- Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is defined as a limited immigration benefit given to immigrants from nations devastated by natural disasters or civil strife.
- TPS applicants must be in the US when the US government designates it.
- They also must prove that they were present in the US from date of designation.
- Temporary Protected Status applications are filed in a finite timeframe.
The administration of the Philippines has asked the US government to give TPS to Filipinos.
TPS would offer applicants the legal opportunity to reside and work lawfully until the destruction from Typhoon Haiyan is resolved.
Many Filipino associations and American politicians have requested that the President designate Filipinos for TPS.
It really would be sensible and humane to set Temporary Protected Status for nationals of the Philippines much like Haitians given TPS after the terrible earthquake there.
Immigrants receiving TPS are few and far between.
Temporary Protected Status has been given to people from nations such as:
- El Salvador (2001)
- Haiti (2011)
- Honduras (1998)
- Nicaragua (1998)
- Somalia (1991)
- South Sudan (2011)
- Sudan (1997)
- Syria (2012)
TPS is not a green card.
TPS allows for a work permit.
TPS protects beneficiaries from deportation.
When Haitians in the US were given TPS in 2011, 100,000 to 200,000 immigrants affected by the earthquake were given the benefit. This policy was humane and resulted in much needed relief.
270,000 undocumented Filipinos stand to receive work permission and protection with a TPS designation for the Philippines.
Unfortunately, in the two months since Typhoon Haiyan, not enough attention has been given by the US government to the plight of the Filipinos already in the US. Thousands of their friends and family are dead and missing. Millions are homeless.
It remains to be seen if Temporary Protected Status will be given to Filipinos in the United States.
With each passing day, it becomes more difficult to know what will happen.
