PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Concern is growing among Ukrainian families in the United States as the future of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
TPS allows people from countries experiencing war or other crises to live and work legally in the United States without permanent status and without risk of deportation.<\/p>\n
Ukraine’s TPS designation was set to expire Monday, but the Department of Homeland Security said Ukrainians currently covered by the program can retain protection for now. While that provides temporary relief, many families are still worried about what comes next.<\/p>\n
For 17-year-old Oleksii Pasichniak, the issue is personal. Pasichniak said his family came to Philadelphia nearly five years ago so his younger brother, Igor Pasichniak Jr., 14, could receive treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a rare disease. After applying in 2019, they were approved for a medical visa for overseas treatment in 2022, right around the same time as the war in their country began.<\/p>\n
“We want to stay here just for him for hospital because that’s the reason we go to US, exactly to Philadelphia,” Pasichniak said.<\/p>\n
The Department of Homeland Security did not change Ukraine’s TPS designation before the expiration date, resulting in an automatic six-month extension of benefits. Still, uncertainty remains for families and employers who rely on the program, including Pasichniak’s father.<\/p>\n
“We welcomed the family into our Church Rectory to live during this stressful time for them. Igor Sr. immediately found a job working seven days a week,” said Thomas Hanney, Cathedral Council President at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he worries about his father losing his job, Pasichniak said, “Yeah, I would say, anybody would if this happens.”<\/p>\n
At KleinLife in Northeast Philadelphia, assistance is already being offered to families who may face financial hardship.<\/p>\n
“We have an afterschool program for Ukrainian kids,” said Andre Krug, CEO of KleinLife. “If your parents cannot be employed as of the 19th, we’ll pay for you until the situation is rectified. It’s a short-term solution but a solution nonetheless.”<\/p>\n
Krug estimated KleinLife has served about 2,000 Ukrainian families who came to Philadelphia after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said many face an uncertain future if protections eventually end.<\/p>\n
“A lot of people don’t have homes anymore because their homes were razed by Russians, so now you have the situation where they have absolutely nowhere to go,” Krug said. “These are not criminals; these are the people that you yourself invited to this country, and you promised to keep them here safe until the war is over and you are not kind of holding on to your end of the bargain … it’s not America.”<\/p>\n
Pasichniak’s family was already living in the United States when they were granted TPS after the war began. He said the family is grateful for the additional time but remains unsure about the future.<\/p>\n
“We cannot do nothing about it. We just have to just wait what the government will decide,” he said.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate word Monday on when the federal government will make an official announcement regarding Ukraine’s TPS designation.<\/p>\n
Sudanese TPS recipients are also facing uncertainty, while Salvadoran and Haitian TPS holders have faced similar questions in recent months.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Concern is growing among Ukrainian families in the United States as the future of Temporary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[127040,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-310318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-127040","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}