On July 1, 2022, USCIS changed its policy on how it interprets authorized travel by Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, beneficiaries. USCIS will no longer utilize advance parole when issuing travel authorization to TPS beneficiaries. Rather, it will provide a new TPS travel authorization document when granting travel permission to TPS beneficiaries under INA § 244(f)(3).
Policy highlights include the following:
- Under the new policy, TPS beneficiaries who depart and return with Department of Homeland Security authorization will be inspected and admitted into TPS pursuant to the Miscellaneous and Technical Immigration and Naturalization Amendments of 1991, or MTINA.
- Inspection and admission under MTINA meets the “inspected and admitted” requirement for adjustment of status under INA § 245(a) and the “lawful admission” requirement for INA § 245(k), even if the individual initially entered the United States without admission or parole prior to receiving TPS.
- Whether this same guidance will be applied to authorized travel that a TPS beneficiary undertook prior to July 1, 2022 depends.
- For cases in the Fifth Circuit (TEXAS), USCIS must treat qualifying prior travel as inspection and admission pursuant to Duarte v. Mayorkas, 27 F.4th 1044 (5th Cir. 2022).
- However, such travel by TPS recipients in all other circuits will be considered on a case-by-case basis, according to factors set forth in the updated USCIS Policy Manual in Volume 7, Part B, Chapter 2. “In most instances, when an officer determines that an applicant meets all other eligibility requirements and merits adjustment of status in the exercise of discretion, it would be appropriate for the officer, on a case-by-case basis, to deem the prior parole to be an admission under MTINA.” According to the Policy Manual, “USCIS expects that … retroactive application of the current policy is appropriate in most adjustment of status applications and favorable to the applicants."