Advance Parole
From VjWiki - The Immigration Wiki
An Advance Parole (AP) document is issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and provides a non US resident alien permission to temporarily leave and re-enter the United States without a visa while their Permanent Residency application is pending. Failure to properly use an AP when departing the US can result in a technical "abandoning" of an alien's Permanent Residency application and further result in the denial of re-entry into the United States.
A valid reason to obtain an AP can be for leisure, visiting family, business and countless others. Because there is processing required in issuing an AP it is advisable to apply far ahead of when you plan to travel. As of late 2007 AP's were taking up to 100 days to be issued. In an emergency a person my go to a local USCIS office and request an AP to be issued (proof of the emergency must be shown).
If an applicant has not yet filed an I-131 and needs an expedited Advance Parole document, the I-131 may be filed in person at the local Field Office after an InfoPass appointment has been made. IMPORTANT: Note that expedited processing is done at the discretion of the Field Office, based upon the evidence provided by the applicant.
