If you hold TPS, has your country's designation been extended, terminated, or redesignated since you registered?
TPS designations are politically volatile and republished in the *Federal Register* with country-specific re-registration windows. Missing a re-registration window by even a single day requires a *good cause* late filing under 8 CFR § 244.17 and is granted at the District Director's discretion. A *redesignation* opens the door to people who entered after the prior continuous-residence date — often a brand-new pathway your spouse or sibling didn't realize they qualified for.
Context & Examples
Real example — Yolanda, Modesto. Yolanda had TPS Honduras since 2002. The 2023 redesignation moved the continuous-residence date to November 6, 2022. Her younger sister had entered EWI in 2021, lived with her ever since, and we registered her for first-time TPS within the 60-day initial registration window. Both sisters are now TPS-protected with EADs.
Horror story — Honduras 2018. A Modesto family registered three siblings for TPS Honduras in 2002 but missed the 2018 re-registration window because the eldest brother — who had been handling the family's paperwork — was deported on an unrelated DUI. The other two siblings lost TPS, lost work authorization, and accrued 18 months of unlawful presence before they came to us. We filed nunc pro tunc late re-registrations under 8 CFR § 244.17 with a good cause declaration documenting the brother's deportation, the family's reliance on him, and their unbroken physical presence. Both restored — but the unlawful-presence accrual cost one of them his I-130 adjustment eligibility.
The lesson: Calendar the re-registration window the day the Federal Register notice publishes. Do not rely on a family member.
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