Temporary protected status (TPS) is given by the United States government to eligible nationals of designated countries, as determined by the
Secretary of Homeland Security, who are present in the United States. In general, the Secretary of Homeland Security may grant temporary protected status to people already present in the United States who are nationals of a country experiencing ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or any temporary or extraordinary conditions that would prevent the foreign national from returning safely and assimilating into their duty. Temporary protected status allows beneficiaries to live and, in some cases, work in the United States for a limited amount of time. As of March 2022, there are more than 400,000 foreign nationals in Temporary Protected Status.
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History
In 1990, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990
The Immigration Act of 1990 () was signed into law by George H. W. Bush on November 29, 1990. It was first introduced by Senator Ted Kennedy in 1989. It was a national reform of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It increased total, o ...
("IMMACT"), P.L. 101–649, Congress established a procedure by which the Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
may provide temporary protected status to immigrants in the United States who are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.
On March 1, 2003, pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002
The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 () was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of ...
, Public Law 107–296, the former Immigration and Naturalization Services of the Department of Justice was divided into three different agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, namely U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...
, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and Immigration to the United States, immigration system.
History
...
(USCIS), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilita ...
(USCBP). As of October 2017, the authority to designate a country for temporary protected status rests with the United States Secretary of Homeland Security
The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the ...
.
TPS beneficiaries and those who are found preliminarily eligible for TPS upon initial review of their cases are not removable from the United States, can obtain employment authorization (with an Employment Authorization Document
A Form I-766 employment authorization document (EAD or EAD card, known popularly as a work permit, is a document issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that provides temporary employment authorization to noncitiz ...
(EAD)), and may be granted travel authorization via Form I-131, Application for Travel Document.
By 2017, the temporary protected status program covered people from ten countries, namely El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. By November 2017, about 300,000 foreign nationals were recipients of protection under temporary protected status.[About 2,500 Nicaraguans to Lose Special Permission to Live in U.S.](_blank)
By Ron Nixon Nov. 6, 2017 Some have been in the United States since the 1990s.
Deferred Enforced Departure is a status similar to temporary protected status. It covers those who formerly had TPS from certain countries prior to its termination. It is active for Liberia
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
through March 30, 2020 and covers those who had TPS as of the termination of the second most recent TPS designation of Liberian on September 30, 2007. Liberians covered by DED, as well as some Liberians not covered by DED, may be eligible for permanent resident status (a Green Card) under recently enacted legislation known as Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (LRIF).
The Trump administration tried to end temporary protected status for certain individuals of certain nationalities, while advocacy groups instead recommended that people with temporary protected status be allowed to apply for permanent residency status.
The 2021 United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
case '' Sanchez v. Mayorkas'' affirmed that temporary protected status only granted legal status to remain in the country and was not equivalent to lawful admission into the country. Thus, those immigrants that had entered the country unlawfully but had received temporarily protected status are ineligible to apply for permanent resident status simply through virtue of their temporary protected status.
As of March 2024 there were 1.2 million people eligible for or receiving TPS in the US, and Venezuelans
Venezuelans ( Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connections exist and are the source ...
were the largest group.
Eligibility
Designation of a country's nationals for temporary protected status allows all of those country's nationals who are in the United States on the day of the designation to apply for temporary protected status. Anyone from that country who enters after that date is not eligible. When the status comes up for expiration, the Attorney General of the United States
The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...
may choose to redesignate, allowing that country's nationals who have entered since the original designation to apply, or to extend, which merely allows the previous recipients to maintain their status until the new expiration date.
A person who is a national of a country, or a person having no nationality who last habitually resided in that country, designated for temporary protected status is eligible to apply for temporary protected status benefits if he or she:
* Establishes the necessary continuous physical presence and continuous residence in the United States as specified by each designation;
* Is not subject to one of the criminal, security-related, or other bars to temporary protected status; and
* Applies for temporary protected status within the specified time period. If the Attorney General of the United States extends a temporary protected status designation beyond the initial designation period, the beneficiary must timely re-register to maintain his or her temporary protected status benefits under the temporary protected status program.
A person is not eligible for temporary protected status if he or she:
* Has been convicted of any felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States;
* Is a person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, or is otherwise subject to one of the bars to asylum; or
* Is subject to one of several criminal-related or terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility for which a waiver is not available.
Late initial registration is available for those who did not apply during the initial registration period of a country's temporary protected status designation. In addition to meeting all of the other requirements for temporary protected status in one's own right (residence, physical presence, etc.), a late initial registrant must establish eligibility to file late by showing that one or more of th
late initial filing conditions
existed during the initial registration period and also within 60 days of filing the late initial temporary protected status application. Children and spouses of temporary protected status-eligible individuals cannot derive continuous residence or continuous physical presence from their parents or spouses for late initial filings.
Employment authorization
TPS applicants are eligible to receive an Employment Authorization Document
A Form I-766 employment authorization document (EAD or EAD card, known popularly as a work permit, is a document issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that provides temporary employment authorization to noncitiz ...
(EAD) based on temporary protected status only if they have a pending or approved initial Form I-821 (application for temporary protected status). Category C19 appears on Employment Authorization Documents issued while the initial Form I-821 is pending approval or denial; therefore, receiving a C19 Employment Authorization Document does not mean that an applicant has been granted temporary protected status. Category A12 appears on Employment Authorization Documents issued after the initial Form I-821 has been approved.
During the period for which a country has been designated for TPS, beneficiaries may remain in the United States and may obtain work authorization. A person in temporary protected status is considered as being in "lawful status as a nonimmigrant".[Immigration and Naturalization Act, Section 244(f). (8 U.S.C. 125)]
. ''United States Citizenship and Immigration Service''. Temporary protected status does not provide a path to permanent resident status (green card) or United States citizenship.[
TPSs is typically designated for between 6 and 18 months at a time for each country; once that time is up, the status expires and its beneficiaries revert to the same immigration status they maintained before TPS (unless that status had since expired). Accordingly, if an immigrant did not have lawful status prior to receiving temporary protected status and did not obtain any other lawful status during the designation of temporary protected status, the person reverts to unlawful status upon the expiration of that designation of temporary protected status. However, employment authorization documentation (EADs) and/or TPS approval notices that appear to contain expired validity dates on their face may be automatically extended without the need to file a new Form I-821 and/or Form I-765 per the most recent Federal Register Notices (FRNs) for each country.
]
Denial or withdrawal of application
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may withdraw TPS if the person was not originally eligible or is no longer eligible; if the person has left the U.S. without first receiving advance parole
Parole, in the United States immigration laws, immigration laws of the United States, generally refers to official permission to enter and remain temporarily in the United States, under the supervision of the United States Department of Homeland ...
since status was granted; or if the person does not re-register within 30 days of the end each 12-month period of status, unless for good cause.
As long as the current designation of TPS for a registrant's country remains active, withdrawal of TPS must be by written notice to the person from USCIS.
Applicants are not eligible to file a re-registration of TPS application if their initial Form I-821 has been denied or if United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has withdrawn its prior approval of their TPS. The automatic validity extension of certain TPS documentation for countries covered by the injunctions/litigation (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal) also does not apply for anyone whose TPS has been formally withdrawn by USCIS.
If temporary protected status has been denied or withdrawn, however, it is possible to file another initial Form I-821. USCIS will treat the new initial Form I-821 as a late initial registration application. The full initial application fees must be paid for all multiple initial Form I-821s, and in Part 1 of the new initial Form I-821, Box A must be selected.
If USCIS approves a subsequent initial Form I-821, the applicant's temporary protected status will be established or restored and she or he may thereafter file re-registration applications.
Alternatively, an applicant whose temporary protected status has been denied or withdrawn may follow the instructions provided in the Notice of Denial or Withdrawal for filing a Form I-290B (Notice of Appeal or Motion) or, if applicable, seeking de novo review of TPS eligibility before an Immigration Judge in deportation or exclusion proceedings.
Injunctions
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s previously announced decisions to terminate TPS for El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sudan, Haiti, Honduras, and Nepal as of certain dates are undergoing challenges in the court system. In the last two years, some partial decisions have been made in regards to Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador. Specifically:
On October 3, 2018, in ''Ramos, et al. v. Nielsen, et al.'', No. 18-cv-01554 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 3, 2018), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California enjoined DHS from implementing and enforcing the decisions to terminate TPS for Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti and El Salvador. As of September 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision to temporarily prohibited DHS from terminating any beneficiaries that are from the countries listed above. Given this decision, the beneficiaries should remain in the United States through December 31, 2022 which was acknowledged and upheld by DHS. In addition, DHS put out an official Federal Register Notice ("FRN") that stated the following documents will automatically extend through December 2022: Employment Authorization Documents (EAD), Form I-797, Notice of Action (also known as an Approval Notice), Form I-94, Arrival and Departure Record (other TPS eligibility documentation).
In 2019, TPS beneficiaries' statuses, from Honduras and Nepal, were threatened by DHS similarly to those of TPS beneficiaries from Nicaragua, Sudan, Haiti, and El Salvador. Because the cases were very alike, a judge from the US District Court for the Northern District of California decided to link this case to that of ''Ramos v. Nielsen''. By doing so, DHS was in no position to terminate the beneficiaries status in the US until that was resolved. Now— because this the future of Honduras and Nepal beneficiaries depends on what happens to the beneficiaries of Haiti, El Salvador, Sudan, and Nicaragua; the final decision that will come in the future for ''Ramos v. Nielsen'' will determine what happens to the TPS beneficiaries of Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nepal.
In regards to Venezuela, Syria, and Burma (also known as Myanmar) being added as countries whose nationals are eligible to become beneficiaries of TPS, DHS has extended the initial registration period from 180 days to 18 months, as of August 2021. DHS is strictly enforcing that extensions nor submission of applications later that the given time period will not be considered and rejected.
The "Automatic Extension of EADs Issued Under the TPS Designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan" and "Automatic Extension of Forms I-94 and Forms I-797" tables in the most recent Federal Register Notices (FRNs) for these countries state whether the validity of current TPS registrants' Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), TPS I-821 approval notices, and/or I-94s has been automatically extended without needing to file a new Form I-821 and/or Form I-765. The "Automatic Employment Authorization Document (EAD) Extension" section of each of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)'s country-specific TPS webpages also states which prior EAD, approval notice, and I-94 end validity dates have been automatically extended without the need to re-file as long as beneficiaries remain eligible for TPS and the injunctions isn't removed or updated on behalf of the court.
Those whose TPS documents have been automatically extended can show their existing documentation and a copy of the relevant FRN to employers and agencies as verification of their continuing TPS and employment authorization. Registrants whose EADs, I-821 approval notices, and/or I-94s have been automatically extended do not receive any notification of or documentation concerning the extension of validity other than the FRN itself.
Impact
Registrants who are poised to potentially lose TPS if it is terminated for their country and not continued based on an injunction have a number of options. Salvadorian official Roberto Lorenzana estimates that about half will be eligible to apply for permanent residence. Many are expected to stay in the United States illegally. However, those who do choose to stay in the United States illegally are expected to be much easier to deport than most undocumented immigrants because their home and workplace are known to the government through the application process for temporary protected status.
César Ríos of the Salvadorean Migrant Institute estimates that, at most, 15% of Salvadorians with temporary protected status will return to El Salvador if their status terminates. Some have considered moving to Canada. The government of El Salvador has been in conversation with the government of Qatar
Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
about some of those formerly under temporary protected status working in Qatar temporarily.
The United States has made an agreement with El Salvador to limit the number of deportation flights to eight a week, each with a maximum capacity of 135 people. This puts the maximum number of deportations at 56,000 Salvadoreans a year.
Business owners and local governments in the United States have expressed concern about the economic impact of possibly enforcing TPS terminations on industries which depend on workers in the United States under temporary protected status. Deportation is expected to cause disruption in El Salvador and increase illegal immigration from El Salvador to the United States.
A 2017 study by the found that removing temporary protected status from Haitians, Salvadorans, and Hondurans would decrease Social Security
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
and Medicare income by $6.9 billion, decrease Gross Domestic Product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...
by $45.2 billion, and incur deportation costs of $3.1 billion over 10 years. The study did not attempt to quantify the cost-saving effects of ending this population's access to taxpayer assistance through EITC, WIC, housing subsidies, etc.
Concerns also exist that if TPS is terminated for large numbers of registrants who have now lived and worked in the United States for decades under the program, numerous United States citizen children who currently reside with and depend on their TPS registrant parents or guardians will be impacted.
Nationals
Countries with nationals under temporary protected status
* — since March 16, 2022, due to violence surrounding Taliban
, leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders
, leader1_name = {{indented plainlist,
* Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013)
* Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016)
* Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...
takeover and ISIS-K insurgency; scheduled to end July 12, 2025.
* — since April 15, 2022; in response to Boko Haram insurgency and Anglophone Crisis; scheduled to end June 7, 2025.
* — since March 9, 2001; in response to the January 2001 and February 2001 El Salvador earthquakes; scheduled to end September 9, 2026; Salvadorans also had TPS in the 1990s.[
* — since December 12, 2022, due to both violence and the humanitarian crisis resulting in "severe food shortages, flooding, drought, and displacement"; scheduled to end December 12, 2025.
* — since July 23, 2011; in response to the ]2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...
; and since August 3, 2021, in response to the Haitian crisis; scheduled to end August 3, 2025.[
* — since January 5, 1999; in response to ]Hurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch was an extremely deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane, which became the second-deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Mitch caused 11,374 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately ...
in November 1998; scheduled to end on July 5, 2025.
* — since July 26, 2024; in response to the Israel–Hezbollah conflict; scheduled to end on May 27, 2026. Previously designated March 1991 to March 1993 in response to the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
The religious diversity of the ...
.
* — since May 25, 2021; in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état
A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when Elections in Myanmar, democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's milita ...
; scheduled to end November 25, 2025.
* — since June 24, 2015; in response to the conditions resulting from the devastating magnitude 7.8 April 2015 Nepal earthquake
The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,962 people and injured 21,952 across the countries of Nepal, India, China and Bangladesh. It occurred at on Saturday 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of Moment magni ...
and the subsequent aftershocks; scheduled to end on June 24, 2025.[
* — since January 5, 1999; in response to ]Hurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch was an extremely deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane, which became the second-deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Mitch caused 11,374 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately ...
in November 1998; scheduled to end on July 5, 2025.
* — since September 16, 1991; in response to the ongoing Somali Civil War
The Somali Civil War (; ) is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed ...
; scheduled to end on March 17, 2026.
* — since January 25, 2016, in response to the ongoing South Sudanese Civil War; extended through November 3, 2025.
* — since May 3, 2013; in response to the ongoing Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile
The Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile was an armed conflict and insurgency in the Sudanese states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile (state), Blue Nile (known as the Two Areas) between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan Pe ...
; scheduled to end on October 19, 2026.
* — since March 29, 2012; in response to the ongoing Syrian Civil War; extended through September 30, 2025.
* — since March 3, 2022; in response to Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
; scheduled to end October 19, 2026.[Sullivan, Eileen (March 3, 2022).]
U.S. Grants Temporary Protected Status to Some Ukrainians
. ''The New York Times''.
* — since March 9, 2021; due to socioeconomic and political crisis; scheduled to end September 10, 2025. One of two separate TPS designations for Venezuela, the other, since October 3, 2023, is scheduled to end October 2, 2026.
* — since September 3, 2015; in response to the ongoing Yemeni Civil War; extended through March 3, 2026.
Countries with nationals formerly under temporary protected status
*: March 29, 2000 – March 29, 2003 in response to the Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...
[
*: August 1992 – February 2001 in response to the ]Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...
[
*: November 4, 1997 – May 2, 2009 in response to the ]Burundian Civil War
The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party electi ...
[
*: November 21, 2014 – April 25, 2017 in response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak]
*: June 1998 – December 2000 in response to the Kosovo War
The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...
[
*: March 1991 – March 1992 in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait][Wilson, Jill H. (November 2, 2017).]
Temporary Protected Status: Overview and Current Issues
. ''Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a ...
''.
*: November 21, 2014 – April 25, 2017 in response to the Ebola outbreak;[ a prior Liberian TPS designation terminated on September 30, 2007, and it is that older designation which renders TPS holders at that time eligible for Deferred Enforced Departure
*: 1997 – February 2005 in response to the eruption of Soufrière Hills
*: June 1995 – December 1997 in response to the ]Rwandan genocide
The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...
[
*: November 4, 1997 – May 3, 2004 in response to the Sierra Leone Civil War][ and November 21, 2014 – April 25, 2017 in response to an Ebola outbreak][
]
See also
* Deferred Enforced Departure – a similar U.S. status for eligible nationals of Liberia
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
due to the First Liberian Civil War
The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...
, which ended June 30, 2022[Reinstating Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians]
(Presidential Memorandum). ''The White House''. January 20, 2021.
* Temporary protection visa – Australian counterpart
* Temporary Protection Directive – European Union counterpart
Notes
References
External links
Temporary Protected Status
at USCIS.gov
Temporary Protected Status: An Overview
''American Immigration Council''
Temporary protected status issued for Syria
''United States Department of Homeland Security''
Temporary protected status issued for Nepal
United States Department of Homeland Security
{{Immigration to the United States
1990 establishments in the United States
United States federal immigration and nationality legislation
Refugees