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US set to extend protected status for about 100,000 Ukrainians as deadline passes
Temporary Protected Status for Ukrainians was due to lapse on 19 October. Homeland Security says those covered are safe to stay, but no formal notice has been issued.
Key points
- About 100,000 Ukrainians in the US are covered by Temporary Protected Status.
- Their status was due to expire on 19 October; a Homeland Security spokesperson says they are safe to remain.
- Sudan's TPS is also set to be extended, while El Salvador and Lebanon keep theirs.
The United States is set to extend Temporary Protected Status for about 100,000 Ukrainians, sparing them from possible deportation as their current protection reached its expiry date on Monday, 19 October.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said an official statement would come “at the appropriate time”, but that people covered by the programme are “safe to remain in the country.” The length of the new extension has not been announced.
Temporary Protected Status allows people from countries hit by war or disaster to live and work in the US. Ukrainians were first granted it on 3 March 2022, just over a week after Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Biden administration renewed it on 17 January 2025 for 18 months from April that year. Such grants usually run for six to 18 months.
Protection for people from Sudan will also be extended, while El Salvador and Lebanon keep their status. Since March 2025 the Trump administration has ended TPS for 13 countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Syria, affecting about a million people.
The decision comes at a tense moment between Washington and Kyiv. On 16 October President Donald Trump waived new sanctions on Russia under the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, a step President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called wrong. On Sunday Trump wrote on Truth Social that Zelenskyy “could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now.”