- Federal court orders have paused planned TPS terminations for six countries including Haiti and Syria.
- Employers must use updated country-specific dates for Form I-9 and E-Verify compliance.
- The Supreme Court will hear arguments in April with a final decision expected by July 2026.
(UNITED STATES) Federal court orders have paused planned TPS terminations for Burma, Ethiopia, Haiti, South Sudan, Somalia, and Syria, and that pause keeps work authorization in place under updated USCIS and E-Verify rules. For workers and employers, the practical result is direct: use the latest court-backed dates for Form I-9 and E-Verify, even if an older Employment Authorization Document shows an earlier expiration date.
That change matters now because many people first saw termination announcements with 2025 or 2026 end dates and assumed work permission would stop on those dates. It has not. Court intervention changed the legal posture, and employers who rely on old notices risk rejecting valid documents, entering the wrong date in I-9 records, or creating mismatches in E-Verify.
Court orders now control the TPS timeline
The original termination announcements still exist. They have not vanished from the record. But they are temporarily blocked from taking effect while litigation continues in federal courts in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia.
The planned end dates were country specific. Syria had a planned end date of November 21, 2025. South Sudan was set for January 5, 2026. Burma was set for January 26, 2026. Haiti was set for February 3, 2026. Ethiopia was set for February 13, 2026. Somalia was set for March 17, 2026.
Those dates are not the dates employers should now use for compliance. Federal judges stepped in and paused implementation. That is why the current rule for document handling comes from updated USCIS guidance tied to those court orders, not from older termination notices or the printed date on an EAD.
This split between an announced termination and a paused termination is where many mistakes begin. A worker may hold a card that looks expired. The card can still support continued work authorization if the person is covered by the court-ordered TPS extension and the employer records the updated date correctly.
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the biggest risk for employers is not bad faith. It is using stale instructions after litigation changes the timeline.
How employers should complete I-9 for new hires and current staff
The process is different for a new hire than for an existing employee, but the core rule stays the same. Follow the latest USCIS TPS guidance for the person’s country, and record the extended date, not the older printed date, when the court order applies.
For a new hire, the employee completes Section 1 of Form I-9. In the expiration date field, USCIS guidance says the employee should write “as per court order.” That wording matters because it shows the worker is claiming work authorization through the court-backed TPS extension.
The employer then completes Section 2. In that section, the employer should enter the country-specific extended expiration date in month, day, year format. The employer should accept the EAD even when the card itself shows an earlier date, as long as the court-backed extension and USCIS guidance cover that document.
The Additional Information box should include “as per Court Order” and a reference to the relevant USCIS TPS alert or country page. Employers should also keep a printed copy of the USCIS alert and the country page with the I-9 file. That gives the file a clear record of why the employer accepted the document and which official instruction supported the entry.
For an existing employee, the employer is not starting from zero. The task is to update the file so it reflects the current court-backed extension. The same logic applies: record the correct country-specific date, note the court-order basis, and keep the USCIS guidance with the file. Do not ask for a new document just because the EAD shows an older date when the extension still applies.
The right Section 2 date depends on the worker’s TPS country
The most common compliance error is using one date for everyone. That is wrong. The valid I-9 Section 2 date is country specific, and the date must match the latest USCIS guidance.
For the six affected designations, USCIS and E-Verify guidance now point employers to dates in March and April 2026. Those dates differ by country, which is why HR teams should check the correct TPS designation before entering anything into I-9 records.
Haiti needs extra care. Earlier agency guidance showed March 15, 2026. Later March 2026 updates changed that to March 27, 2026. Employers should use the most recent March 2026 date reflected in USCIS updates, not the older Haiti date that may still appear in older files, emails, or screenshots.
This point matters for more than paperwork. It affects reverification timing, audit readiness, and E-Verify consistency. A valid document does not become unusable simply because the printed card date passed. If the court-backed extension applies, the employer should treat the document under the updated USCIS instructions.
E-Verify must match the I-9 record
E-Verify entries should mirror the updated I-9 Section 2 date. Employers should not default to the expiration date printed on the EAD when USCIS has extended validity under a court order.
That rule applies to new hires and to case updates. If the worker is from Burma and the updated Section 2 date is used in I-9, the same date should appear in E-Verify. The same country-by-country approach applies to Ethiopia, Haiti, South Sudan, Somalia, and Syria.
Consistency matters. An employer that uses one date in I-9 and a different date in E-Verify creates an internal conflict that can become a problem during an audit or internal review. Matching records also helps staff explain later why an apparently expired document was accepted.
Employers should also avoid overcorrecting. They do not need to invent a new process for TPS workers. They need to follow the USCIS instruction tied to the worker’s country and keep I-9 and E-Verify aligned.
Why the numbers matter for employers and communities
The scale of the affected population explains why confusion spread quickly. Burma has 3,670 current beneficiaries. Ethiopia has 5,001 current beneficiaries. Haiti has 348,187 beneficiaries as of June 2025, with up to 474,000 projected.
Those figures do not decide any one person’s eligibility. They do show why employers, staffing teams, schools, health systems, and local communities are paying close attention. When hundreds of thousands of people face shifting dates, even a small compliance mistake can affect many workers.
Haiti stands apart because the population is so much larger. A date change for Haiti has a much wider effect on payroll systems, reverification calendars, legal reviews, and worker communication. That is one reason the March 2026 update for Haiti deserves close review.
DHS Secretary Noem announced the terminations, including November 25, 2025 action for Burma and Ethiopia and a February 20, 2026 Haiti amendment to 12 months ending August 3, 2025. Courts then blocked implementation.
The court calendar still matters
Several legal actions shaped the current TPS picture. A judge in Chicago paused Burma TPS on January 26, 2026. The U.S. District Court for Massachusetts stayed Ethiopia TPS on January 30, 2026, in African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al. A D.C. District Court stay covered Haiti TPS. Other stays paused action involving South Sudan, Somalia, and Syria.
The next major milestone is at the Supreme Court. Arguments on Haiti and Syria TPS are scheduled for late April 2026, with a decision expected by early July 2026. That means the present guidance is active now, but the legal posture can still change.
Employers and beneficiaries should keep checking USCIS TPS country pages and related alerts because agency instructions may change quickly after a court order. When facts are complicated, especially with mixed status families or payroll deadlines, individualized legal advice remains the safest course.
For now, the rule is clear. TPS work authorization for the six affected countries continues under court-backed extensions, and I-9 and E-Verify records should use the latest USCIS dates, not older termination notices or printed EAD dates.
