TPS and a green card through EB-1A or NIW: can I file?

An I-140 with TPS and the 'inspected and admitted or paroled' test

An I-140 petition under EB-1A or NIW weighs your record, not the way you entered. You can file it with TPS. The question is the next step: where to get the green card, inside the US on Form I-485 or through a consulate.

For an I-485 the statute sets a threshold test (INA 245(a)): the person was inspected and admitted or paroled. In 2021 the Supreme Court held unanimously in Sanchez v. Mayorkas that TPS does not meet this test. Status and admission are different concepts: TPS gives status but does not turn an entry without inspection into an admission. The USCIS Policy Manual (Volume 7, Part B, Chapter 2, current as of Oct 27, 2026) repeats that holding.

What follows. Someone who entered on a visa or on parole, for example under U4U, meets the 245(a) test through that entry, and TPS does no harm here. Someone who crossed the border without inspection cannot file an I-485 on TPS alone.

The second test applies only to employment-based categories: lawful nonimmigrant status on the filing day. TPS covers it while it is in effect. But the Policy Manual notes that TPS does not cure earlier gaps in status. That bar is covered in detail in the question about an I-485 from U4U parole, linked below.

Travel on TPS authorization: how it affects an I-485

With TPS you may leave only with travel authorization obtained in advance: Form I-131, document I-512T. USCIS warns that leaving without authorization can cost you TPS itself and the ability to return.

The USCIS memo of Jul 1, 2022 (PM-602-0188) rescinded the earlier decision Matter of Z-R-Z-C-. Under the current Policy Manual, a TPS holder who returns from authorized travel is inspected and admitted into TPS. That return counts as 'inspected and admitted' for INA 245(a), even if the person was in the country without admission before TPS. The Policy Manual has a table by departure date: for travel on or after Jul 1, 2022 the answer is yes.

As of Nov 11, 2026 this rule is in force: the Policy Manual chapter with that table is dated Oct 27, 2026. For travel before Jul 1, 2022 USCIS decides case by case and checks, among other things, that TPS was not withdrawn and the country's designation did not end during the trip.

Two caveats from the same sources. Authorized travel does not execute an outstanding removal order. And for people who were earlier paroled in, USCIS adds: after an admission into TPS you cannot get a new period of parole.

O-1 with TPS: a change of status inside the US

The statute puts TPS alongside nonimmigrant statuses for a change of status too: under INA 244(f)(4) a TPS holder is considered to be in lawful nonimmigrant status for sections 245 and 248. The USCIS TPS page confirms that TPS does not prevent applying for nonimmigrant status.

But section 248 speaks of a person 'lawfully admitted as a nonimmigrant'. Someone who entered on a visa and later got TPS fits those words. For people who entered on parole and were never admitted, the sources we read give no direct answer: not the statute, not the Policy Manual, not the USCIS change of status page. This point is not confirmed, and it is decided in the individual case.

If a change of status inside the US is not granted, O-1 is still possible: the I-129 petition is approved and the visa is issued at a consulate abroad. For a TPS holder that is a trip with every condition from the previous section.

TPS itself does not lead to a green card: the USCIS page says so directly. So the EB-1A or NIW petition and the status you wait in have to be planned separately.

TPS for Ukraine as of Nov 11, 2026

The USCIS page on TPS for Ukraine shows the designation through Oct 19, 2026. That date has passed. The last Federal Register notice on Ukraine is the extension of Jan 17, 2025 (90 FR 5936); a search on Nov 11, 2026 finds no newer notice.

At the top of the page USCIS has an alert: an announcement on Ukraine's TPS will be made at the appropriate time, and until then Ukrainians in the US under TPS retain protection, including work authorization. The page was updated on Oct 19, 2026.

USCIS does not explain what this means for an I-485 or a change of status. Both rules need TPS to be 'in effect' on the filing day, and official pages do not say how USCIS will treat this period. This is not confirmed. Until the announcement, watch the USCIS page and the Federal Register.