Biden Admin Grants Temporary Protections to Thousands of Afghan Nationals

Mayorkas announced the department is extending and redesignating its Temporary Protected Status program for Afghanistan nationals for 18 months.

Passengers wait in line in the airport terminal upon arriving on a Qatar Airways plane from Kabul, Afghanistan, the first international commercial flight since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, in Doha, Qatar, on Sept. 9, 2021. Nooman Ben Amor/Reuters

The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Sept. 21 extended and redesignated temporary deportation protections for thousands of Afghan refugees, allowing them to temporarily work in the United States without being deported back to Taliban-led Afghanistan.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced the department is extending and redesignating its Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Afghanistan nationals for 18 months, from Nov. 21, 2023, to May 20, 2025, allowing nationals from that country to apply for protection from deportation and obtain work permits.