Ukraine and Sudan TPS Hit Monday Deadline With No DHS Decision, Leaving Florida Families in Limbo

Temporary Protected Status for people from Ukraine and Sudan is scheduled to end Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, and as of the weekend the Department of Homeland Security had still not said whether it will extend, redesignate or terminate either program. The silence leaves roughly 101,000 Ukrainians and about 2,000 Sudanese nationals across the country, including tens of thousands of Ukrainians living in Florida, unsure whether their work permits, driver licenses and protection from deportation survive past the weekend.

Federal immigration law appears to supply a default answer. If the government does not make a timely decision, the statute extends a country's designation automatically for six months. Immigration lawyers and advocacy groups say that is exactly what has happened. But Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not confirmed it, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services still listed Oct. 19 as the end date on its Ukraine page heading into Monday.

What the law says when DHS stays silent

The TPS statute, Section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a), requires the secretary to review conditions in a designated country at least 60 days before its designation expires and decide whether the country still qualifies. For Ukraine and Sudan, that 60-day mark fell on Aug. 20. No decision was published in the Federal Register by then, or since.

The same section says that if the government does not determine by that deadline that a country no longer meets the conditions for TPS, the designation is extended for an additional six months, or for 12 or 18 months at the secretary's discretion. Under that reading, protection for Ukrainians and Sudanese would run to April 19, 2027. The Ukraine Immigration Task Force, an advocacy group, has told members that TPS was extended for six more months by operation of law, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

There is a recent precedent. USCIS says Lebanon's TPS designation was automatically extended for six months, from May 28 through Nov. 27, 2026, after DHS did not act in time, and it published a notice confirming the extension. Lebanon now faces its own Nov. 27 deadline. No comparable notice has been issued for Ukraine or Sudan.

Employer-focused law firms have advised caution. Until USCIS issues guidance, they say, Oct. 19 remains the safer date for Form I-9 and E-Verify purposes. USCIS mailed notices this summer extending certain Ukrainian and Sudanese work permits only through Oct. 19, the end of the current designation.

The Florida community waiting on an answer

Florida became one of the main destinations for Ukrainians who fled after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Spectrum News 13 reported on Oct. 1 that tens of thousands of the roughly 100,000 Ukrainians covered by TPS live in Florida, with sizable communities in Central Florida and South Florida.

Orlando immigration attorney Victoria Shelegina told the station that because no decision was made by the deadline, the law provides an automatic six-month renewal. She also warned that the lack of formal paperwork could cause trouble with practical matters such as renewing driver licenses, keeping jobs and encounters with law enforcement. One Orlando resident the station interviewed, Natalia Panchuk, has a driver license that expires the same day as her TPS.

That is a real concern in Florida. A Florida driver license or ID card issued to a noncitizen is tied to the length of the holder's lawful status, so a license can lapse when the federal date printed in the system passes. Florida's 2023 immigration law also requires private employers with 25 or more workers to verify new hires through E-Verify, which reads from the same federal records. If those systems still show Oct. 19, workers could be caught between what the statute says and what a screen at a tax collector's office or human resources department shows.

Who is covered

Ukraine was first designated for TPS on April 19, 2022, and Sudan on the same date. Both countries were extended and redesignated in 2023 and extended again in January 2025 for 18 months, through Oct. 19, 2026. When DHS announced the January 2025 extension, it estimated that about 103,700 Ukrainians could re-register.

The key dates for the two programs and for Lebanon are below.

In early October, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that the administration had made a preliminary decision to extend Ukraine's status, citing two people familiar with the White House's plans. No length or terms were announced, and DHS did not respond to States Newsroom's request for comment on Ukraine or Sudan before the deadline.

Pressure from Congress, and where Florida lawmakers stand

On Sept. 22, a bipartisan group of 31 senators led by Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth wrote to Mullin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the former Florida senator, urging an 18-month extension and a redesignation that would also cover Ukrainians who arrived after Oct. 20, 2023. Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine signed. The letter said Ukrainian TPS holders contribute about $2.6 billion a year to the economy and about $716 million in annual taxes, and work in transportation, health care and construction.

Neither of Florida's senators, Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, signed the letter, according to the signature list released by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's office. The Florida Press found no public statement from either senator on Ukrainian TPS before the deadline.

In the House, a bipartisan bill introduced Oct. 5 would redesignate Ukraine for TPS through July 1, 2029. Its cosponsors include Democrat Jason Crow of Colorado and Republican Don Bacon of Nebraska, and a companion bill has been filed in the Senate. Florida House members have been more active on TPS for other nationalities. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston introduced the TPS Review Act in July with 58 original cosponsors to restore court and congressional review of TPS decisions, and Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Miami and Darren Soto of Kissimmee joined her in leading a Venezuela TPS bill. The Florida Press found no public statement on the Ukraine deadline from Salazar or from Rep. Jared Moskowitz.

Florida has seen this before with Venezuela and Haiti

For many Florida families, the Ukraine deadline echoes the fights over Venezuelan and Haitian TPS, two programs with deep roots in South Florida. The administration moved in 2025 to end both. After a series of lower-court rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court let the Venezuela termination take effect while appeals continued, and on June 25, 2026, it ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Doe that the administration could end TPS for Haiti and Syria. The majority held that the TPS statute bars courts from reviewing most non-constitutional challenges to a designation or termination.

That ruling matters for Ukrainians and Sudanese as well. It means a termination decision, if one comes, would be very hard to challenge in court. On Oct. 5, the justices also sent a Ninth Circuit ruling on Venezuelan and Haitian TPS back to that court for reconsideration in light of Mullin v. Doe. Florida, home to the nation's largest Haitian community and a large Venezuelan population centered in Doral, has already absorbed the loss of work authorization for thousands of residents under those terminations.

What's next

Monday is the date to watch. DHS could still publish a Federal Register notice extending, redesignating or ending either program, or it could say nothing and let the statutory six-month extension stand. If the extension holds, the next decision point for Ukraine and Sudan would come 60 days before April 19, 2027. Lebanon's designation, meanwhile, expires Nov. 27, and its 60-day review window has already passed.

For Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders in Florida, the practical signals will be the USCIS country pages, the Federal Register and any updated guidance to employers using E-Verify. Until DHS speaks, the statute and the agency's own systems point in different directions, and attorneys such as Shelegina say the gap is where problems with jobs and licenses are most likely to surface.