What happens when you travel outside USA w/o AP?

[Predictive 0]

Dear Fellow Visa Travelers,

We have filed all the paperwork (AOS) and have also applied for Advanced Parole.

Now this is the kicker -- we want to do a formal wedding in Argentina on Dec. 23 and we filed our AOS and AP in August (married July 29th).

All paperwork has been received and is being processed.

It looks like we will get the AP approval in Dec....maybe Jan (then we are screwed for the wedding).

She (my Argentinian bride) has had all the biometrics work done and it is just a matter of waiting.

Can she leave the country and then wait in Argentina for the AP paperwork?

I know this is playing with fire but I figure it is worth seeing if it is possible.

Thanks to all,

George

[diadromous mermaid 36]

Dear Fellow Visa Travelers,

We have filed all the paperwork (AOS) and have also applied for Advanced Parole.

Now this is the kicker -- we want to do a formal wedding in Argentina on Dec. 23 and we filed our AOS and AP in August (married July 29th).

All paperwork has been received and is being processed.

It looks like we will get the AP approval in Dec....maybe Jan (then we are screwed for the wedding).

She (my Argentinian bride) has had all the biometrics work done and it is just a matter of waiting.

Can she leave the country and then wait in Argentina for the AP paperwork?

I know this is playing with fire but I figure it is worth seeing if it is possible.

Thanks to all,

George

Typically to leave without AP means abandonment of adjustment. I'm not all that sure if that applies to those who simply disregarded AP totally, or also those that left prior to a decision or to receiving the document.

There's another person on another board whose wife left the country without AP (had been applied for, but not received) and is having a devil of a time knowing just what to do. He was advised that if he mailed the AP to the alien, she could take a chance and hope that she'd be allowed to enter at the POE, but there's an inherent risk that she might be turned back. He put in a nunc pro tunc request, but there's no word on whether he was successful. (Nunc pro tunc being a legal process that basically establishes that "now" is "then").

[john_and_marlene 162]

Ask yourself if this is more important than your resident status. Are you willing to risk it? I would think the answer is no, it's not worth the risk. The answer to you question is the same as the answer to mine.

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

I would personally cosnider it not worth the risk. If you are in the process of being approved and you decide to leave before a decision is made, it will be very hard getting back. My hubby and I are wanting to go to the UK for a family Christmas, and we have a congressman as well as a contact in homeland itself all enquiring on our behalf about our paperwork, our AOS and AP (they are not allowed to influence it per se, but they are allowed to enquire and when someone high up enquires, people listen, so we are told.)

I would suggest you contact your congressman or woman, and tell them your situation. Ask them if they can make enquiries and if there is anything you can do collectively to push this along. When you become a name and a voice, they do listen and they do care.

That's my advice. I would not leave the country without either the GC or the AP as this might look like you don't care about the process, and you might have to apply from scratch via the spousal visas, I don't know. I just know that there are rules for a reason, and if you want to make life easier for yourself and your beloved, it is a case of needs must. (In sympathy, my hubby and I spent money on tickets to fly me over on my K1 visa, using the dates he was told in California that it would take to process our application. We had to abandon those non-refundable tickets and make new ones for when the visa was actually approved - which was 3 months later than they told us. We had congress people and british MPs all fighting to make it so, and we are happily married and proof that patience and persistence pay off.)

I know it's hard when you have plans and dreams, but I pray you wait. You will also enjoy it more knowing that everything is ok and the AP allows you and your beloved to return without incident to continue your happy life together.

Annie

[Kez/JWolf 6]

There is another member here who had to return to his home country for medical reasons... he had not recieved his AP or GC.... they are now having to file for K3 so he can return...

Advanced Parole

Most aliens who have pending applications for immigration benefits or for changes in nonimmigrant status need Advance Parole to re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad. Aliens applying for advance parole on the basis of a pending application for adjustment of status must be approved for advance parole prior to leaving the United States in order to avoid the termination of their pending application for adjustment. Note: this does not apply to aliens who have applied to adjust to permanent resident status and who maintain H-1B (Specialty Worker) or L-1 (Intracompany Transferee) status, or their dependents, who have applied to adjust to permanent resident status and who have valid H-1B or L status and valid visas, V nonimmigrants who have a valid V nonimmigrant visa, are in valid V nonimmigrant status and have or obtain a valid V nonimmigrant visa before applying for readmission to the US, and K-3/4 nonimmigrants who have applied to adjust to permanent resident status and who have a valid K-3/4 nonimmigrant visa, are in valid K-3/4 nonimmigrant status and have or obtain a valid K-3/4 nonimmigrant visa before applying for readmission to the US. Refugees and asylees who have applied to adjust to permanent resident status under section 209 of the Immigration and Nationality Act may travel outside the United States on a valid Refugee Travel Document and do not need to apply for advance parole.

Aliens in the United States should, prior to departure, obtain Advance Parole in order to re-enter the United States after travel abroad if they have:

* Filed an application for adjustment of status but have not received a decision from the USCIS;

* Hold refugee or asylee status and intend to depart temporarily to apply for a U.S. immigrant visa in Canada; and/or

* An emergent personal or bona fide reason to travel temporarily abroad.

Applicants who are the beneficiary of a Private bill and Applicants who are under deportation proceedings must file to the Department of Homeland Security, 425 I Street, NW, ATTN: Parole and Humanitarian Assistance Branch, Washington, DC 20536

Aliens in the United States are not eligible for Advance Parole if they are:

* In the United States illegally;

* An exchange alien subject to the foreign residence requirement;

Please note that Advance Parole does not guarantee admission into the U.S. Aliens with Advance Parole are still subject to the immigration inspections process at the port of entry.

Kezzie

[Kathryn41 3,205]

In addition to the AP getting misplaced in the mail or arriving with errors that require a repeat of biometrics to correct, the other very real danger is that you may receive the date for the AOS interview BEFORE she receives the AP, in which case she would be out of the country, unable to get back and will have to miss the interview, causing the AOS to be denied. A request to re-open the file, stating that she was out of the country as the reason for missing the interview would lead to a second refusal as she would be deemed to have abandoned the AOS. You would then have to start the whole process all over again from the very beginning with an I-130 or another I-129f - with her outside of the country until a K-3 or CR1 was approved in Argentina. You would be far better off to try and reschedule the December wedding date by a few months so that you have the AP physically in hand rather than run this risk.

[Yodrak 7]

George,

The 'advance' in advance parole means get it in advance. If she does this have your I-130 ready to submit the day after she leaves.

Yodrak

...

Can she leave the country and then wait in Argentina for the AP paperwork?

...George