I-131 Travel Document question

[RFV85 0]

Hi all,

Hoping someone here can shed some light on my dilemma...

In July 2014, my now-wife entered the U.S. on a fiance visa. We got married shortly thereafter and I submitted all paperwork (I-485 AOS, I-765 EA, and I-131 Travel Document) in August 2014.

About a month ago, my wife received the EA document.

This past week, we received a "Notice of Potential Interview Waiver Case" however the letter said that due to workload issues, they need an additional 6 months (gotta love our government...especially when it's a service you actually paid for) .

As for the I-131 Travel Document...we were hoping to travel this December. According to USCIS website, the travel document was approved on October 30th, however the approval notice was not been mailed out yet. The website as of today still says "We will mail your approval notice" (so I interpret this as they have not mailed it out yet). I called USCIS today and the rep told me she is not sure why the Nebraska Service Center is taking long to send the approval notice, however she put in a request for me. BUT, this request takes 15-30 days to process and there is nothing she can do to expedite the process.

My questions are as follows:

1) Is receiving the approval notice for travel document in the mail enough to be able to travel? The wording on the USCIS website says "Please follow the instructions in the notice"...so I believe there are additional steps to take AFTER receiving the approval notice in order to get the travel authorization. Is this correct? If so, what are these steps exactly? And how long does it take to get the permission to travel after completing those steps?

2) Given that the I-131 was approved, can my wife leave the U.S. WITHOUT the document and return with it later (assuming someone in the U.S. mails it to her later)? Even if that means extending her return ticket date and staying at the travel country longer (which is her home country)?

3) As an extention to question #2 above...assuming my wife cannot do that, how does the U.S. *KNOW* when you left the country (and therefore consider your case abandoned)? It is from my understanding that although 100% of U.S. airports record international ENTRIES, not all airports record international EXITS. The airport she is planning to travel out of is an airport that does not record international exits (i.e., does not ask for your passport upon leaving the country...except for the ticket agent just to ensure that you are authorized to enter the country you're travelling to and therefore not risking the airline to pay a return trip if you get rejected upon entry).

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

They do not tend to update the AP status, just the EAD, since the EAD/AP is a combo card. Look at the card, it should state 'Serves as I-512 Advance Parole' towards the bottom. With that EAD/AP card, she can travel and re-enter while waiting for her green card approval. She should not leave without the AP in hand.

~ Moved from K-1 Process to Working & Traveling During US Immigration - topic is travel, past K-1 process ~

[RFV85 0]

The card does in fact state that, thank you for clarifying this!