The department also said TPS will be extended 18 months for people from South Sudan. | Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images Homeland Security: Sudanese and South Sudanese may stay longer in U.S.

The Homeland Security Department will allow Sudanese nationals who enjoy protected status to remain in the U.S. 12 months longer.

The extension of so-called Temporary Protected Status — granted to foreigners whose countries are beset by natural disasters, conflicts and other “extraordinary” events — will allow for "an orderly transition" before that status ends in November 2018, DHS said. When a country receives TPS, any nationals who are in the U.S. at the time of the designation may apply for a work permit.


Sudan has been ravaged by war and political instability since the 1990s, when it became a haven for Al Qaeda. More recently, it's suffered heavy flooding.

The department also said TPS will be extended 18 months for people from South Sudan, a separate nation from Sudan, guaranteeing South Sudanese nationals protected status until May 2019. DHS said the “ongoing armed conflict” in South Sudan warranted an extension of the program.

Sudan received TPS status in November 1997, and South Sudan received it in November 2011.

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In May the Trump administration extended TPS for Haiti by six months, protecting Haitian nationals through Jan. 2018. Haiti has had TPS since January 2010, when the island nation suffered a devastating earthquake.

Ten countries are covered under TPS. At the end of 2016 roughly 1039 Sudanese nationals and 49 South Sudan nationals were in the U.S. under TPS.

