Business Immigration Insights

This post serves as a regularly updated resource to keep employers informed regarding TPS designations, extensions, cancellations, and other policy changes.  This post was last updated on February 3, 2025. 

Venezuela

More than 600,000 Venezuelan citizens in the United States have benefitted from Temporary Protected Status (TPS) since 2021.  In January 2025, the program was extended until October 2, 2026, by then Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. TPS allows Venezuelans to remain in the United States and work lawfully because the conditions in Venezuela are not safe for them to return to: limited access to basic services, collapse of the healthcare system, dilapidated infrastructure, and the ongoing economic crisis.

On January 29, 2025, Kristi Noem, the new DHS Secretary, reversed the extension of TPS for Venezuela.  When a TPS program is allowed to expire, a 6-month extension of TPS and work authorization is automatically granted, resulting in the final date of Venezuelan TPS of April 2, 2026.  Secretary Noem reversed the extension even though the State Department’s Travel Advisory for US citizens interested in traveling to Venezuela is “Level 4 – Do Not Travel”.

When TPS expires for Venezuelans on April 2, 2026, they will revert to the US immigration status they held prior to the TPS designation, unless they have acquired another immigration status allowing them to lawfully remain in the United States.  For many in this program, their prior underlying immigration status has expired, leaving them unable to lawfully remain in the United States and work, making them subject to removal from the United States.