A federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked two USCIS policies built on last year’s budget law, protecting the work permits of Temporary Protected Status holders and shielding asylum applicants who have not paid a new annual fee.
What Happened
On July 21, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted in part an emergency motion for an administrative stay in Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS, Case No. 26-cv-13038-NMG. USCIS confirmed the order in a public alert on its newsroom page.
The plaintiffs are membership organizations representing people who hold Temporary Protected Status and people with pending asylum applications. They challenged the way USCIS was implementing H.R. 1, the Reconciliation Act of 2025, widely known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
What the Order Blocks
The stay covers two distinct policies, according to the order as summarized by USCIS and by the law firms Fragomen, Berry Appleman and Leiden, and Erickson Immigration Group.
TPS work permit expiration dates. USCIS may not apply H.R. 1 to shorten TPS-based employment authorization document expiration dates. Any previously extended TPS-based EAD keeps its earlier expiration date.
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Annual asylum fee penalties. USCIS may not reject a pending asylum application solely because the annual asylum fee went unpaid, may not terminate asylum-based employment authorization solely for nonpayment, and may not initiate removal proceedings solely because an applicant failed to pay.
Who Is Affected
TPS holders whose employment authorization documents were extended and then cut short under the new reading of the law. Asylum applicants facing the annual asylum fee created by H.R. 1. And employers who run I-9 reverification on affected workers and may have flagged them for termination.
What This Means for You
Check the expiration date printed on your EAD and compare it against any notice you received. If a notice shortened your work permit, this order restores the earlier date for now.
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Keep every notice you have been sent. If an employer questions your work authorization, the printed EAD, the court order, and the USCIS alert are the documents to point to.
Do not treat the fee as canceled. The order blocks penalties for nonpayment. It does not eliminate the fee itself. If you can pay, paying preserves your options.
Employers should pause adverse action. Do not terminate or suspend a worker based on a shortened TPS EAD date without legal advice.
Watch the calendar. This is an administrative stay, not a final ruling, and it was designed to hold the line only briefly.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.
What Comes Next
The court said it would take up the plaintiffs’ request for a longer-term stay on a non-emergency basis by August 5, 2026. That decision determines whether these protections continue past the emergency window, and it is the date every affected TPS holder and asylum applicant should be watching.
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