Somalia TPS Is Over. Your EAD Is Invalid as of Yesterday, and Employers Have to Reverify You Today.

What happened yesterday

The months of rolling court stays and week-by-week EAD extensions are over. On August 14, 2026, USCIS officially announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, effective that same day. Employment Authorization Documents bearing categories A12 or C19 issued to Somalia TPS beneficiaries are no longer valid. The rolling-extension era — where USCIS pushed the deadline through sequential updates on July 1, July 17, July 29, August 3, August 5, August 10, and August 12 — ended without another extension.

On August 14, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs lifted her stay on the termination. The same day, USCIS posted the official termination notice. For people who have been watching the USCIS alerts page and watching each new update come out, the difference between this one and the prior ones is simple: this time there is no new expiration date.

This is the end of a legal battle that began in early 2026. The Trump administration announced its intent to terminate Somalia TPS when the designation was set to expire in March 2026. A federal district court in Massachusetts immediately stayed that termination in African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al., No. 26-cv-11201. USCIS spent the following months issuing sequential alerts keeping the EADs valid — each for a few days — until the August 14 lifting of the stay.

How the Supreme Court made this possible

The case that changed the legal landscape was Mullin v. Doe, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25, 2026. That ruling permitted the Trump administration to proceed with TPS terminations for Haiti and Syria, which lower courts had blocked. Once Mullin v. Doe came down, the Somalia TPS litigation — African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al., No. 26-cv-11201 (D. Mass.) — lost the legal foundation that had been sustaining the stay.

Before Mullin v. Doe, district courts had held that the administration's TPS termination decisions were legally vulnerable under the Administrative Procedure Act. The Supreme Court's June 25 ruling resolved that question in the administration's favor. With the basis for the stay gone, Judge Burroughs had no grounds to maintain it, and on August 14 the stay came down.

The Mullin v. Doe ruling does not just affect Somalia. It is the mechanism that makes TPS termination enforceable for any country where the administration has attempted it and faced lower-court blocking. Somalia's termination is the most recent instance of that enforcement; others have already occurred or are in the pipeline for the same reason.

Which EADs are now invalid

EADs carry category codes printed on the face of the card. The categories issued specifically to Somalia TPS beneficiaries are A12, which stands for Temporary Protected Status, and C19, which covers people with pending TPS renewal applications. Any Somalia TPS holder who presented one of these cards as their I-9 work authorization document is now holding expired documentation.

Somalia's TPS population is relatively small — approximately 700 approved beneficiaries at the time of termination, a fraction of the size of larger TPS-designated groups like Haiti or Venezuela. But for those 700 individuals and the employers who hired them based on their TPS status, the termination is immediate and concrete. USCIS has not announced any additional wind-down period beyond what the court-ordered extensions already provided.

If you are a Somalia TPS holder and you are not sure which category your EAD is in, look at the card itself. The category code is printed in the lower-left section of the card. An A12 or C19 code on a Somalia TPS EAD means that card is no longer valid work authorization as of August 14, 2026.

What employers have to do today

The USCIS August 14 announcement included specific employer instructions: employers must reverify Somalia TPS beneficiaries who presented A12 or C19 EADs on their original I-9. An employer may not continue employing a worker who cannot provide currently valid work authorization.

Reverification means completing Section 3 of the existing I-9 with new, valid documentation. The employee needs to present a document that currently authorizes them to work in the United States. If they cannot — if TPS was their only basis for work authorization and they have not obtained a different immigration status — the employer cannot legally continue the employment relationship.

The timeline here is not a grace period and not advisory. August 14 is the termination date. An employer who continues to employ someone whose only work authorization was a Somalia TPS EAD after August 14 is out of compliance with federal employment authorization law. Employers who hired workers under Somalia TPS need to go through their I-9 files now, identify who falls in this category, and initiate reverification without delay.

What Somalia TPS holders can actually do

Being told your status has terminated does not mean your only option is to leave the United States. It means TPS is no longer a source of protection or work authorization, and you need to establish a different legal basis if you are going to remain. The options vary significantly depending on individual circumstances, and what works for one person may not be available to another.

Asylum is one path, particularly for people who have a genuine, well-founded fear of persecution in Somalia based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Somalia's instability over many decades means a number of former TPS holders may have credible asylum claims. Asylum requires presenting evidence of the fear, and the asylum docket is heavily backlogged — but filing a defensible case creates a protection period while it is pending.

Family-based green cards are available to people with qualifying relationships to U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Not every TPS holder has this option, but for those who do, the family relationship exists independently of TPS and can be pursued now. Cancellation of removal is a form of relief available in immigration court to certain long-term residents who can show ten years of continuous U.S. presence, good moral character, and that removal would cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a qualifying U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, or child. Some long-term Somalia TPS holders may meet the continuous presence threshold given the designation has been in place since the early 1990s, though this relief is only available in immigration court proceedings. Voluntary departure allows someone to leave by a court-set deadline rather than under a formal removal order, preserving the option of future return on a visa without the bars that attach to a formal removal.

This article is informational only and does not constitute legal advice. Which immigration options are available to any individual depends entirely on their specific facts. Anyone in this situation should consult a licensed immigration attorney to understand what realistic paths exist and how to move quickly before options narrow.

Somalia has had TPS for over thirty years

Somalia was originally designated for TPS in 1991, making it one of the longest-running TPS designations in U.S. history. The designation has been renewed through Republican and Democratic administrations alike, reflecting the persistent instability of conditions in Somalia over that entire period. For many beneficiaries, TPS has been the only legal basis for their presence in the United States for most or all of their adult lives.

The Trump administration's current effort to terminate Somalia TPS follows the same path it has used across TPS-designated countries: announcing termination when the designation period expires, facing litigation, and now using the Supreme Court's Mullin v. Doe ruling to enforce the termination over those challenges. The courts stayed the termination for months. Now that the stay is gone, the termination is in effect.

What this means for other TPS countries

Somalia is not an isolated case. Mullin v. Doe changed the legal calculus for TPS terminations across the board. Haiti and Syria are already in the same position following the June 25 ruling. Other countries where the current administration has declined to extend TPS designations — including Venezuela and Ukraine — are watching the Somalia outcome closely.

The practical significance of Mullin v. Doe is that lower courts can no longer effectively block TPS terminations through stays on the legal theory that was previously available. The Supreme Court resolved the core question. For TPS holders from any country where termination has been announced or is under consideration, the Somalia termination is a concrete illustration of what enforcement looks like once the legal path is cleared.

The thing people get wrong about what happens next

Forum discussions after this announcement focus on whether new legal actions will emerge, whether Congress might act, or whether conditions in Somalia could prompt reconsideration. These are real questions. But none of them changes what is true today: TPS for Somalia is terminated, the EADs are invalid, and the legal authority to continue working on those EADs is gone.

For affected TPS holders, the useful move is to consult an immigration attorney immediately to review what options exist based on your specific facts. Waiting to see how things develop is a strategy that compresses whatever window remains. Asylum, family-based petitions, cancellation of removal, voluntary departure — each has procedural requirements and timelines that take time to navigate. Starting now while options are still open is materially different from starting after a Notice to Appear arrives and you are already in removal proceedings.