Legislative lowdown: USCIS extends work permits for TPS holders from Haiti, Syria

The Trump administration recently extended work permits for thousands of immigrants set to lose their visas as a result of a Supreme Court decision issued on June 25.

That decision paved the way for the Department of Homeland Security to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for foreign nationals from Haiti and Syria. While lower courts had ruled in favor of immigrants who sued DHS over its decision to end TPS, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration.

The June 25 decision is expected to have a wide-ranging impact not only on Haitian and Syrian nationals who’d been living and working legally in the US under TPS, but also immigrants from other TPS countries the Trump administration targeted, HR Brew previously reported.

While the DHS initially set a July 1 expiration date for Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) that had allowed TPS holders from affected countries to work, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has now extended those deadlines twice.

As of July 10, work authorization for Haitian nationals with TPS is set to end on July 24. TPS holders from Ethiopia, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, ​South Sudan, and Myanmar will see their work permits expire on July 17.

USCIS said it granted these extensions while it waits on lower courts to align with the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the Trump administration to end TPS. Cases challenging TPS terminations for five other countries had been put on pause while district judges awaited a decision from the high court, PBS News reported.

The dates could shift again, law firm Littler noted, so employers should stay in contact with their immigration attorneys to ensure they’re up-to-date on EAD expiration dates.

Despite the fact that these extensions give TPS holders additional time to work legally in the US, some employers had already fired workers by the time USCIS announced the new deadline, the New York Times reported. Employers in industries such as healthcare, hospitality, and aging services could see a particularly acute impact from the TPS terminations.

Trump’s push to end TPS is part of a broader movement to crack down on immigration that has affected businesses across the US. Roughly 1.2 million immigrants exited the US labor force between January and July 2025, according to Census Bureau data.