Sponsors (7)
Official title: To provide temporary protected status and employment authorization to certain Iranian nationals adversely affected by the adjudication pause of December 2025, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 12, 2026 by Yassamin Ansari · Last progress May 12, 2026
The bill quickly restores work authorization, TPS-style protections, and clearer timelines for many Iranian nationals with paused immigration cases—providing economic and humanitarian relief and stronger oversight—while imposing administrative costs, leaving many narrowly defined categories ineligible, and raising security and fairness concerns.
Iranian nationals with paused or pending USCIS applications (and their families) can remain lawfully in the U.S., obtain temporary protection/TPS and work authorization, avoid accrual of unlawful presence (reducing 3‑ and 10‑year reentry bars), and access advance parole travel protections.
Highly skilled Iranian professionals and other eligible workers can keep working quickly because interim EADs, expedited adjudication targets, and employer liability protections prevent employment gaps, preserving income, economic output, and small-business staffing stability.
Applicants and agencies get clearer statutory rules and predictable timelines—definitions of an 'adjudication pause', specified covered application types, 30‑day/90‑day adjudication targets, and required interim/final rules—reducing uncertainty about who is covered and how remedies are implemented.
Many Iranian nationals and families will remain excluded because eligibility is narrowly drawn—felony/multiple misdemeanor bars, a strict continuous‑presence cutoff (Dec 2, 2025), a physical‑presence‑on‑enactment requirement, and exclusions tied to Iranian government/IRGC links—creating hardship, separation, and deportation risk for recent arrivals or those with disqualifying records.
USCIS/DHS and taxpayers will face increased administrative and implementation costs and strained staff resources from rapid processing deadlines, reporting requirements, automatic extensions, and expanded interim operations; this can divert resources from other adjudications.
Providing protections to nationals of a state currently hostile to U.S. interests and limiting certain enforcement options (e.g., excluding TPS periods from unlawful presence) may raise national security concerns or be perceived as inconsistent with enforcement and foreign-policy priorities.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Creates an 18-month, renewable TPS program and expedited work authorization for Iranian nationals whose USCIS applications were paused beginning Dec 1, 2025, with reporting and rulemaking requirements.
Creates a time-limited Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program specifically for Iranian nationals in the United States whose immigration benefit applications were paused by USCIS beginning December 1, 2025. Eligible people can apply for TPS, receive expedited adjudications and interim employment authorization, be protected from removal and accrual of unlawful presence during covered periods, and have access to advance parole; the designation initially lasts 18 months and may be extended in 6-month increments while the “adjudication pause” or destabilizing conditions persist. The bill requires fast deadlines for agency action (interim rule in 30 days, final rule in 180 days), periodic public reports to Judiciary Committees on paused applications and TPS adjudications, and specific employer protections for hiring individuals during EAD gaps caused by the adjudication pause.