USCIS still lists October 19, 2026 as the expiration date for TPS for Ukraine and Sudan on its country pages, even though alerts say beneficiaries retain protection and work authorization while the Department of Homeland Security prepares an announcement.
DHS has not published a decision extending, redesignating or terminating either program. No formal notice has appeared in the Federal Register.
USCIS posted alerts for both countries late on the scheduled expiration date. The Ukraine notice said:
“An announcement on Ukraine's TPS will be made at the appropriate time. Until such announcement is made, Ukrainian individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection including work authorization.”
A parallel alert for Sudanese beneficiaries also says protection, including work authorization, continues until an announcement. Neither notice sets a date for that announcement or gives a new work-permit validity period.
The USCIS alerts and country pages therefore carry different information. The alerts describe ongoing protection; the country pages retain the earlier end date. DHS has not specified how long the continuation will last.
The scheduled cutoff covers about 103,000 people
Free toolI-94 Expiration Calculator OnlineAbout 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese were covered by the scheduled expiration. USCIS has said the affected beneficiaries retain protection while the announcement remains pending.
| Group | Approximate number covered |
|---|---|
| Ukrainian TPS beneficiaries | 101,000 |
| Sudanese TPS beneficiaries | 1,800 |
The alerts do not specify whether the designations have been extended, or for how long. They also do not set a new automatic-extension date for employment authorization documents.
Employer records still point to the scheduled expiration
As of October 20, 2026, the most recent country-specific Form I-9, E-Verify and SAVE instructions identified for the two groups were issued on September 3, 2026. Those instructions assumed the designations would end on the date still shown on the country pages.
For Form I-9, employers were instructed to enter the scheduled expiration in the applicable date fields in Sections 1 and 2 when a worker presented an Employment Authorization Document with the relevant USCIS extension notice. E-Verify instructions gave the same date for opening a case.
SAVE instructions said the system would return “Temporary Protected Status – Employment Authorized – Temp Emp Auth,” with an employment authorization date through the scheduled cutoff. The instructions do not set out a replacement date, name a replacement reverification document or explain how employers should revise existing records.
Some beneficiaries have EADs in categories A12 or C19 that show the scheduled expiration or were automatically extended through it. Under ordinary Form I-9 rules, employers would face reverification at that point.
E-Verify’s website now says the affected groups retain protection, including work authorization. Its page date, however, remains September 2, 2026. Greenberg Traurig advises employers to separate the question of continued TPS protection from the documentation required to verify continued employment authorization.
Employers should check the agency's next instructions before reverifying
Employers can monitor the USCIS country pages for TPS Ukraine and TPS Sudan, along with the agency’s Form I-9 Related News page. Immigration-law guidance also recommends reviewing reverification records before acting on TPS-related documents and preparing to follow the latest agency instructions.
A Federal Register notice would record a formal determination. Until one appears, employers face dated instructions that still use the prior expiration alongside USCIS alerts saying protection continues.
The possible six-month extension is a legal interpretation, not an announced decision
Federal law requires the Homeland Security secretary to review country conditions at least 60 days before a TPS designation expires. The requirement appears in INA § 244(b)(3), codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3). For this scheduled expiration, that review should have taken place by approximately August 20, 2026.
If the secretary misses the review deadline, the statute provides for an automatic extension of the designation for an additional six months, or longer at the secretary’s discretion. WR Immigration notes that the secretary may choose a 12- or 18-month extension instead.
Greenspoon Marder says the lack of a published determination suggests both designations may have continued through at least April 19, 2027. The firm presents that as an interpretation of the statute, not a DHS decision.
DHS has not said it is invoking the automatic-extension provision and could still publish a termination notice. In that event, the statute’s minimum 60-day notice period should apply, according to the legal analysis. An automatic extension of a designation would not itself update the expiration dates printed on related immigration documents.
Past delays produced different outcomes for other countries
About a month earlier, DHS kept protections in place for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans whose TPS was scheduled to expire September 9. The department said a decision would come at the appropriate time and that beneficiaries could continue to work and live in the United States.
Other delays have ended differently. When Honduras TPS was due to expire in July 2025, DHS announced termination after the scheduled date and set a later effective date consistent with the statutory transition period.
In 2025, DHS expressly said South Sudan’s designation had automatically extended for six months after the department missed the statutory determination deadline. The Federal Register notice also addressed the continued validity of TPS-related employment authorization documents. WR Immigration points to that notice as an example of formal guidance addressing the employment-document question.
Advocates want permanence while officials await a decision
Andrew Arthur, a national-security and immigration expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the government would eventually decide, but faced no deadline. He argued that the ongoing armed conflicts in both countries gave the secretary authority to continue their protections.
“It's simply going to be an extension until it is a termination.”
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, an aid nonprofit that helps resettle newcomers in the United States, called the alerts “last-minute patches.” He also described them as “a bandage that has been placed on a wound that does not solve the real issue.” Boyechko said people cannot safely return to Ukraine and called for a path to permanent residency.
Ukraine first received TPS in April 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion two months earlier. Sudan’s program began in 1997. Activists and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have warned that conditions remain unsafe for Ukrainians to return amid the war with Russia.
The next scheduled political marker is the November 3 midterm election. Beneficiaries and employers should continue checking USCIS updates and the Federal Register. Processing times and fees are subject to change; verify current information at uscis.gov.
