The Biden administration on Friday announced a major extension to the temporary legal status of Ukrainians already living in the United States, granting respite to those who fled the Russian invasion.

The move is expected to make 166,700 Ukrainians eligible for temporary protected status, up from about 26,000 currently, the Ministry of Homeland Security said. To be eligible, Ukrainians must have been in the United States on August 16, two days before the announcement. They are eligible for a work permit.

The temporary status was originally supposed to expire on October 1. April 19, 2023, but will be extended by 18 months until April 19, 2025.

Russia’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing humanitarian crisis require the United States to continue providing security and protection to Ukrainians who may not be able to return to their country, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.

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Also Friday, Homeland Security extended temporary protected status to Sudanese who were in the United States on Aug. 16, saying violent clashes in April have fueled instability. It estimated that an additional 2,750 Sudanese would qualify, bringing the total to 3,950. The new expiry date of 19 April 2025 marks the 16th extension since temporary status was first granted to Sudanese in 1997.

Since the military takeover and recent violent clashes, Sudan has faced political instability and ongoing conflict that has led to a humanitarian crisis, Mayorkas said.

The expansions come as the government grants temporary protected status to people from a growing number of countries, including Cameroon, Haiti and Venezuela, as part of a carrot-and-stick approach to immigration that combines more legal entry on humanitarian grounds with more punitive measures against all. entering the country illegally.

A 1990 law allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to grant status in increments of up to 18 months to people already in the United States whose countries are affected by civil war or natural disaster and are deemed unsafe for return.

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Ukrainians were first granted temporary protected status immediately after the invasion of Russia. The government added a humanitarian slogan for those not in the United States, a move it considered so successful that it later did the same for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Friday’s announcement gives additional time to Ukrainians whose two-year parole was due to expire early next year.

Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans face more uncertainty.

Texas and other Republican-led states are challenging the slogan for up to 30,000 people a month from those four countries, but not contesting the status of Ukrainians. A trial is scheduled for next week in Victoria, Texas.

Ukrainian immigrants are widely distributed across the United States, with the largest concentrations in New York, Chicago, Seattle, and Sacramento

,

metropolitan areas.