Travel to Alaska while pending Adjustment of Status

[mfriday 0]

I would like to book a flight to Alaska from Miami while I'm waiting for my green card approval. My lawyer advised me that travel to Alaska is not recommended because we fly over international land and water. But they said its a risk that I can take if I really want to go. Has anyone been in the same situation and taken the flight with no issues? I understand we are flying over international water but I'm staying in the States and don't go through immigration. I don't understand what the risks are. Advice?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

The risk would be if your plane had a problem and had to have an emergency landing somewhere. I don't think that is likely to happen. Have a good trip.

[kzielu 1,149]

Diversion of your flight to a non-US airport - that's the risk. May be weather, somebody on board gets sick or just simply plane craps out...

[Pitaya 2,577]

Apply for, and obtain, a EAD/AP combo card with your AOS application. That way, with your foreign passport and AP document, you should be okay should you be diverted to a non-US airport.

http://www.uscis.gov/i-485

Good luck on your immigration journey.

Edited April 12, 2014 by A&B

[hmh33 117]

This topic gets brought up again and again. The fears of dire consequences following an airplane diversion are bogus. Fly to Alaska and don't worry about it.

It is an internal flight and not subject to immigration control. Most of the passengers won't be carrying any immigration documentation at all. Not only is a diversion to a Canadian airport incredibly unlikely, but if it were to occur, the passengers would be kept airside in a sterile customs zone and would not be legally considered to have left the US.

Nobody cares about flying from the CONUS east coast to west coast, which also involves flight paths over Canada, so why do people make a fuss over Alaska and Hawaii? There is no good reason to do so.

[NikLR 13,230]

considering that Almost all Canadian international airports have preclearance areas, even if the plane was diverted to land in Canada, you'd just stay in the pre-clearance area. Alaska and any US territory is fine. You could fly to Guam and be okay.

[Crazy Cat 41,985]

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