Emergency Advance Parole

[FilAmRouge 15]

I'm asking this question for my spouse who is in the US on a T-Visa (human trafficking). We got married over the summer and finally got our paperwork together to file for Adjustment of Status. Our lawyer is ready to send the documents. Now we've received word that my spouse's mom is very ill and may have only a few months left to live. He wants to get home right away. Our lawyer is advising us that she will file an expedited advance parole I-131 document with our AOS documents. She says we should then receive a receipt at which time we can request an Info-pass appointment to request emergency advance parole. Does anyone know how long that process would take? Is this the best course of action for a speedy AP approval? Would it be better to file the form ourselves at the local office in New Orleans with an emergency Info-pass appointment? Does it matter that we would be filing the emergency AP while the AOS documents are in the mail on the way to the servicing center? Thanks for any advice.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

What your lawyer said is correct. Also, you cannot file AP by itself so you MUST wait until you file the package together. They normally require waiting for the receipt before you can expedite (so they actually have proof you filed). They will need proof of the emergency and if I were you I would ask the attorney about including a copy of that proof with the packet.

Have the packet sent with tracking, and make sure you include the G-1145 with it (it will text/email you case numbers). Once you have those case numbers you don't need to wait for the physical receipt, book the infopass (or try a walk-in). It IS possible to print the AP there and then if it's emergent enough.

[Andy and Pui 16]

A couple of things to add. Just remember the dates might be different then the way we do dates here in the US. When Pui translated her brother's death certificate she wrote it down just like it said on the Thai certificate of 05/12/2011 but the US format should be 12/05/2011 and when we were at the info pass they said this happened back in May? I think If I had not been there and said sorry the date is 12/05/2011 and in Thailand they list the day, month, year she might not have gotten her emergancy AP. Also bring along 2 2x2 passport pictures otherwise you will have to leave and come and get them and then go back. Good luck with everything and I hope your Mother-in-law is doing better.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Andy and Pui

[FilAmRouge 15]

Thanks for the responses. I've also read that you need to bring a copy of your airline ticket to the AP interview. Is this true? Seems odd since we don't even know if we're approved yet. I guess we could get a refundable ticket. But I don't want to do that if it's not necessary.

[Andy and Pui 16]

When we did Pui's emergancy AP we did not have a ticket. We waited until she had the emergancy AP in hand before booking a ticket. She had no issues on her return at POE. They were more curious how she knew about the emergancy AP then anything else.

[FilAmRouge 15]

I want to give an update on how this turned out for us. We decided to have our lawyer file our AOS and I-130 for us, but we would file our I-131 ourselves at the local office asking for emergency advance parole. We went to the local office in NOLA before the lawyer sent our forms to the Chicago lockbox. The officer told us they could do nothing without proof that we filed for AOS. She said the other option was to contact the Vermont center, who handle emergency advance parole for T Visa holders. We decided to wait for a receipt for our AOS docs instead of dealing with Vermont. Our lawyer sent our docs on Oct. 31 and unfortunately my spouses mom died the following Monday night. The next morning I spent hours on the phone with USCIS and they told me our forms were now in the system. We decided to visit the NOLA office again even though we didn't have a paper receipt. It took two days and lots of pleading, but they finally gave us the emergency advance parole. They required that we do the biometrics for the AOS prior to approval. If we hadn't encountered such nice folks at that office, who knows how long this would have taken. As a citizen I'm embarrassed how immigrants are treated. My spouse should have been able to see his mom before she died. Now he's there, in the Philippines, landing in Manila the same day as the super typhoon Haiyan. He's safe, but the whole ordeal has shown me that the system needs fixing. I will write my one good senator and ask for reform.