US Allows Temporary Protected Status For Venezuelan Migrants For 18 Months
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas announced 18 months’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS) until September 2022 for Venezuelan migrants who have illegally entered the United States.
This new designation of TPS for Venezuela enables Venezuelan nationals and individuals without nationality who last resided in Venezuela, who are currently living in the United States, to file initial applications for TPS, so long as they meet eligibility requirements.
300,000 individuals are estimated to be eligible to file applications for TPS.
The Department of Homeland Security said Washington is providing this relaxation due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent nationals from returning safely, including a complex humanitarian crisis marked by widespread hunger and malnutrition, a growing influence and presence of non-state armed groups, repression, and a crumbling infrastructure in the Latin American country. TPS can be extended to a country if it is going through ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.
“The living conditions in Venezuela reveal a country in turmoil, unable to protect its own citizens,” said Secretary Mayorkas. “It is in times of extraordinary and temporary circumstances like these that the United States steps forward to support eligible Venezuelan nationals already present here, while their home country seeks to right itself out of the current crises,” he added.
DHS made it clear that only individuals who can demonstrate continuous residence in the United States as of March 8, 2021 are eligible for TPS.
Individuals desiring TPS must file an application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services within the 180-day registration period. They may also apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) and for travel authorization. All individuals applying for TPS will have to go through security and background checks.
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