I-131 Reentry permit in lieu of passport: which countries?

[Lemonslice 4,838]

Some countries let their citizens travel back to that country with expired passports, or national identity cards.  First step would be to contact the consulate, or embassy, closest to you and see how to renew her passport, or how to travel otherwise. 

[pm5k 129]

Can't get a refugee travel document unless you are stateless, a refugee, or an asylum seeker

[TDG 0]

Bumping this thread as I just dove deep down this particular rabbit hole and obtained a reliable answer, at least as to EU countries, which hopefully will help others in the future.  Per the EU's Migration and Home Affairs site, as of May 31, 2021, almost every EU country (except for Denmark and Malta) recognizes the Reentry Permit as a valid travel document.  This information is available in a spreadsheet downloadable here:https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/document-security/docs/part_i_travel_documents_issued_by_third_countries_and_territorial_entities_en.xlsx

 

Or if (like me) you don't trust direct document download links, you may locate the document for yourself on Europa.eu under the "Info" section at the following page (on the right-hand side if on a desktop browser, left-hand dropdown menu if on mobile): https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa_en

 

Click the link for "Travel documents issued by third countries and territorial entities (Part I)" and scroll all the way down to United States, and you can view the country-by-country acceptance of the Reentry Permit.

 

As a side note, it appears that Spain recognizes the Reentry Permit "only if the document guarantees returns and indicates 'permanent resident'" - I can't tell if this means that conditional permanent residents will not have their Reentry Permits accepted in Spain..?  If this were the case, I'm still not clear on whether one could obtain a Schengen visa from a country that accepts the Reentry Permit and then travel to Spain on the basis of that visa, or if the fact that the visa is affixed to an unrecognized travel document would render it invalid for entry into Spain.

 

Given such widespread acceptance in the EU, it seems reasonable to conclude that at least some other countries around the world similarly accept the Reentry Permit in place of a passport, though the specifics would need to be researched on a case-by-case basis as I have not found any definitive list.

 

Note also that the US now issues both the Reentry Permit and the Refugee Travel Document in the same booklet, which can be used in lieu of the I-327 or the I-571, respectively.  https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-begins-producing-security-enhanced-travel-documents