TPS Terminations in 2026: Which Countries Are Affected and What Should You Do Now?
A Supreme Court ruling in Mullin v. Doe has triggered a wave of TPS terminations in 2026. Here's the current status for Syria, Haiti, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Burma, and what to do next.
A Supreme Court ruling handed down on June 25, 2026 cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for millions of people, and since then USCIS has been ending TPS designations one country at a time. As of early August 2026, Syria, Yemen, and Haiti have had their TPS status formally terminated, while Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Burma (Myanmar) remain in a shifting legal limbo of short court-ordered extensions. If you or a family member holds TPS, the short version is this: check your specific country's status directly on uscis.gov, don't assume last month's expiration date still applies, and talk to a licensed immigration attorney before your work authorization lapses.
What's Happening: A Wave of TPS Terminations in Mid-2026
Temporary Protected Status has protected people from roughly 17 countries who cannot safely return home due to war, natural disaster, or other extraordinary conditions. For most of 2025 and early 2026, a patchwork of federal district court orders kept TPS terminations on hold for several countries even after the Department of Homeland Security announced its intent to end them.
That patchwork collapsed after the Supreme Court's June 25 decision. Since then, USCIS and E-Verify have issued a rapid series of country-specific bulletins:
- Syria — TPS terminated effective July 27, 2026
- Yemen — TPS terminated effective July 20, 2026
- Haiti — TPS terminated effective July 27, 2026 (see our dedicated Haiti TPS guide for details specific to Haitian TPS holders)
- Burma (Myanmar) — court-ordered extension lapsed July 27, 2026 with no new bulletin issued
- Somalia — under a court-ordered extension, most recently pushed to August 3, 2026
- Ethiopia — under a court-ordered extension through July 30, 2026
- South Sudan — under a court-ordered extension through July 30, 2026
The Supreme Court Ruling That Started It: Mullin v. Doe
The case driving all of this is Mullin v. Doe, 609 U.S. __ (2026), a consolidated challenge (with Trump v. Miot) to the terminations of TPS for Haiti and Syria. In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that a provision of the TPS statute, 8 U.S.C. §1254a(b)(5)(A), bars judicial review not just of the Secretary of Homeland Security's final decision on a country's designation, but of the broader "chain of events" leading up to it — including the statutorily required consultations with other agencies about country conditions.
In practice, that means federal courts have very little power to second-guess how DHS reaches a TPS termination decision, even when plaintiffs argue the agency skipped required steps or acted for improper reasons. Justice Kagan's dissent, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, argued that the ruling leaves people "consigned to devastating, and indeed life-threatening, injury" without meaningful recourse.
The ruling didn't terminate every remaining TPS designation on the spot — but it removed the main legal obstacle that had been pausing terminations, which is why the country-by-country bulletins have followed in quick succession since late June.
How Many People Are Affected
The scale here is significant. According to filings in the Mullin litigation, the Supreme Court's ruling touches not only Syrian and Haitian TPS holders but potentially all roughly 1.3 million people across the 17 countries that have held TPS designations in recent years. The Haiti and Syria terminations alone affect an estimated 350,000-plus people who had been relying on those designations for legal status and work authorization. The remaining countries under active litigation — Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan — add tens of thousands more people whose status now depends on court orders that are being renewed in short increments rather than resolved outright.
That scale is also why employers, not just individual TPS holders, are paying close attention. Large employers in industries like healthcare, food processing, and construction have significant numbers of TPS-authorized workers, and each new termination bulletin triggers a fresh round of Form I-9 reverification obligations across their workforce.
What a TPS Termination Actually Means for You
When a country's TPS designation is formally terminated (as opposed to merely extended on a short-term court order), two things generally happen:
- Legal status ends. TPS holders lose the temporary protection from removal that came with their designation, unless they have another lawful basis to remain — such as a pending asylum application, adjustment of status petition, or other visa category.
- Work authorization ends. Employment Authorization Documents (Forms I-766) issued under TPS categories A12 or C19 stop being valid on the termination's effective date, and employers are generally required to reverify affected workers or stop employing them.
For employers, USCIS has generally directed that Form I-9 Section 2 be updated with the current court-ordered expiration date and a note referencing the applicable case, and that Supplement B reverification be completed once a country's TPS is formally terminated rather than merely extended. Some TPS holders who filed renewal applications during specific 2025 windows may also have a shorter automatic extension period than the date printed on their receipt notice suggests, which is one more reason to verify current status directly rather than trust an older document.
What TPS Holders Should Do Right Now
- Check your country's current status directly. Go to the USCIS Temporary Protected Status page and your country's specific TPS page for the latest alert, rather than relying on secondhand summaries.
- Confirm your EAD's real expiration date. Automatic extensions tied to TPS renewals have been recalculated multiple times in 2026; the date printed on your Form I-797C receipt notice may no longer be accurate.
- Talk to a licensed immigration attorney or accredited representative, especially if you have a pending asylum claim, U visa petition, family-based case, or any other potential path to status — a TPS termination does not necessarily mean you have no other options.
- Avoid relying on social media or informal community networks for legal deadlines. The rapid pace of bulletins this summer has created a lot of outdated or inaccurate information online.
- Keep copies of every EAD, I-94, and USCIS notice you've received, including expired ones — they may be needed to establish your immigration history regardless of what happens next.
- If you're an employer, review your I-9 records for any employees with TPS-based work authorization and confirm reverification deadlines against the most current USCIS guidance, not the date on an older receipt notice.
Questions People Are Asking
Is my TPS work permit still valid if my country's TPS was terminated?
Once a country's TPS designation is formally terminated, EADs issued under that designation (categories A12 and C19) generally stop being valid on the termination's effective date, regardless of the expiration date printed on the card. Check your specific country's USCIS page for the exact date, since termination dates have differed by country.Can I still apply for asylum or another immigration status after my TPS ends?
Yes. A TPS termination ends that specific protection, but it doesn't erase eligibility for other forms of relief you may qualify for, such as asylum, a family-based petition, or a U or T visa. An immigration attorney can review your full history to identify options that don't depend on TPS.Why do some countries have a firm termination date while others just have extensions?
It depends on where each country's litigation stands. Syria, Yemen, and Haiti have had their terminations proceed to a formal, dated bulletin. Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan still have active court orders pausing termination, so USCIS has been issuing short-term extensions for those countries instead of final termination dates while the cases continue.Could a terminated country's TPS designation come back?
It's possible but not something to plan around. TPS terminations can theoretically be reversed by a new designation, further litigation, or a change in DHS policy, but after Mullin v. Doe, courts have much less authority to force that outcome. Anyone affected should plan based on the current termination date, not the possibility of a future reversal.Stay Ahead of the Next Update
TPS status for the remaining countries is changing on a near-weekly basis, and USCIS bulletins are often the first place a change appears — sometimes days before mainstream coverage catches up. For a broader look at how the current administration's policies are reshaping immigration enforcement and status more generally, see our overview of major 2026 immigration policy changes and our explainer on the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling, another major 2026 case reshaping who has legal status in the United States.
You can track daily developments like these as they're published on our news page, and if you'd like country-specific TPS updates and other immigration news delivered as they happen, you can sign up for free alerts.
*This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration law changes quickly, and individual circumstances vary — consult a licensed immigration attorney before making decisions about your status.*