January 19, 2010 - By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - MIAMI (AP) — More than 100 Haitians crammed inside a Catholic church Tuesday to ask questions about a federal government designation that will allow possibly hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian immigrants to work in the U.S. and send money home during the next 18 months.

Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas said Haitians will be able to start filing their applications for the Temporary Protected Status on Thursday, the day official notice of the program is expected to be published in the Federal Register. Only those in the U.S. before the earthquake hit their Caribbean homeland a week ago will be eligible.

Mayorkas warned that applications sent before Thursday would likely to be delayed.

Haitians have already started showing up at centers to get help filling out the forms.

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