In this episode of Greenberg Traurig’s Immigration Insights Podcast, host Kate Kalmykov invites fellow GT Shareholder Cole Heyer to discuss the evolving state of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and its implications for employers and foreign nationals.
The hosts provide a country-by-country review of TPS program statuses as of August 2026, examining how the current administration’s efforts to terminate multiple TPS designations have triggered a wave of federal litigation that has created an unpredictable compliance environment. Using Haiti TPS as a prime example, Kate and Cole illustrate how competing court orders have forced employers to repeatedly toggle workers on and off payroll, and how the complexity of automatic EAD extensions has created significant risk of I-9 compliance errors and inadvertent discrimination claims.
Their conversation also covers best practices for employers, including HR training, monitoring USCIS and E-Verify resources, and tracking litigation developments. They address the heightened risks of travel for TPS beneficiaries in the current enforcement climate, and survey the alternative immigration pathways available to affected workers, including H-1B sponsorship, employment-based green card sponsorship, asylum, family-based immigration, and self-sponsored categories such as extraordinary ability and national interest waivers.
The episode closes with a look ahead at upcoming TPS expiration dates for El Salvador and Ukraine, and the legal and geopolitical factors that could be impactful.