Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a protection that gives nationals of certain countries temporary relief from removal and work authorization in the US. This guide covers how TPS works from the officer's perspective: who qualifies, how to apply and re-register, what rights it gives, how it interacts with the green card, and, because country designations change constantly, where to verify the current situation. Let us state one point clearly at the outset: TPS is only for nationals of countries the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has officially designated, and Turkey has never been on that list; so Turkish nationality alone does not confer TPS. You can see the current list of designated countries on the USCIS TPS page. We summarize the attorney support on our TPS attorney service. It is general information, not legal advice.
What Is TPS and Who Is It For?
TPS is grounded in Section 244 of the immigration law, and the DHS Secretary designates a country when armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions make a safe return impossible. A designation is made for periods of six to eighteen months and is extended or terminated by a notice published in the Federal Register. The status is open to nationals of the designated country and to stateless persons who last habitually resided there. Because eligibility is tied to nationality, if your country is not on the list, TPS is not an option; but other protection routes may exist. Turkish-speaking applicants are often nationals of a designated country or members of a mixed-status family; we assess your situation against that reality.
Eligibility: Country Tie, Residence, and Bars
TPS requires several elements together. You must be a national of the designated country or a stateless person who last habitually resided there. Second, you must have been continuously physically present in the US since your country's most recent designation date; in addition, you are expected to meet the continuous-residence requirement, which is set at an earlier date. Brief, casual, and innocent departures do not break these periods. Third, you must apply on time during the initial registration period or fall within a late-initial-registration exception. You can review the regulatory framework in 8 CFR Part 244. There are also bars that end eligibility: a conviction of a felony, or of two or more misdemeanors committed in the US, or being a persecutor or falling under security bars, cuts off the application. Some grounds of inadmissibility can be waived on humanitarian grounds, but the security and criminal bars cannot.
Application and Re-Registration: I-821, I-765, and the Federal Register
The application is made with Form I-821; if you want work authorization, Form I-765 is filed at the same time or later. Each country's eligibility dates, filing window, and fees are set in the Federal Register notice published for that country; a fee waiver can be requested. Once TPS is granted, continuity depends on re-registering on time during each re-registration period; missing the window without good cause can end the status. USCIS often auto-extends existing work permits through a Federal Register notice to bridge processing delays. So for both the application and re-registration, you must track the correct dates from your country's current notice.
The Rights TPS Gives and Its Limits
TPS gives two core rights: protection from removal while the status lasts, and work authorization. The work permit is issued under one category when TPS is approved and under another while the application is still pending and you are found prima facie eligible. A law that took effect in 2025 (H.R.1) capped the validity of TPS-based work permits at one year or the duration of TPS, whichever is shorter, so the permit must be renewed early. The limits of TPS are also clear: it is not a green card and does not by itself open a path to permanent residence; it does not pass automatically to family members, each person applies separately; and it is temporary, valid only as long as your country's designation lasts. This temporary and fragile nature makes it important to weigh parallel routes early.
Travel Abroad: Travel Authorization and the Risk of an Unauthorized Departure
A TPS holder can travel abroad by obtaining travel authorization from DHS before leaving; the request is made with Form I-131 and the authorization functions as an advance parole document. Travel on prior authorization preserves your continuous physical presence. An unauthorized departure, by contrast, carries serious risk: it can jeopardize your status and your re-entry, trigger an entry bar based on past unlawful presence, or activate an old removal order. The decision to travel should always be assessed individually before leaving. Authorized travel can also have an indirect effect on a green card application, which we cover in the next section.
TPS and the Green Card: The Sanchez Ruling and the Effect of Authorized Travel
TPS is not by itself a path to a green card. To get a green card from within the US through adjustment of status, the law requires that the person have been "inspected and admitted or paroled." In Sanchez v. Mayorkas (2021), the Supreme Court held unanimously that receiving TPS does not count as an "admission" in this sense; TPS gives you lawful status for a limited purpose, but it does not turn an entry without inspection into an admission. The practical result is this: someone who entered with inspection on a visa and later received TPS can move to a green card if they have a qualifying independent basis (most often an I-130 petition for the spouse, parent, or child under 21 of a US citizen). Someone who entered without inspection generally cannot; but leaving and re-entering on travel authorization (advance parole) can create a "parole" entry and, together with a separate qualifying basis, can open the door. This route carries risk and must be assessed case by case.
Country Designations Change: How to Verify the Current Situation
The most important fact about TPS is that country designations are not fixed. In 2025 and 2026 the administration moved to terminate or vacate the designations of many countries, and those decisions became the subject of heavy litigation. The Supreme Court's 2026 decision in Mullin v. Doe held that a decision to terminate a designation is largely beyond judicial review, narrowing the court route; the program's continuation now depends largely on the Executive's discretion. In this picture, do not read any country's status from this page as fixed information; a situation described here can change within weeks. For your own country, verify three things from live sources: whether the designation is currently in effect, terminated, or under a court order; the current auto-extension end date of your work permit; and whether there is an upcoming notice or court date. Because the status is fragile, weighing parallel routes such as asylum, adjustment, or another visa early is often the wisest step.
Common Mistakes and Points to Watch
The most common mistakes in TPS gather at a few points. The first is missing the re-registration window; the status continues only with timely re-registration each period. The second is renewing the work permit late, ignoring its new one-year validity limit. The third is leaving the US without travel authorization, risking the status and re-entry. The fourth is treating TPS as a permanent solution and weighing parallel routes too late; because the status is fragile, alternatives should be considered early. There is also a point that matters for employers: because the general automatic extension was removed, the date in each country's own Federal Register notice must be verified separately for TPS work permits.
Assess Your TPS File With Yellow Law Group
In TPS, the right decision is often not only your status today, but which options remain to you when the status changes. Yellow Law Group, from its headquarters in Plano (Texas) and offices in Chicago (Illinois), Irvine (California), Alpharetta (Georgia), and Fairfield (New Jersey), assesses your eligibility, manages the initial application and re-registration, handles the work-permit and travel-authorization filings, reviews your eligibility to move to a green card, and, when the status becomes fragile, weighs parallel options such as humanitarian parole and other protection routes together. We move the process in line with current developments, in Turkish and English. You can review our attorneys on our team page and schedule a free initial consultation through our contact page.
