Nearly half of a million Venezuelan asylum seekers can begin submitting applications for temporary protected status starting Tuesday.

Those who are on the path of receiving work authorization will now have 18,000 jobs to choose from. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that 400 employers have signed up to provide jobs to eligible asylum seekers looking for work in New York state. Over 50% of those eligible workers are in New York City.  

This comes less than two weeks ago when the Biden administration announced that it would be expanding its temporary protected status (TPS) for around 427,000 Venezuelan migrants who arrived in the United States before July 31. 

New York state has allocated $50 million to help local groups that are aiding those migrants to apply for TPS and looking for work.