US extends grace period allowing 190,000 Salvadorans to stay

• This is recognition of the achievements and good work of President Nayib Bukele's government said Johnson.
• Bukele said this measure would allow "additional time to find a permanent solution" for the migrants.

SAN SALVADOR: The United States has extended a measure allowing 190,000 Salvadorans to remain and work legally in the country, the Central American country's President Nayib Bukele said on Monday.

The temporary protected status (TPS) was created in 2001, and granted to Salvadorans already in the US following two devastating earthquakes in El Salvador.

US ambassador to El Salvador, Douglas Johnson said he was "delighted" with the announcement, in a video shared by Bukele on his Twitter account.

The TPS was due to end on January 2, 2020 but has been extended by a year.

"This is recognition of the achievements and good work of President Nayib Bukele's government," said Johnson.Bukele said this measure would allow "additional time to find a permanent solution" for the migrants.

Some three million Salvadorans live in the United States. In 2018, they sent home almost $5.5 billion in remittances to family members, accounting for close to 16 percent of the country's GDP.