United States Citizenship and Immigration Services recently cleared the air surrounding international travel when the renewal of Form I-131, Advance Parole is still pending. Until recently, if an applicant travels abroad on a valid I-131 but with a renewal in the pipeline, it got denied.

While the applicant was undertaking an international travel on an existing valid advance parole and returning to the US while it was still valid, they may have submitted a renewal application. Normally, USCIS adjudicates on renewals in six months or less. However, if the applicant decided to travel on the existing one before getting the results back, his I-131 renewal application was being deemed abandoned and was being denied and cancelled. This ruling has been reversed.

The reason for this was narrowed down to that fact that USCIS was identifying these travelers from the Arrival and Departure Information Systems managed by the CBP. This did not however, register the valid I-131 that the traveler possessed leading up to the denial. As a result, of this gap in information, it was causing a cyclical process and wasteful resources wherein the applicant would either:

• Re-file Form I-131 once denied or
• Appear at a local USCIS field office to apply for an emergency advance parole before an impending journey.

Going forward, per USCIS, “Individuals may travel on the approved advance parole document, provided the document is valid for the entire duration of their time abroad. The pending Form I-131 will not be considered abandoned in this situation.”
Form I-131, Advance Parole is issued for the time it takes for the Adjustment of Status application to be processed and is valid for multiple entries into the US. To be kept in mind, Advance parole only authorizes parole and permission to arrive at a US port of entry, not a guarantee of entry. Find out how to apply for Advance Parole and use it for worry free travel even if requesting renewal.

For the latest discussions on Advance Parole, connect with others on the I-131 Advance Parole forum on Trackitt.