Denied cruise boarding by Carnival citing improper docs , have valid EAD/AP combo card

[Pennycat 880]

I tried convincing them , the reason they gave me was the documentTion was not good enough to reenter US. The stay in Cozumel was for 8 - 9 hrs

If this is the case, then as long as you're not hiding something about your status (DACA by any chance?) or AP or something, then they were wrong. AP is good enough to reenter the US, and they should know that.

[wgcsince2009 0]

Came to us on h1b in 2007, filed for GC under eb2 in 2009 . Filed I 485 when the dates became current in 2010 . The dates for be 2 India have retrogressed in 2010. So I did receive the was/ap combo card and has been renewing the combo card every other year. I have travelled in and out of the country by air multiple times . Whenever I enter the country I am admitted as a parolee . My current status is " Adjustment of Status" which is an intermediate stage before green card.so there is no question of illegal stay in us

[Unidentified 2,930]

Came to us on h1b in 2007, filed for GC under eb2 in 2009 . Filed I 485 when the dates became current in 2010 . The dates for be 2 India have retrogressed in 2010. So I did receive the was/ap combo card and has been renewing the combo card every other year. I have travelled in and out of the country by air multiple times . Whenever I enter the country I am admitted as a parolee . My current status is " Adjustment of Status" which is an intermediate stage before green card.so there is no question of illegal stay in us

Which means you're not a permanent resident and therefor you need a visa to visit Mexico which means Carnival cruise were right to deny your boarding.

Your AP only permits you to enter the US. It does not grant you permission to enter Mexico. Nothing you can do. Make sure you apply for a visa next time.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Maria&Seve

[Pennycat 880]

Came to us on h1b in 2007, filed for GC under eb2 in 2009 . Filed I 485 when the dates became current in 2010 . The dates for be 2 India have retrogressed in 2010. So I did receive the was/ap combo card and has been renewing the combo card every other year. I have travelled in and out of the country by air multiple times . Whenever I enter the country I am admitted as a parolee . My current status is " Adjustment of Status" which is an intermediate stage before green card.so there is no question of illegal stay in us

Right, not saying that you have an illegal stay in the US. We all know about adjustment of status-- most of us have gone through it or are going through it. The DACA question was because some of them were erroneously given AP and that caused other headaches that don't apply to you.

So here's the issue:

Carnival said it's because your documents aren't enough to prove that you can come back into the US. They're simply wrong on that, as long as your AP card is current.

Now, the next issue, though, is did you need proper documentation to get *into Mexico* and if so did you have it? Because that's what it's sounding like to all of us here was the real issue. No one can answer this for you here-- no one seems to know if cruises are really exempt from needing Mexican visas and if they aren't, was your US visa enough to let you travel visa-free. This is a US immigration site, not a Mexican one and you're in a pretty unique situation.

What you need to do from here is contact the Mexican consulate and get something in writing from them that states that you are allowed (or would have been allowed) into Mexico without a Mexican tourist visa. Then, print out something from CBP/ USCIS about the AP combo card. Send this to Carnival along with a copy of your card and tell them that you were denied boarding because you lacked proper documentation, but that you did have proper documentation and go from there.

[Pennycat 880]

Which means you're not a permanent resident and therefor you need a visa to visit Mexico which means Carnival cruise were right to deny your boarding.

Your AP only permits you to enter the US. It does not grant you permission to enter Mexico. Nothing you can do. Make sure you apply for a visa next time.

This is actually significantly more complicated than that, and there are many posts that point out an exception to that.

1-- there is a possibility that all closed loop cruises that will be in port less than 3 days don't require visas. I'm guessing that this is an old rule that OP read about on a third party site and saw old "confirming examples" of elsewhere. But, it's still possible it's true.

2-- Mexico allows people, regardless of nationality who have valid US visas into Mexico for purposes of tourism without a Mexican tourist visa. The site is down at the moment but it says (copied and pasted from the Mexican Embassy in Vietnam page because I knew I could get it in English), but it was on that page: " Visitors of any nationality holding a valid U.S visa whose purpose of travel is tourism, business or transit do not need to obtain a Mexican visa. The immigration authorities at the point of entry in Mexico (airport -border - port) will verify the validity of the USA visa and passport, before granting entry to Mexican territory."

But now of course, the big question is-- was that H1B visa still valid and therefore does it "count enough" to get into Mexico? Who knows? We don't. We're a US immigration site. Also, the next HUGE question is, why did Carnival deny him, saying that AP wasn't enough to get back into the US? Because while we all think that the real issue was getting into Mexico, OP says that Carnival said their concern was coming back to the US.

[ch3john 308]

Just as I expected, Carnival screwed this one up.

You had the proper documentation and a visa is not needed for Mexico on closed loop cruises. The easiest way to describe this is, if the ship is returning to the same port if left from, which in this case it's Galveston, as long as you are able to go through immigration on when your get back, you don't need any further visa's etc. (unless you are staying longer that what is allowed by the visiting country, typically 3 days or less). I believe all of the cruises out of Galveston would fall into the category.

As Catherine mentioned, see if you can get written proof from the Mexican embassy. Send this to Carnival and hope they own up to their screw up. I'm willing to bet, in previous dealings with Carnival, they will try to say something like you didn't show your combo card, etc as the time of checkin.

Sorry this has happened to you and wish you luck in getting a refund.

[ch3john 308]

OP - Were your other family members with combo cards denied also or were you just singled out and denied?

[Pishi_Pishi 63]

I was planning to go to Mexico with my husband on EAD/AP card, but after doing research I found out that you need green card, otherwise visa was needed. AED/AP card allows you to apply for visa from USA, which is proof or USA residence, but does not grant you entrance to Mexico.

"A foreigner of any country, who is a permanent resident of the United States of America or of Canada, may travel to Mexico without a visa or a consular stamp on the passport. The person should travel with the valid passport and the valid US Resident Alien Card (Green Card) or Permanent Resident Card (Canada).Apr 19, 2016"

[Pennycat 880]

I was planning to go to Mexico with my husband on EAD/AP card, but after doing research I found out that you need green card, otherwise visa was needed. AED/AP card allows you to apply for visa from USA, which is proof or USA residence, but does not grant you entrance to Mexico.

"A foreigner of any country, who is a permanent resident of the United States of America or of Canada, may travel to Mexico without a visa or a consular stamp on the passport. The person should travel with the valid passport and the valid US Resident Alien Card (Green Card) or Permanent Resident Card (Canada).Apr 19, 2016"

Read Item #2 directly under wherever you read this which has been quoted 6 or 7 times on this thread. A valid US visa counts for tourist entry into Mexico. Now whether or not an expired K1 plus AP counts is not for us to say. Best to check with Mexican consulate. But ch3john has provided a link to a recent thread about someone doing just that. Let's not confuse the issue any further please. It seems possible that Carnival was in the wrong here.

[wgcsince2009 0]

Thanks for clarifying, My family members are on the same boat as me. They are also with the EAD/AP combo cards. I will try to get some proof from Mexican embassy. Carnval did not allow us to board not because of the Mexican visa (they clarified it ) , but because GC/Visa was not available.

[ch3john 308]

Don't bother with the Mexican embassy since it wasn't a visa issue.

Contact Carnival Headquarters directly and talk to them over the phone. Keep going higher in the organization until you get a hold of someone that is familiar with AP. Dealing with corporate ay1ou

[Pennycat 880]

Thanks for clarifying, My family members are on the same boat as me. They are also with the EAD/AP combo cards. I will try to get some proof from Mexican embassy. Carnval did not allow us to board not because of the Mexican visa (they clarified it ) , but because GC/Visa was not available.

Seriously? Wow. Have you found anyone at Carnival that knows about AP? Do they claim you didn't have your cards?

[defeedme 4]

I hope you disputed this with your credit card company. I would take this as far as you could and then get a lawyer if you still didn't get your money back. evil cruise lines.