The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today the agency will offer somewhat greater flexibility to nationals of certain countries in West Africa dealing with an Ebola outbreak right now. The specific countries covered under this announcement are Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
The special measures include allowing late filing of applications to change or extend temporary visa status, extension of parole for some people, more generous consideration of filing fee waiver requests, and speedier than normal processing of immigration applications, including work authorization for F-1 student visa holders who need to work off campus, family petitions, and other work authorization applications.
See http://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/ebola-outbreak-related-immigration-relief-measures-nationals-guinea-liberia-and-sierra-leone-currently-united-states for the USCIS announcement.
Note the government is not changing the basic immigration rules for nationals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. If a person from one of those countries is not eligible for work authorization, this announcement does not change that fact. This announcement simply means the immigration agency will allow a little more breathing room and flexibility for people from the affected countries who are trying to deal with immigration while worrying about their homeland during the Ebola outbreak.
The government could, if the Secretary of Homeland Security decided to do so, designate these countries for Temporary Protected Status. That would be a much more general change to immigration rules for citizens of the affected countries, as it would provide work authorization and protection from deportation for those countries’ nationals, even if they have been living in the United States without permission for a period of years. The idea behind Temporary Protected Status is to not deport people to a country that cannot handle deportees safely due to circumstances such as civil war, natural disaster or an epidemic. We all hope the Ebola outbreak is controlled in the near future. If it continues to rage, it is possible the Obama Administration would consider Temporary Protected Status an option, however.