WASHINGTON -- Several times a week, Maria Hlyten logs into her US immigration account looking for an update that could determine the course of her life.
So far, there is nothing new.
The 24-year-old Ukrainian social-media creator and activist has lived in the United States since September 2022, after spending the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Kyiv and its suburbs. She came to the US on a J-1 academic exchange, later qualified for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and has since built a life in the country.
That protection is due to expire on October 19, and she says there is still no clear guidance about what Ukrainians should do next.
“If you ask me what I’m going to do on October 19, I don’t know,” Hlyten told RFE/RL.
The uncertainty extends to an estimated 101,000 Ukrainians covered by TPS, which allows them to remain in the US and work legally while the designation is in effect.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a US humanitarian program that lets eligible nationals of designated countries stay and work in the United States for a limited period when conditions at home -- armed conflict, disaster, or other extraordinary circumstances -- make returning unsafe.
A bipartisan group of 31 senators is pressing the Trump administration to extend TPS for Ukraine for another 18 months and redesignate the country for the program.
In a September 22 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the lawmakers said conditions in Ukraine remain dangerous enough to warrant continued protection and argued that Ukrainian TPS holders have also become an important part of the US workforce.
"We strongly urge you to issue an 18-month extension and redesignation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ukraine prior to the impending October 19, 2026, termination date," the letter said.
"Protecting the approximately 101,000 Ukrainian TPS holders currently living in the United States is a humanitarian imperative, but also a sound economic decision."
The State Department referred RFE/RL’s questions about TPS for Ukraine to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not comment.
For Hlyten, the debate in Washington is not an abstract immigration-policy question.
“I’m checking...my [US immigration account] to see whether there are any updates,” she said. “Everything right now seems to be up to the administration.”
'Nobody Knows What To Do'
While in the US, Hlyten has become involved in Ukrainian advocacy and volunteered as a legislative intern in a Republican lawmaker’s office on Capitol Hill. Because of that work, friends and other Ukrainians often ask her for information about TPS.
But she has little to tell them. “People tend to ask me questions, like maybe I know something more,” she said. “Unfortunately,” she added, there is still no clear guidance about what they should do if TPS expires.
The uncertainty affects much more than immigration paperwork. Hlyten said people are worried about jobs, health insurance, leases, and the practical arrangements involved in leaving the US. “It’s not just like you pack your backpack and go,” she said.
Some Ukrainians she knows have already left rather than risk waiting for the decision. Families with children have tended to go to European countries, she said, while some people traveling alone have returned to Ukraine.
Others may have nowhere to return to. “There are people who cannot come back because their homes were destroyed,” Hlyten said.
She considers herself fortunate because her family is alive and her home in Kyiv is still standing.
But that does not mean returning would be safe. Her family spent much of last winter without electricity, she said, and she sent them a generator. Not everyone can afford one.
Push In The Senate
The group of senators is pressing the Trump administration for an extension of TPS for Ukraine but also a redesignation.
An extension would preserve protection for people already covered by the program. The redesignation would potentially make Ukrainians who arrived after the cutoff for the current designation eligible for TPS.
The lawmakers' letter to the administration says conditions in Ukraine have not sufficiently improved to justify ending the protection. It cites continuing civilian casualties, damage to critical infrastructure and displacement, and says Ukrainians returning now could face dangerous conditions.
The senators also argue that TPS has economic consequences in the United States. They say the Ukrainian TPS holders contribute about $2.6 billion to the US economy each year and pay roughly $716 million in taxes.
"Ukrainian TPS holders contribute greatly to our communities, both culturally and economically," the letter says, adding that "the facts on the ground [in Ukraine] paint a clear picture: sending Ukrainians back now would risk returning them to life threatening conditions."
Maryna Baydyuk, president of the nonprofit United Help Ukraine, said the economic and humanitarian considerations are intertwined.
“Ukrainians with TPS have built real lives here -- they work, pay taxes,” Baydyuk told RFE/RL.
But she warned that many would have nowhere safe to return to. “Extending and redesignating TPS isn't just a policy decision -- it's the difference between safety and sending families back into an active war zone,” she said.
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of the New Jersey-based humanitarian organization Hope For Ukraine, called the deadline “an urgent race against time.”
Pressure From Both Parties
The Senate letter was led by Democrat Tammy Duckworth and signed by other senators, including Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
Other Republicans, including Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick and Mike Lawler, have also supported extending TPS for Ukrainians.
The support across party lines is notable as Congress and the administration have debated TPS designations for other countries.
“This is bipartisan,” Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, told RFE/RL. “I think [Ukrainians] should remain in the United States,” he said, citing continuing Russian missile and munitions attacks. “There’s no reason why they need to be sent back.”
Democrat Senator Cory Booker also said the program should continue. “It should be extended, very clearly,” Booker told RFE/RL. “To not do so would be cruel. To not do so is un-American, and I’m going to do everything we can to get that deadline extended.”
The Trump administration has not publicly indicated what decision it will make or when it will make it.
For Hlyten, the stakes are personal but the uncertainty is shared by a much larger community.
For now, she is left with the same question confronting thousands of other Ukrainians in the US: What happens on October 19?
“Nobody knows what to do,” she said.
