Washington — The Biden administration intends to offer hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. the ability to live and work in the country legally, approving a longstanding request from cities struggling to house asylum-seekers, three people familiar with the matter told CBS News Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security is expected to expand, or redesignate, the Temporary Protected Status program for Venezuelan migrants, allowing recent arrivals to apply for the deportation protections and work permits offered by the policy, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal government deliberations before its formal announcement.

Currently, only Venezuelans who arrived in the U.S. before March 2021 qualify for TPS, a program created by Congress in 1990 to offer a temporary safe haven to migrants from countries facing humanitarian crises, such as an armed conflict or a natural disaster.

By redesignating Venezuela's TPS program, the U.S. will be rendering the record number of Venezuleans who have reached the U.S. over the past two years eligible for the status. Venezuelans who reach the U.S. after the announcement will not qualify for TPS.

While others without legal status will also qualify for TPS — the announcement will mostly benefit the more than 400,000 Venezuelan migrants who have trekked to the southern border over the past two-and-a-half years as part of a massive exodus from the South American country.

In recent years, more than seven...

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