The Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) rescinded this Friday a policy launched by the Donald Trump administration in 2020 known as ZRZC, which made it difficult for migrant beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS, for its acronym in English) could access permanent residence.
Before the regulatory change promoted by Trump, immigration authorities considered that TPS beneficiaries (popularly baptized as Tepesians) who obtained permission to travel to another country (for example, to visit relatives)
could count their return to the United States as a lawful entry.
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In this way, if they tried after obtaining permanent residence and citizenship (for example, by marrying an American person), they could apply without the obstacle of having initially entered the country undocumented.
The policy change now approved by USCIS reopens this path for Tepesians, but does not create, according to the federal agency, "a direct path" to permanent residence.
Salvadoran immigrants ask for their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to be protected, in January 2018. Damian Dovarganes / AP
Having TPS does not qualify for a
green card
;
For this, it is necessary to meet the same family or work requirements as the rest of the migrants.
But the Supreme Court had pointed out in a ruling in June 2021 that the fact of having initially entered the country illegally was a legal barrier to being able to obtain permanent residence even if he qualified for those family and work reasons, unlike in other cases (for example, undocumented immigrants who were victims of violence and therefore obtained a humanitarian visa).
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June 16, 202200:53
The USCIS decision known this Friday reopens the way to leave the country with permission and be able to apply upon return as if it had been entered legally.
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That "promotes family unity and removes barriers," according to the agency, "promoting access to the legal migration system" for some Tepesians.
Some 400,000 people live in the United States protected by TPS, an immigration relief for foreigners whose countries are devastated by conflicts or natural disasters.
It benefits, among others, some 260,000 Salvadorans, 86,000 Hondurans and 2,500 Nicaraguans.
The Joe Biden government also extended it to Venezuelans last year and to Ukrainians this year.