ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The US Department of Homeland Security on Friday ended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Syrian migrants, giving them a 60-day window to return to their homeland or risk facing arrest and permanent deportation.

“Conditions in Syria no longer prevent their nationals from returning home. Syria has been a hotbed of terrorism and extremism for nearly two decades, and it is contrary to our national interest to allow Syrians to remain in our country,” said the department’s Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, adding that the “TPS is meant to be temporary.”

The US government designates countries for TPS due to conditions in the country that prevents its nationals from returning safely. The status offers the benefiting individuals work authorization and protection from deportation.

“Syrian nationals have 60 days to voluntarily depart the United States and return home,” according to a statement released by the department.

Syrian nationals who fail to depart the US within the 60 days will be “subject to arrest and deportation,” and that arrested immigrants “will never be allowed to return to the United States,” the statement added.

The department also encouraged the migrants to report their departure using the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App, as it provides “a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.”

The measure comes amid Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani’s visit to the US, seeking to permanently lift the Assad-era sanctions placed on the country.

In May, Trump told the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that he was “ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start,” and “a chance for greatness,” following a meeting with Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the first between sitting presidents of the two countries in 25 years.

In March, the EU pledged 5.8 billion euros for Syria to assist the country with post-war recovery, following the fall of the Assad regime.

Asylum applications to Europe went down by 23 percent in the first half of 2025, according to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), which stated that the decline “was driven by far fewer Syrians” applying for asylum, noting that the number of applications from Syria dropped by two-thirds.

Before the fall of the regime, Syrians made up one of the world’s largest refugee populations. A UN report published in March estimated that since 2011, “more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety.”

The refugee crisis in Syria began in 2011 due to the government’s violent crackdown on opposition protestors, which resulted in a civil war that lasted more than a decade until the toppling of the regime in December 2024, when armed groups took over the capital Damascus.

According to a UNHCR report in May, the “number of Syrians returning to their homes has reached half a million,” around the world.

Reporting by Hevi Karam