El Salvador TPS I-9 and E-Verify Entries

The deadline is the entry point

For covered employees with El Salvador Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a federal immigration designation, the I-9 form and E-Verify, the federal employment verification system, should show the authorized expiration date. Then the file should move to a currently valid document after that date. The exact date and the follow-up document are the parts that keep the file defensible.

The first event is the end date. USCIS, the federal immigration agency, designated September 9, 2026 as the end date for El Salvador Temporary Protected Status. The employer’s job is to make that date visible in the record before it becomes an issue.

USCIS issued a September 3, 2026 I-9 Central Alert that supplemented an earlier August 12, 2026 notice for El Salvador. The alert matters because it tells the file what to write when the work authorization is already known to be ending.

USCIS permitted certain Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries to present expired A12 or C19 EADs with an individual notice as proof of work authorization only through September 9, 2026. That permission is narrow.

Before you write anything, confirm the employee is covered by the El Salvador TPS wind-down. If the employee is not covered, the date in the file may be different, and the note should not be copied.

The covered group is the group whose work authorization is tied to the designation. The file should say that plainly, but it should not become a biographical summary.

Keep the note short enough that a reviewer can read it in one pass. Keep it to the covered wind-down and the reason for the date.

The rule turns the date into a file

The rule is simple once the date is fixed: the record must show the authorized end, and the next step must be a currently valid document. The employer does not guess, extend, or backdate.

The I-9 entry matters because it gives the auditor a date that matches the published wind-down, not a payroll date or a manager’s estimate. The note matters because it explains why that date is in the file.

The E-Verify entry matters because it keeps the electronic case consistent with the form. If the two records disagree, the file invites a question that is harder to answer later.

Do not use the expiration date as a termination date. It is the last day the old authorization is recognized, not the day the employment relationship must end.

The note should not request a particular document. The employee chooses, and the employer records what is presented.

The workaround is a clean refile

The workaround continues the existing file with a currently valid document. The employee chooses the document; the employer checks the category.

Use the list below when the covered employee’s authorization is tied to the El Salvador TPS termination. Each item is a field or trigger, not a legal conclusion.

• Section 1 expiration date reads September 9, 2026.
• Section 2 expiration date reads September 9, 2026.
• The Additional Information field notes the covered El Salvador TPS wind-down.
• The E-Verify case uses the same September 9, 2026 expiration date.
• The reverification trigger is the day after September 9, 2026.
• Supplement B uses an unexpired List A or List C document.
• No new E-Verify case is created for the reverification.

The first three items protect the form. They put the authorized date where an auditor will look first, and they explain why the date is not a typo.

The fourth item protects the electronic case. It keeps the case consistent with the form, which is what makes the record defensible.

The last three items protect the continuation of employment. They move the file from an expired authorization to a currently valid one without creating a duplicate case.

The refile should happen after the old authorization stops being sufficient. It should not happen before, because the old document may still be the one the file is supposed to show.

Do not create a new case for the reverification. The existing case connects the original hire to the continued employment.

If the employee cannot produce a currently valid document, the file cannot support continued employment. The next step is a documented decision about continued employment.