United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has revised the Application for Temporary Protected Status (Form I-821). The new form becomes effective on June 27, 2008.
TPS is a temporary immigration status granted to eligible nationals of designated countries who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. During the period for which a country has been designated for TPS, TPS beneficiaries may remain in the United States and may obtain work authorization.
Form I-821 is used by nationals of a country currently designated for TPS to apply for the first time or to apply to re-register for TPS. The new form - with an October 17, 2007 revision date - includes additional questions for use in determining TPS eligibility not contained in earlier versions of the form.
USCIS will accept previous editions of the form through June 26, 2008. Beginning on June 27, the agency will only accept the new form, and will reject all requests using previous editions of the form.
Information for this article was obtained from the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov.
