Traveling with Advance Parole

[armenino15 6]

Hello Everyone,

 

I wanted to open this topic up for discussion and see if the VisaJourney community has had experience traveling with the Advanced Parole and Work Authorization combo card. My wife immigrated to the United States on a K1 visa. We have since gotten married and have filed the Adjustment of Status (AOS) documentation. Using the USCIS processing times as well as the VisaJourney processing time frame data it seems that my wife's green card could take a while before it gets processed and issued.

 

At this point, my question is specifically regarding the Advance Parole. My wife and I love to travel and would like to be able to travel this coming winter to Canada. From what I understand, the Advanced Parole simply allows the applicant to leave the country without officially Abandoning the AOS application as well as allowing reentry in to the United States, however based on my research the the TSA officer at the port of entry has final say whether you are allowed to reenter the United States or not. Has anyone here traveled using the Advanced Parole prior to receiving their Green Card? What is the likelihood of someone not being admitted back in to the U.S and what are the main reasons why this happens? Do you believe my wife and I will be relatively safe Flying to Canada for about 4 to 5 days and then returning to the U.S?

[JSWH 261]

Hi @armenino15 !

Sorry, I can't answer your question right now. However, my husband and I are going to Mexico in two weeks. I received my combo-card a month ago; this will be my first trip outside of the country after I moved here at the end of May.  I feel a little nervous. After the marriage, I changed my name, therefore the names in my national passport and on the combo-card are mismatched. I'm going to bring the marriage certificate with me. Hopefully, I can provide you more information soon. 

I have a question for you. We've been thinking about visiting Canada, too. But I assumed that I would need to go through the hassle of getting a Canadian visa. Did your wife get a visa? How was the process?

[armenino15 6]

12 hours ago, JSWH said:

Hi @armenino15 !

Sorry, I can't answer your question right now. However, my husband and I are going to Mexico in two weeks. I received my combo-card a month ago; this will be my first trip outside of the country after I moved here at the end of May.  I feel a little nervous. After the marriage, I changed my name, therefore the names in my national passport and on the combo-card are mismatched. I'm going to bring the marriage certificate with me. Hopefully, I can provide you more information soon. 

I have a question for you. We've been thinking about visiting Canada, too. But I assumed that I would need to go through the hassle of getting a Canadian visa. Did your wife get a visa? How was the process?

Hi @JSWH,

Thank you for your response and good luck with the trip to Mexico. May I suggests that take with you more than just the marriage certificate. In cases like these it usually good to have more documentation that you might not need rather than less and for some reason needing to provide more.

 

To answer you question regarding Canada. At this point we have not applied for the visa and instead was hoping to do my due diligence prior to making any decisions on whether or not we would apply. I did look in to it online and from what I saw, The process wasn't any different than applying for any other visa. As per their website, you simply have to prove that you have strong ties to the US and that you're not going to be overstaying your visit. That should not be difficult to do since you are married to a US citizen and proving strong ties should be fairly simple. Please see if the link bellow would work for you. It contains the complete breakdown of the requirement for applying for a Canadian Visa. 

 

Lastly, it would be greatly appreciated if you could provide some feedback once you return from your trip to Mexico.

 

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/apply-who.asp?lnktrk=visa_less_six_months

 

Thank you,

[JSWH 261]

On 11/9/2017 at 12:02 PM, armenino15 said:

Hi @JSWH

 

Lastly, it would be greatly appreciated if you could provide some feedback once you return from your trip to Mexico.

 

Hi @armenino15 , 

So, I traveled to Mexico with my AP and it went well. I had my Russian passport, combo card, and a marriage certificate in case officials would have had questions about discrepancies between the passport and the card (I changed my name after marriage and applied for AOS under my married name). Nobody was interested in the marriage certificate though. Upon returning from Mexico, while going through immigration, the officer said that I would need to be paroled and they placed me in a secondary control room. I spent there about 15 minutes. Nobody asked me any questions. The officer brought back my passport with the card and I was free to go. I hope, it helps.

[armenino15 6]

On 12/5/2017 at 12:03 AM, JSWH said:

Hi @armenino15 , 

So, I traveled to Mexico with my AP and it went well. I had my Russian passport, combo card, and a marriage certificate in case officials would have had questions about discrepancies between the passport and the card (I changed my name after marriage and applied for AOS under my married name). Nobody was interested in the marriage certificate though. Upon returning from Mexico, while going through immigration, the officer said that I would need to be paroled and they placed me in a secondary control room. I spent there about 15 minutes. Nobody asked me any questions. The officer brought back my passport with the card and I was free to go. I hope, it helps.

Thank you so much @JSWH,

 

I really appreciate the update. It definitely puts my mind a ease regarding traveling outside the united states with my wife. Especially since the processing times have been longer than usual I am glad to at least have some sort of piece of mind that if need I can go on vacation and come back without being afraid that my wife wont be allowed back in to the country.

 

BTW, can you please let me know what your Port of Entry location was?

 

Thanks again

[JSWH 261]

3 hours ago, armenino15 said:

BTW, can you please let me know what your Port of Entry location was?

You're very welcome!

 

My POE was Houston, Hobby airport.

[lms 50]

My traveling experience was pretty much the same. The officer sends you into second inspection to parole you. 10 min later Passport & parole Stamp back without a word. I brought my NOA's, marriage cert & EAD/AP card. They just wanted the Combo Card and Passport. 

This was JFK Airport/NYC, I traveled by myself because it was a work trip. 

Edited May 1, 2018 by lms