Traveling to USA while DS260 pending

[hyoliyuli 1]

Hello everyone,

I am a US citizen sponsoring my Canadian parents for green card via consulate processing. Long story short, I-130 was approved; DS260 and all documents will be submitted this week.

 

They reside in Canada and have not traveled to US since starting the I-130 application in Oct 2020. 

 

They have a family wedding in NJ next month and decided to go for 2 weeks (return flight booked). 

 

Their green card applications are pretty much straightforward, except they have a history of a 5 year barred entry into US 20 years ago due to revealing to the CBP their informal work at my uncle's business under a visitor visa at that time. 5 years passed, since then they have traveled readily in and out of US for leisure.

 

My question is, how risky is traveling during the ds260 pending? Our lawyer advised it will mostly be ok as long as we tell the CBP the truth regarding the green card application and bring supporting docs of their residence in Canada. 

 

I have since then googled some more.. and it sounds like worst case scenario they can be sent to the back for more questioning and if my parents appear fishy (their English is not proficient and they are already traumatized from CBP officers from 20 years ago) they can remove them again, which is not going to be good for our current application.

 

Any thoughts?? Has anyone traveled similarly? Am I overthinking this? Lawyer said most likely they will be let in no problem..

 

Thank you

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by hyoliyuli