El Salvador TPS is still in effect, but one date now requires close attention: September 9, 2026. USCIS published an alert on August 12, 2026 stating that El Salvador’s designation for Temporary Protected Status and related benefits are scheduled to end on that date.[1] This does not mean TPS already ended in August. Until the scheduled termination date, a person who continues to meet the eligibility requirements may remain covered by the program; employment authorization, however, must be reviewed separately because not every expired EAD currently has the same validity.
Currently in effect
September 9, 2026
January 17–March 18, 2025
Some cases may receive an individual extension through September 9
This page is an independent informational resource and provides general information only. It is not a communication from USCIS, DHS, or a Salvadoran consulate, and it does not replace legal advice about an individual immigration case.
What changed with the August 2026 USCIS notice
The TPS extension that was in effect before the August notice began on March 10, 2025 and was granted for 18 months, through September 9, 2026. The regular re-registration period for existing beneficiaries ran from January 17 through March 18, 2025.[2]
The August development is not a new re-registration period or another general TPS extension. USCIS now states that El Salvador’s designation and related benefits are scheduled to end on September 9, 2026. At the same time, the agency is sending a specific notice to certain beneficiaries who remain eligible for TPS, applied to renew their employment authorization, and have not yet received their new EAD.
For those individuals, the USCIS notice may extend an expired TPS-based EAD through September 9, 2026. USCIS states that the notice may be sent by mail and may also be available electronically to people with a myUSCIS account.
If your card has already expired, the national TPS end date alone is not enough to determine whether you can still use it for employment authorization. Check whether you have a pending Form I-765 renewal and whether USCIS sent you the individual notice extending your authorization through September 9, 2026.
How to determine what is happening with your work permit
Employment Authorization Documents connected to TPS commonly show category A12 or C19. These categories are particularly important under current USCIS instructions, but the category alone does not prove that an expired card remains acceptable. The printed expiration date, the renewal application, and any later extension notice must also be considered.
| Situation | What to check |
|---|---|
| EAD expiring September 9, 2026 | The card reflects employment authorization through that date as long as the person continues to meet the applicable requirements. |
| Older EAD covered by the 2025 Federal Register extension | The general extension under that notice ran through March 9, 2026. That rule alone no longer keeps the card valid after that date. |
| Form I-765 renewal still pending | Check the A12/C19 category, the filing or receipt date, and any new notice issued by USCIS. |
| USCIS sent the special August 2026 notice | The document combination described by USCIS may establish employment authorization through September 9, 2026. |
| Expired EAD with no pending renewal or applicable extension | Do not assume the card can still be used simply because the TPS designation has not yet reached its scheduled end date. |
What happened to cards previously extended through March 2026
The Federal Register notice published in January 2025 automatically extended certain El Salvador TPS EADs in categories A12 or C19 through March 9, 2026. That general extension has already reached its end date.
Those same dates are relevant again in the August 2026 alert, but for a different reason: USCIS states that certain beneficiaries with a pending TPS-based EAD renewal will receive a notice allowing them to use the expired EAD together with that notice to show employment authorization through September 9, 2026.
If your Form I-765 is still pending
USCIS says it is sending the new notice to El Salvador TPS beneficiaries who remain eligible, have not yet received their renewed A12 or C19 EAD, and still have a pending TPS-based EAD application. If you receive this document, keep it with the expired card.
This matters because the rules governing automatic EAD extensions changed after publication of the 2025 notice. That notice described an extension of up to 540 days for certain timely filed renewal applications, subject to the TPS designation period. USCIS later updated its guidance because of changes in federal law and warns that a person with a TPS-based EAD should not assume they retain the full 540-day extension simply because that number appears on an older Form I-797C receipt notice.[3]
For a Salvadoran beneficiary whose EAD has expired and whose renewal remains pending, the individual USCIS notice issued in August 2026 is therefore an especially important document for determining current employment authorization.
What you may present to an employer if you received the new extension
The USCIS alert contains specific instructions for Form I-9. If an employee has a pending TPS-based EAD renewal and receives the individual notice, USCIS allows the worker to choose to present the following as List A documentation:
- a TPS-based EAD with one of the expiration dates identified by USCIS; and
- the USCIS notice extending that EAD through September 9, 2026.
According to USCIS instructions, this combination establishes identity and employment authorization for Form I-9 purposes through that date. The agency also instructs employers to use September 9, 2026 as the relevant expiration date when completing Form I-9 in these cases and to document the extension in the Additional Information field. USCIS guidance also uses September 9, 2026 for E-Verify purposes.
Check whether you received the individual USCIS notice. Current guidance does not rely only on the physical card: for cases covered by the August update, USCIS describes the expired EAD together with the extension notice as the documentation used for Form I-9.
An employer does not decide whether a person retains TPS. In this context, the employer’s role is to verify identity and employment authorization under Form I-9 rules. If there is a disagreement between the worker’s documents and the employer’s interpretation, the exact documentation issued by USCIS is more relevant than relying only on an older expiration date printed on the card.
The regular re-registration period has closed
For the 2025–2026 extension, existing beneficiaries were required to re-register between January 17 and March 18, 2025. The extension did not create a new general registration period for every Salvadoran present in the United States.
If a person who already had TPS did not re-register during the designated period, USCIS allows the possibility of late re-registration when there is good cause for filing after the deadline.[4] This is not the same as an automatic extension of the filing period: USCIS evaluates the reasons for the late filing.
For that reason, someone who missed the 2025 re-registration period should not submit an application on the assumption that the deadline simply remains open. The reason for the delay and the facts of the individual case may affect the decision.
Recent arrival in the United States does not open eligibility for this TPS designation
El Salvador TPS remains based on the designation that began in 2001. The country-specific USCIS page lists continuous residence in the United States since February 13, 2001 and continuous physical presence since March 9, 2001 as the relevant dates.[5]
This means that someone who arrived in the United States in 2020 or 2024, for example, cannot obtain this TPS designation solely because they are Salvadoran. The 2025 action was an extension of the existing designation, not a redesignation with newer residence and physical-presence dates.
There is a process known as late initial registration, but it is not an open registration period for people who arrived after the required dates. It has its own regulatory requirements and should also be distinguished from late re-registration by a person who was already a TPS beneficiary.
What happens if Form I-821 or Form I-765 is still pending
The January 2025 Federal Register notice stated that a person who already had a pending El Salvador TPS application, Form I-821, as of January 17, 2025 did not need to file another Form I-821 solely because of the new extension. If USCIS approves an application covered by that provision, the period granted cannot extend beyond the applicable TPS designation period.
The same general approach applied to certain pending Form I-765 applications: applicants did not need to duplicate the filing merely because the extension had been published.
In August 2026, the most relevant practical issue for a pending Form I-765 is whether USCIS issued the new EAD extension notice. If you have a myUSCIS account, check electronic notices as well as postal mail.
A pending application and an approval are not the same thing. The fact that USCIS is still processing a form should not automatically be interpreted as an extension of every immigration benefit associated with that application.
What may change on September 9, 2026
USCIS is treating September 9, 2026 as the scheduled termination date for El Salvador’s TPS designation and related benefits. Until that date arrives, it is not accurate to describe all beneficiaries as people who have already lost TPS. It is also not appropriate to assume that another extension will occur unless an official announcement establishes one.
If the designation ends as announced, a person who relies only on TPS would no longer have benefits that exist solely because of that designation. The 2025 federal notice explains that after a TPS designation ends, a person may return to the immigration status or category they held before TPS if it remains valid, or remain in another immigration category lawfully obtained while holding TPS if that category continues to be valid after TPS ends.
Having TPS for many years does not automatically convert that status into a Green Card. At the same time, the end of TPS does not by itself mean that every other immigration process a person may have also ends. A family petition, asylum case, adjustment-of-status application, court matter, or employment authorization based on another category follows separate rules.
It is also important to distinguish between having a pending application and having valid immigration status. Not every pending application provides immigration status, protection from removal, or employment authorization. That distinction may become especially important for someone who reaches the end of the TPS designation while another immigration matter remains open.
Travel outside the United States near the termination date
TPS by itself does not function as authorization to leave the United States and return. USCIS allows TPS beneficiaries and certain applicants with a pending Form I-821 to request travel authorization using Form I-131; approval is discretionary, and the document authorizes travel for the period specified.[6]
The approaching September 9, 2026 date makes travel particularly sensitive when a planned return would occur after the scheduled TPS termination. Travel authorization, TPS, and admission to the United States should not be treated as the same benefit. People with removal orders, complicated immigration histories, periods of unlawful presence, or other pending proceedings should obtain an individual legal assessment before traveling.
Situations that should not be resolved by looking only at the TPS date
General information can explain the main rules, but some cases depend on personal documents and immigration history that may change the result. Individual review may be especially appropriate when:
- the EAD has expired and it is unclear which extension applies;
- Form I-765 remains pending but the USCIS notice announced in August has not arrived;
- an employer requests reverification even though a documented extension may apply;
- the person did not re-register during the January–March 2025 period;
- there is an Immigration Court case or an existing removal order;
- the person also has an asylum case, adjustment-of-status application, family petition, or another immigration process;
- the person plans to leave the United States close to or after September 9, 2026; or
- there has been an arrest, conviction, or another event that may affect individual TPS eligibility.
In these situations, the answer does not depend only on being an El Salvador TPS beneficiary. The approval notice, EAD category, filing dates, USCIS notices, and any other immigration status or proceeding may produce a different result for each person.
Official Sources
- [1] USCIS — Update on Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador, August 12, 2026 — Official notice addressing the scheduled September 9, 2026 termination, notices extending certain pending EAD cases, and related Form I-9 and E-Verify instructions.
- [2] Federal Register — Extension of the Designation of El Salvador for Temporary Protected Status — Official notice establishing the March 10, 2025 through September 9, 2026 extension, the re-registration period, and the EAD and pending-application rules published at that time.
- [3] USCIS — Update to TPS Page on EAD Automatic Extensions — USCIS guidance addressing changes affecting the duration of TPS-based automatic EAD extensions and earlier references to 540-day extensions.
- [4] USCIS — Temporary Protected Status — Official general information about TPS, late re-registration, eligibility, and applications filed after a re-registration period.
- [5] USCIS — Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: El Salvador — El Salvador-specific USCIS page listing the designation period, continuous-residence date, continuous-physical-presence date, and beneficiary guidance.
- [6] USCIS — Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records — Official information about the form used to request travel authorization related to TPS.