A bill to keep Temporary Protected Status for Ukrainians was introduced in the House on October 5. H.R. 10740, sponsored by Representative William Keating of Massachusetts, would designate Ukraine for TPS by statute instead of leaving it to the Department of Homeland Security. It has 39 cosponsors, 33 Democrats and 6 Republicans including Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and was referred to the House Judiciary Committee the same day. It has not been voted on.
The House bill is the companion to S. 5490, introduced in the Senate by Richard Blumenthal on September 23 and co-sponsored by Lisa Murkowski according to her office. The Senate text would treat Ukraine as newly designated on October 20, 2026 and run through July 1, 2029, which would also cover Ukrainians who arrived after the 2023 cutoff; the House bill carries the same title, but its text was not posted as of Thursday. Both sit in Judiciary Committees. Neither will pass before October 19: the only TPS bill to move this year, the Haitian extension the House passed in April, is stalled in the Senate under a veto threat. A September 22 letter from 31 senators asking DHS for an 18-month extension and redesignation has not been answered.
The bills matter because Ukraine TPS is now running on a default. DHS missed the legal deadline to decide the designation’s future, the statute extended it to April 19, 2027 automatically, and seven weeks later DHS has not acknowledged that in the Federal Register, in a press release or on the USCIS Ukraine TPS page, which still lists October 19, 2026 as the end date.
Why TPS Already Runs to April 2027
Section 244(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act requires the DHS secretary to review conditions in a TPS country and publish a decision to extend or terminate at least 60 days before the designation expires. If no decision is published by then, the statute says the designation is extended for six months automatically. For Ukraine, the 60-day mark was August 20, 2026. DHS published nothing. Under the statute, Ukraine’s designation therefore runs from October 20, 2026 to April 19, 2027.
DHS cannot undo that. A termination must be published at least 60 days before it takes effect and, under the regulations, cannot take effect before the end of the current extension period. The earliest Ukraine TPS can now end is April 19, 2027, and only if DHS publishes a termination notice by February 18.
This is the same mechanism that extended Lebanon’s TPS in May, when DHS published a notice saying Secretary Mullin had not completed his review. The difference is that for Lebanon DHS said so in the Federal Register. For Ukraine, as for El Salvador in September, it has said nothing, which leaves the statute in effect and the documents in limbo.
What USCIS Has Actually Done
USCIS has not issued the blanket extension of existing work permits it normally publishes when a designation continues. On August 14 it sent individual notices to Ukrainians whose renewal applications were still pending, extending their expired cards through October 19, 2026, the designation end date it was still using at the time.
Since then, however, USCIS has issued at least some individual notices extending work authorization to April 19, 2027. That date is not an accident. Under last year’s budget law, TPS work authorization cannot run past the end of the designation, so a notice through April 2027 means USCIS is treating April 19, 2027 as the end of Ukraine’s designation in its own adjudications, even while its website says October. A reader shared such a notice, dated August, with this site.
The result is two groups of Ukrainian TPS holders:
- People who have received a card or notice valid to April 19, 2027. Their documents match the law.
- People whose cards say October 19, 2026, and who did not file a renewal or whose renewal is pending, hold documents that expire next week. Their status is valid to April 2027 under the statute, but their documents say otherwise.
What Ukrainian TPS Holders Should Do
If your work permit or USCIS notice shows April 19, 2027, you are covered through that date. Keep the notice with the card; together they are your Form I-9 documents.
If your card says October 19, 2026 and you have not filed a renewal, file Form I-765 now. A pending renewal gives you the automatic 540-day extension of your existing card from its expiration date, which is the one extension mechanism that does not depend on DHS acknowledging anything. The filing costs the regular I-765 fee plus the $280 TPS renewal fee.
If your card says October 19 and your renewal is pending, you should have received the August 14 notice extending your card to that date. The 540-day automatic extension applies on top of it. Print the receipt notice for your employer.
If an employer refuses to accept this, point to INA 244(b)(3)(C) and to the receipt notice. Expect some not to accept it, and expect USCIS guidance eventually; the El Salvador precedent suggests a one-line web alert rather than a Federal Register notice.
Do not travel abroad, and do not assume April 2027 is safe; a termination notice could still come this winter. The silence that extended TPS by default is not a decision to keep it.