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Four separate questions. Eligibility for Temporary Protected Status is not a single test but four requirements that must all be satisfied: a connection to a designated country, presence and residence in the United States across defined periods, admissibility as an immigrant subject to the program's own adjustments, and registration within the period announced for that country. 8 USC 1254a(c)(1); 8 CFR 244.2. Two of the four depend on dates that are not in the statute or the regulations at all. They are fixed in the Federal Register notice for the particular country, which is why that notice is the starting point for any assessment.
Connection to a designated country. Eligibility runs to nationals of the designated state and, on identical terms, to a person of no nationality who last habitually resided in that state. 8 USC 1254a(a)(1), (c)(1)(A). Citizenship of the designated country is therefore not indispensable. What is indispensable is that the connection be the applicant's own: there is no derivative eligibility, so holding the status confers nothing on a spouse or child, each of whom must qualify independently.
Proving identity and nationality. Every application must be supported by evidence of identity and nationality. Primary documents such as a passport, birth certificate with photographic identification, or national identity document are preferred. Where those are genuinely unavailable, secondary evidence may be offered together with an affidavit setting out the unsuccessful efforts made to obtain documents, explaining why the consular process is unavailable and affirming nationality; an applicant who cannot provide documentary proof of identity or nationality must be interviewed. 8 CFR 244.9(a)(1). Documents not in English require a complete translation with the translator's certification of competence and accuracy.
Continuous physical presence. The applicant must have been continuously physically present in the United States since the effective date of the most recent designation of the country. 8 USC 1254a(c)(1)(A)(i). The regulations define this as actual physical presence for the entire period, subject only to the exception described below. 8 CFR 244.1.
Continuous residence. The applicant must also have continuously resided in the United States since a date specified for that country, which is a different date and is commonly earlier than the effective date of the designation. 8 USC 1254a(c)(1)(A)(ii); 8 CFR 244.1. The practical consequence of having two dates is that arriving after either one defeats eligibility, and an applicant who satisfies one requirement may still fail the other. Both dates are published in the country notice.
The exception for brief, casual and innocent absences. Neither requirement is broken by a brief, casual and innocent absence, and for continuous physical presence this holds whether or not the absence was authorized. 8 USC 1254a(c)(4). The regulations define the term by three conditions, all of which must be met. 8 CFR 244.1.
A further allowance for continuous residence only. Continuous residence is additionally preserved where a brief trip abroad was required by an emergency or by extenuating circumstances outside the applicant's control. 8 USC 1254a(c)(4)(B); 8 CFR 244.1. That allowance does not extend to continuous physical presence, which is the narrower of the two requirements. Every absence since the two governing dates must be disclosed, and whether the exception applies is decided by the agency rather than assumed by the applicant.
Admissibility as an immigrant, with two adjustments. The applicant must be admissible as an immigrant, but the program modifies that standard in two ways. Some grounds of inadmissibility are switched off entirely, including the labor certification and documentation grounds, and, under the regulation, the public charge ground. Most of the remaining grounds may be waived for humanitarian purposes, to assure family unity, or where a waiver is in the public interest. 8 USC 1254a(c)(2)(A); 8 CFR 244.3(a), (b). An applicant who is inadmissible on a waivable ground must be advised of the waiver procedure rather than simply refused. 8 CFR 244.3(b).
The grounds that cannot be waived. Waivers are unavailable for the criminal grounds at INA 212(a)(2)(A) and (2)(B), for the controlled substance ground at INA 212(a)(2)(C), and for the national security, terrorism and Nazi persecution grounds at INA 212(a)(3)(A), (3)(B), (3)(C) and (3)(E). 8 USC 1254a(c)(2)(A)(iii); 8 CFR 244.3(c). Two divergences between the statute and the regulation are worth noting rather than glossing over. The statute preserves a narrow exception to the controlled substance ground for a single offense of simple possession of thirty grams or less of marijuana, which the regulation does not mention. The regulation adds INA 212(a)(3)(D) to the non-waivable list, which the statute does not include. Both texts should be consulted.
The two absolute bars. Separate from inadmissibility, two bars admit of no waiver at all. The first is conviction of any felony, or of two or more misdemeanors, committed in the United States. 8 USC 1254a(c)(2)(B)(i); 8 CFR 244.4(a). The second is being described in the mandatory bars to asylum. 8 USC 1254a(c)(2)(B)(ii); 8 CFR 244.4(b).
How felony and misdemeanor are defined for this purpose. The definitions are specific to this program and do not track ordinary usage. A felony is a crime committed in the United States punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, regardless of the term actually served, except that where the state defines the offense as a misdemeanor and the sentence actually imposed is one year or less, it counts as a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor is a crime punishable by imprisonment for one year or less, or one treated as a misdemeanor under that exception. Any crime punishable by a maximum term of five days or less counts as neither. 8 CFR 244.1. Because the arithmetic of two misdemeanors is unforgiving, the classification of each conviction, and the maximum sentence available rather than the sentence imposed, repay careful attention.
The asylum bars, incorporated wholesale. The mandatory bars to asylum reach six categories: a person who ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated in the persecution of another on a protected ground; a person convicted by final judgment of a particularly serious crime who constitutes a danger to the community; a person for whom there are serious reasons to believe a serious nonpolitical crime was committed abroad before arrival in the United States; a person for whom there are reasonable grounds to be regarded as a danger to the security of the United States; a person described in the terrorist activity provisions; and a person firmly resettled in another country before arriving in the United States. 8 USC 1158(b)(2)(A); 8 CFR 244.4(b). The last of these is easily overlooked and can affect applicants who spent a substantial period in a third country before reaching the United States.
Timely registration is an element of eligibility, not a formality. The statute makes registration during the announced period part of the eligibility test itself, and requires that the period run for at least 180 days. 8 USC 1254a(c)(1)(A)(iv). An application filed outside that period, or before the notice establishing it has published, is not a registration at all. 8 CFR 244.7(b). This is the requirement most often failed for reasons that have nothing to do with the merits.
Late initial registration. A person who missed the original registration period may still be able to register for the first time during a later extension of the designation, provided that during the original or a subsequent initial registration period that person fell within one of the recognized conditions: holding nonimmigrant status, voluntary departure status or any relief from removal; having pending or on appeal an application for change of status, adjustment of status, asylum, voluntary departure or any relief from removal; being a parolee or having a pending request for reparole; or being the spouse or child of someone eligible to register. 8 CFR 244.2(f)(2). The application must generally be filed while the condition continues or within sixty days after it expires or terminates. 8 CFR 244.2(g).
The child condition works differently. Where the qualifying condition is having been the child, meaning unmarried and under twenty-one, of a person eligible for the status during an initial registration period, no equivalent time limit applies. Subsequently turning twenty-one or marrying does not destroy the ability to file late on that basis. This is a route to late initial filing in the applicant's own right, and should not be mistaken for derivative eligibility, which the program does not provide.
Late filing relieves only the timing. An applicant permitted to register late must still satisfy every other requirement, including both governing dates, admissibility and the bars. Separately, a late re-registration by an existing holder is a different matter and may be accepted where good cause for the delay is shown and explained, although late re-registration risks a gap in employment authorization.
The burden of proof rests on the applicant. Eligibility must be established by the applicant, and the regulations require supporting documentary evidence beyond the applicant's own statements. 8 CFR 244.9(a)(3), (b). Evidence is weighed for relevance, consistency, credibility and probative value. Residence and presence are commonly established through employment and tax records, rent receipts and utility bills, school records, medical records, and attestations from churches, unions or other organizations that identify the applicant, are signed by an identified official, and give inclusive dates. 8 CFR 244.9(a)(2). Failure without good cause to respond to a request for evidence or to appear for a scheduled interview is treated as abandonment and results in denial for lack of prosecution. 8 CFR 244.9(c).
Being eligible and staying eligible are different questions. The requirements above govern whether the status can be obtained. Keeping it depends on registering again annually during the announced period, and on remaining continuously physically present in the United States after the grant; ceasing to be eligible at any later point is itself a ground for withdrawal. 8 USC 1254a(c)(3); 8 CFR 244.14(a), 244.17.
What eligibility does not signify. A grant of this status reflects conditions in a country and involves no finding that the individual applicant is personally at risk, which is why it is not asylum and not withholding of removal. Nor does eligibility here indicate eligibility for anything else. An application for this status neither strengthens nor prejudices an application for another benefit, and each must be qualified for on its own terms.
Related pages. For the application itself, work authorization, re-registration, travel and what happens when a designation ends, see Temporary Protected Status. For the framework governing designations and the distinction between Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure, see Temporary Protection. The country notices, which fix the two governing dates and the registration period, are collected on the USCIS Temporary Protected Status page. Questions about a particular criminal record, a period spent in a third country, gaps in documentary evidence, or a missed registration period may be raised through the contact page.