.

Further details on the
extension of TPS for El
Salvador, including the application
requirements and procedures, are available at www.uscis.gov
and in the
Federal Register.

TPS forms are
available online or by calling the
toll-free USCIS Forms line, 1-800-870-3676. For additional information, applicants may also contact the USCIS
National
Customer Service
Center toll-free number,
1-800-375-5283.

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