Updated November 7, 2026

Can TPS Holders Get a Green Card? Adjustment Rules After Sanchez v. Mayorkas

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) does not give you an automatic path to a green card. Under the U.S. Supreme Court's June 7, 2021 ruling in Sanchez v. Mayorkas, a TPS grant by itself does not count as a lawful admission for Form I-485 adjustment of status. However, USCIS says TPS holders can still get a green card inside the United States if they have a qualifying family or employment petition.

To do so, they must have been lawfully inspected and admitted on a prior entry, or have traveled abroad and returned with DHS authorization on Form I-512T under USCIS policy effective July 1, 2022.

Can TPS holders get a green card?

Yes, if you qualify through a separate immigrant path. The USCIS Temporary Protected Status page explains that TPS is a temporary benefit that protects you from removal and lets you apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) on Form I-765, but it does not lead to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status on its own.

Holding TPS does not stop you from applying for a green card through another legal basis. To adjust status inside the United States on Form I-485 under Section 245(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), Volume 7, Part B, Chapter 2 of the USCIS Policy Manual lists two core threshold requirements: you must have an eligible immigrant visa petition with a visa immediately available, and you must have been inspected and admitted or inspected and paroled into the United States before filing.

TPS beneficiaries who apply for a green card qualify through one of these independent petitions:

• Family-based petitions (Form I-130): Filed by a U.S. citizen immediate relative (spouse, unmarried child under 21, or son or daughter who is at least 21 years old petitioning for a parent) or a family-preference relative.
• Employment-based petitions (Form I-140): Filed by a U.S. employer for priority workers, professionals with advanced degrees, or skilled workers, or self-petitioned where allowed.
• Special immigrant or humanitarian petitions (Form I-360): Including Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners and Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ).
• Asylum (Form I-589): Granted asylees adjust under a separate statute, INA 209(b), rather than INA 245(a). USCIS notes on its TPS webpage that holding and maintaining TPS counts as an extraordinary circumstance that stops the clock on the one-year asylum filing deadline if the one-year clock had not already expired.

Sanchez v. Mayorkas (2021): Why TPS is not an admission

For years, federal appeals courts disagreed on whether receiving TPS inside the United States counted as being "inspected and admitted" under INA 245(a) for people who originally crossed the border without inspection. In 2021, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court settled the question in Sanchez v. Mayorkas, holding that a grant of TPS is not an admission.

The case involved Jose Santos Sanchez, a citizen of El Salvador who entered the United States unlawfully without inspection, received TPS in 2001, and applied to adjust status to permanent resident in 2014 through an employment petition. He argued that because INA 244(f)(4) says a TPS holder "shall be considered as being in, and maintaining, lawful status as a nonimmigrant" for adjustment of status, the law also treated him as lawfully admitted.

The Supreme Court rejected that reading and separated "lawful status" from "admission." Under INA 101(a)(13)(A), an admission means the lawful entry of a foreign national into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer. Giving someone nonimmigrant status while they are already inside the country does not change how they entered. Because Sanchez was never inspected and admitted at a port of entry, his TPS grant alone could not make him eligible to adjust status on Form I-485.

As noted in the USCIS Policy Manual, Sanchez overruled earlier decisions from the Sixth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits (Flores, Velasquez, and Ramirez) that had treated a TPS grant as an admission. Following the Supreme Court's ruling, a TPS grant does not count as an admission in any federal circuit. However, USCIS confirms that applicants who already became lawful permanent residents under those Sixth, Eighth, or Ninth Circuit rules before the ruling remain lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

Who can still adjust status without leaving the US?

Sanchez v. Mayorkas only blocked TPS holders from using the TPS grant itself as their admission. If you already have an independent lawful entry, or belong to a category exempt from the admission rule, the USCIS Policy Manual explains that you can still apply for adjustment of status inside the United States.

How INA 245(a) and the INA 245(c) adjustment bars apply depends on how you last entered and who is petitioning for you:

TPS to Green Card Adjustment Eligibility by Entry and Petition Type (USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part B, Chapter 2)

How each direct adjustment path works

1. Lawful entry plus an immediate relative petition. If you last entered the United States with a valid visa (such as a B-2 visitor or F-1 student visa), were waved through at a port of entry as an alien, or entered on parole, you already satisfy the "inspected and admitted or paroled" requirement. Even if you overstayed your visa or worked without permission before receiving TPS, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of U.S. citizens who are 21 or older) are exempt by statute from the INA 245(c)(2) and 245(c)(8) bars for failing to maintain continuous lawful status or working without authorization.

2. Lawful entry plus continuous lawful status. For family-preference categories and employment-based petitions outside the 180-day exemption, an inspected entry is not enough on its own. Under INA 244(f)(4), TPS counts as maintaining lawful nonimmigrant status only while TPS is in effect. The USCIS Policy Manual states that TPS does not cure any previous failure to continuously maintain lawful status. If you entered in valid nonimmigrant status, moved directly into TPS with zero days out of status and no unauthorized work, and kept TPS continuously, you can meet both INA 245(a) and INA 245(c).

3. Employment-based petitions under INA 245(k). If you are adjusting in the EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, or EB-4 religious worker category, INA 245(k) excuses status violations and unauthorized employment as long as they total 180 days or less since your most recent lawful admission. As the Supreme Court pointed out in Sanchez, INA 245(k) requires presence "pursuant to a lawful admission," so parole alone does not trigger 245(k) relief.

4. Categories exempt from the admission requirement. You do not need to show you were inspected and admitted or paroled if you are adjusting as a VAWA self-petitioner or under INA 245(i). Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ) with an approved Form I-360 are treated by statute as having been paroled into the United States for adjustment purposes, regardless of how they arrived.

Form I-512T TPS travel authorization and the rescission of Matter of Z-R-Z-C-

If you initially entered the United States without inspection, authorized travel abroad under INA 244(f)(3) is the primary way to satisfy the "inspected and admitted" requirement for Form I-485. Under Section 304(c) of the Miscellaneous and Technical Immigration and Naturalization Amendments of 1991 (MTINA), enacted December 12, 1991, a TPS beneficiary who travels abroad temporarily with prior DHS consent and returns according to that authorization must be "inspected and admitted in the same immigration status the alien had at the time of departure."

On August 20, 2020, USCIS adopted an Administrative Appeals Office decision called Matter of Z-R-Z-C-, which treated returning TPS travelers as if they had never left the country and held that their return did not count as a parole or an admission under INA 245(a). In 2022, USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0188, rescinding Matter of Z-R-Z-C- nationwide and aligning agency policy with the Fifth Circuit's ruling in Duarte v. Mayorkas and a formal legal opinion from the DHS Office of the General Counsel. Under this updated policy:

• New travel document (Form I-512T): USCIS stopped issuing Advance Parole (Form I-512L) to existing TPS beneficiaries and introduced Form I-512T, Authorization for Travel by an Alien to the United States. Applicants with a pending initial TPS application who need to travel still receive Form I-512L. You request either document by filing Form I-131 before leaving the United States.
• Effect of returning on Form I-512T: When you return with a valid Form I-512T, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the port of entry inspects you and, if eligible, admits you into TPS. USCIS treats you as "inspected and admitted" for adjustment of status under INA 245(a) and "present in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission" for INA 245(k), even if you originally entered without inspection.
• No unlawful presence departure bar: Because USCIS applies the Board of Immigration Appeals holding in Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly to TPS-authorized travel, leaving temporarily with prior DHS authorization on Form I-512T does not count as a "departure" that triggers the unlawful presence bar under INA 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II).
• Four warnings before you travel: Never leave without Form I-512T in hand, or you may lose TPS and be unable to reenter. Second, under INA 245(c)(2) and 245(c)(8), departure and return do not erase past unauthorized work or status violations for non-exempt family-preference applicants. Third, travel with TPS authorization does not execute an outstanding removal order, and being admitted into TPS means an immigration judge (EOIR) rather than USCIS may have jurisdiction over your Form I-485 if you are in proceedings. Fourth, under PM-602-0188, departing and again seeking admission into TPS can trigger inadmissibility for Form I-485 under INA 212(a)(6)(B) (missing removal proceedings without reasonable cause within 5 years of departure) or INA 212(a)(9)(A)(ii) (departing under an outstanding removal order without consent to reapply).

How USCIS treats past TPS travel before the 2022 policy change

If you traveled abroad on TPS-based advance parole before the 2022 policy update, how USCIS treats your return depends on when you traveled and where your case is decided. For USCIS to apply its current policy retroactively to a prior trip, your travel must meet four mandatory criteria. First, you obtained prior authorization to travel temporarily based on holding TPS. Second, your TPS was not withdrawn and your country's designation did not expire or terminate during the trip. Third, you returned in accordance with the authorization. Fourth, you were inspected by INS or DHS at a designated port of entry and paroled or permitted to pass into the United States under that TPS authorization.

In the Fifth Circuit (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi), USCIS automatically treats a qualifying reentry as an inspection and admission under Duarte v. Mayorkas, even if your travel paper said Advance Parole (Form I-512L). Outside the Fifth Circuit, the officer first checks whether the difference between admission and parole affects the outcome. That distinction matters for travel during the Matter of Z-R-Z-C- window, or when an employment applicant needs an admission for INA 245(k). In those cases, the officer evaluates the trip case by case using the five-factor Retail Union test. The USCIS Policy Manual states that officers should generally deem the prior parole to be an admission when the applicant meets all other adjustment requirements.

USCIS Historical Treatment of TPS-Authorized Travel (USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part B, Chapter 2)

Step-by-step plan: Checking your TPS green card path

Our team put together this six-step checklist from the USCIS Policy Manual so you can map out your adjustment eligibility before filing any forms:

• Step 1: Verify your country's current TPS status. Check the USCIS Temporary Protected Status page for your country's latest Federal Register notice. As of the October 20, 2026 update on the USCIS TPS page, only four countries are listed under "Countries Currently Designated for TPS" (El Salvador, Lebanon, Sudan, and Ukraine), while others (including Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Venezuela) are listed as previously designated or terminated, some with active appellate litigation. Confirm whether your TPS is active before planning travel or relying on INA 244(f)(4) status.
• Step 2: Identify your qualifying immigrant petition. Confirm whether you are an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, a family-preference beneficiary with an available visa, an employment-based beneficiary, or a VAWA or SIJ petitioner (Form I-360).
• Step 3: Audit your manner of last entry. Locate your Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record, passport admission stamp, Border Crossing Card, or advance parole or Form I-512T stamp. If you entered without inspection and never departed and returned on TPS travel authorization, Sanchez v. Mayorkas bars a direct INA 245(a) filing unless you are exempt under VAWA or INA 245(i).
• Step 4: Check for unexecuted removal orders or prior court history. Before filing Form I-131 for travel authorization, confirm whether you have ever been in removal, deportation, or exclusion proceedings, since traveling on Form I-512T does not execute a removal order and can trigger inadmissibility under INA 212(a)(9)(A)(ii).
• Step 5: Complete Form I-512T travel if needed and eligible. If you have active TPS, no disqualifying removal orders or criminal bars under INA 244(c)(2)(A)(iii), and need a lawful admission, file Form I-131 for a Form I-512T travel document. Wait until Form I-512T is approved before leaving, and return before the document or your TPS designation expires.
• Step 6: File Form I-485 with the required evidence and fees. Once you have an inspected admission and an immediately available immigrant visa, file Form I-485 at the proper USCIS filing location with your signature and the current fee from the USCIS Fee Schedule (Form G-1055) or a Form I-912 fee waiver request where eligible.

What happens at the Form I-485 interview for TPS holders?

Under Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 5 of the USCIS Policy Manual, all adjustment of status applicants must be interviewed by a USCIS officer unless USCIS waives the interview on a case-by-case basis. While USCIS lists parents and unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens among general waiver categories, the Policy Manual instructs service centers to relocate a case to a local field office for an in-person interview when there is a need to validate the applicant's immigration status, or when the applicant entered the United States without inspection or has unresolved issues regarding their manner of entry.

If you initially entered without inspection before traveling on Form I-512T or had gaps in status prior to receiving TPS, you should prepare for an in-person I-485 interview at your local USCIS field office. For family-based applications, USCIS generally requires the relative petitioner and any derivative applicants to appear with you, and our marriage green card interview guide walks through how officers verify a spouse petition.

At the interview, the officer verifies that you understood the questions on Form I-485, lets you update any incorrect or changed answers, and has you re-sign and date the form at the conclusion of the interview. If you are not fluent in English, you may bring an interpreter, who must present a valid government-issued ID, complete an interpreter's oath and privacy release statement (Form G-1256), and translate word-for-word.

[PRACTICE_BOX]

Based on the eligibility rules in Volume 7 of the USCIS Policy Manual, here is what the officer checks regarding your TPS and entry record, and which documents to have ready:

• "How and when did you first enter the United States, and when was your most recent entry?" What it checks: INA 245(a) inspection and admission. Have ready: Your Form I-94, your stamped Form I-512T (or prior Form I-512L advance parole document), and the passport showing your CBP admission stamp into TPS.
• "Were you ever out of status or employed without authorization before or after receiving TPS?" What it checks: Whether the INA 245(c)(2) and 245(c)(8) bars apply, or whether you qualify for an immediate relative or INA 245(k) exemption. Have ready: Your Form I-821 approval notices (Forms I-797) and your EAD cards showing your periods of authorized status and work.
• "Did you ever leave the United States after your continuous physical presence date?" What it checks: Whether your TPS remained valid during travel and whether you met the requirements of MTINA Section 304(c). Have ready: Exact travel dates matching your Form I-485 and copies of every travel document issued to you by USCIS.
• "Have you ever been arrested, convicted, or placed in immigration court proceedings?" What it checks: Admissibility under INA 212(a), TPS disqualifications (one felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the U.S.), and whether USCIS or EOIR has jurisdiction over your Form I-485. Have ready: Certified records for any arrest or conviction, and any immigration judge or BIA orders.
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This is interview practice, not legal advice. For questions about your own case, talk to an immigration attorney. Visaful is not affiliated with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or any government agency.