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Yaroslav Perepadya has built a life in Davis since fleeing Ukraine with his teenage son after Russia invaded their country in 2022. He has a job with the state, pays taxes and has watched his son begin college.
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Now, that life is hanging in uncertainty as the federal government weighs the future of protections that allow thousands of Ukrainians to remain and work in the United States.
“You kind of feel powerless because you know tomorrow you can be sent back to the war zone,” Perepadya said.
Perepadya is among more than 100,000 Ukrainians who hold temporary protected status, a government program that provides people who cannot safely return home to designated countries with protection from deportation and allows them to apply for temporary work permits.
Ukraine’s TPS designation was set to expire on Oct. 19 — a date that still appears on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website — but the Immigration and Nationality Act required DHS to announce a decision to extend or terminate the designation 60 days prior.
Because Aug. 20 passed without an announcement, the law requires an automatic extension of six months, until April 19, 2027. DHS has not issued an official notice of the new expiration date, leaving some Ukrainians worried about what the protection actually means for their documents and future.
Some Ukrainians have a different status called “humanitarian parole.” It is considered less secure than TPS because it is an executive program rather than a form of protection established by Congress. Recipients must re-apply for parole 90 days before its expiration, but application processing typically takes longer, leaving some applicants without parole status while they await a decision.
Sacramento and its surroundings are home to more than 20,000 Ukrainian immigrants — the largest Ukrainian population in California and one of the largest concentrations in the U.S.
“This is one of the most challenging periods for us,” said Denys Nakonechnyi, a Ukrainian TPS holder and executive director of Ukrainian American House, a Sacramento-based nonprofit that serves Ukrainian immigrants. “For these thousands and thousands of families, this is a very crucial and important question: What will be next?”
‘Anxious and afraid’
Perepadya described the Ukrainian community as “very anxious and also afraid” due to TPS uncertainty.
“We understand that the conditions in Ukraine right now are not favorable for all of us to go back,” he said, “but at the same time, there is this anxiety about what if the government just … doesn’t care and still makes that decision — because they can.”
Perepadya expressed fear that the automatic extension of Ukraine’s TPS designation will be the country’s last, forcing his family to return home.
His work opportunities and his son’s educational opportunities would be greatly limited in Ukraine, he said. More importantly, the single father continued, returning to the country would mean endangering his son. Their home city of Dnipro and the surrounding Dnipropetrovsk region face severe, ongoing destruction from Russian missile attacks.
“Until there is a clear end to the war, and it’s safe to return, that’ll be my – and I’m sure most of the Ukrainian community here’s – biggest fear: that we may have to go back and take our kids and expose them to everyday terror of those missile attacks and bombings,” he said.
Perepadya’s unclear immigration status has also caused stress among his extended family, he said. His sister and her children, his parents and his 96-year-old grandmother remain in Ukraine.
“Every time I get in touch with them, the only thing that makes them emotionally carry on is just knowing that we are here, and we are safe, so they don’t have to be afraid for us,” he said. “If we go back to that life, it’ll just add significantly to their terror that they’re living through every day.”
The Trump administration’s termination of TPS designations for other countries has set a concerning precedent, Perepadya said. When President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, 17 countries held the designation. The administration has since ended or moved to end 13, affecting more than 1 million who held the protection.
Perepadya said he believes conditions on the ground do not always align with decisions to end TPS designations.
Under the Trump administration, DHS moved to terminate the TPS designation of Haiti, Syria, Somalia and other countries for which the U.S. Department of State has issued “do not travel” advisories. The state department advises against traveling to Haiti, for example, due to “the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and limited health care.”
Based on this trend, Perepadya said he sees the termination of Ukraine’s TPS designation as a real possibility despite the ongoing war.
Automatic TPS extension, but few answers
DHS has not formalized the automatic extension of Ukraine’s TPS designation through a notice in the Federal Register — another cause of anxiety among recipients.
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“Half of (the Ukrainian community), including myself, we are a little bit critical,” Perepadya said. “We’re like, well, if it’s extended automatically, why not go ahead and put the notice in the Federal Register and clarify it for everybody, and you know, get rid of this anxiety that people have.”
Lebanon faced similar circumstances earlier this year. Its TPS designation was originally set to expire on May 27. Because DHS did not announce a decision to extend or terminate the designation on time, an automatic six-month extension was required by law. It was not until May 28, one day after the expiration date, that the department issued a formal notice of the extension.
Galena Shpilman, a Ukrainian TPS holder from Melitopol, a city in southern Ukraine that was occupied on the first day of the full-scale invasion, pointed to another worry: DHS has not clarified whether the extension will require recipients to reapply for a work permit.
The mother of two said her work permit and driver’s license are set to expire on Oct. 19.
“I’m so worried, and I don’t want to cry, but often I cry when I talk about it,” she said. “I have children. I need to drive to school, pick (them) up … I need to drive to my job and back. And I don’t know what we can do.”
Shpilman added that she may need to leave her job at a local public school if she does not receive an automatic renewal of her work authorization.
A pathway to permanent residency?
According to Perepadya, some Ukrainians are marrying a U.S. citizen spouse or finding an employer who can sponsor them, while others are applying for political asylum. He said there are few viable options for them to remain in the U.S. permanently.
A bill with bipartisan support could change that.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Rocklin, said he would like to see Ukraine’s TPS designation extended, calling the uncertainty faced by Ukrainians “not right.”
“This conflict is still a nightmarish one in Ukraine, and there is absolutely no reason why TPS … should not be extended,” he said. “There’s no reason why people who are valuable members of our community who came to the U.S. legally should be left in this state of limbo.”
Kiley is co-sponsoring HR 3104, or the Ukrainian Adjustment Act of 2025, which would provide a streamlined process for Ukrainians who have been allowed into the U.S. since 2014 to receive lawful permanent residence status. The bill, introduced in April 2025, currently sits in the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Nakonechnyi voiced support for the bill, calling the proposal to help Ukrainians obtain green cards “wonderful.”
Putting down roots in Sacramento
For many local Ukrainians with TPS, the desire to remain in the U.S. is tied to the community they have joined and come to serve.
A psychologist by training, Shpilman said she has spent her whole life helping others. She recalled volunteering in Melitopol after the city was occupied by Russia, walking thousands of kilometers and standing in line for hours to purchase food for the Jewish community.
She also recalled volunteering in Poland, helping Ukrainian children who fled the war cope with trauma. The sound of a hair dryer or passing train could remind them of helicopters overhead, she said, causing some to fall to the ground screaming.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion, she said, she found herself in the unfamiliar position of having to ask others for help.
Now in Sacramento, Shpilman has returned to giving back to her community. She works as a teacher at West Campus High School and an art teacher at a religious school. The mother of two also volunteers for the Sunflower Society of Sacramento, a community organization that serves those affected by the invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to the American public, Shpilman said “I want to be helpful for you too because you help me.”
Perepadya acknowledged an argument advanced by many American conservatives: According to its name, TPS means temporary, not permanent, protection status. In response, he said Ukrainians understand their protection is not everlasting, but they must build lives for themselves in the U.S.
“Humans need to have plans,” he said. “They need to kind of think about the future, and that’s what people have been doing. Many of us try to normalize our lives and try to make them as regular as possible in these circumstances.”
In his role at the state government, Perepadya provides translation services to different social programs. His son, who is currently attending community college, hopes to transfer to UC Davis.
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For Perepadya, the roots he has put down in the U.S. are permanent.
This story was originally published August 30, 2026 at 7:00 AM.