I am an American citizen. My spouse was on a J-1 visa (two-year rule does not apply) before we got married. We are now preparing our Adjustment of Status application. We were planning to apply for Advanced Parole so that we can travel to their birth country to visit their family.
We're using the new 06/17/2024 edition of the I-131, which we're finding to generally be clearer than the old version, but one part is tripping us up. In the Instructions, "Who May File Form I-131?" Item 4.A. states "If the noncitizen is inside the United States and seeks an Advance Parole Document authorizing them to seek parole at a Port of Entry for urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit upon their return from a trip abroad, they may apply for an Advance Parole Document if...".
Item 4.A.1. would apply to my spouse (pending Form I-485).
Our understanding from the old I-131 is that a humanitarian reason or public benefit weren't required in our case. Did something change with the new I-131? Are we not eligible for advanced parole?
We can't seem to find a different section that would apply to our case. But we also can't find where applicable humanitarian reasons or public benefits are defined. The closest thing we could find was in the instructions, "Required Evidence" item 3.E. lists various purposes like education, employment, or humanitarian purposes, but those seem to only apply to DACA, but it's a little unclear.
