Pre-booked Travel

[MillieIKC 1]

So, I am in the process of sending in all my documents (AoS, EAD, etc) and while I was working on the form for Advanced Parole so I can leave the country some concerns popped up.

First:
My husband and I have pre-booked flights from Canada to Mexico, initially planned for 2020 which, of course, had to be postponed. The group we are going with agreed on dates for this coming November (2023), while I was still in Canada awaiting approval to move to the US. Now I am here, and due to what I am reading I'm uncertain if I can travel for leisure. The form indicates humanitarian reasons. We'd only be away for 9 days but now I'm worried this won't get approved and it's getting close to too late to cancel our tickets. 

 

The second concern that arose is I had to leave some of my things at my previous residence in Canada and would like to be able to go collect them ASAP, would I not be able to do that either with an AP? How does this work? Am I just stuck in the US now until my status is adjusted? What are my options.

Thanks!

[Crazy Cat 41,979]

4 minutes ago, MillieIKC said:

So, I am in the process of sending in all my documents (AoS, EAD, etc) and while I was working on the form for Advanced Parole so I can leave the country some concerns popped up.

First:
My husband and I have pre-booked flights from Canada to Mexico, initially planned for 2020 which, of course, had to be postponed. The group we are going with agreed on dates for this coming November (2023), while I was still in Canada awaiting approval to move to the US. Now I am here, and due to what I am reading I'm uncertain if I can travel for leisure. The form indicates humanitarian reasons. We'd only be away for 9 days but now I'm worried this won't get approved and it's getting close to too late to cancel our tickets. 

 

The second concern that arose is I had to leave some of my things at my previous residence in Canada and would like to be able to go collect them ASAP, would I not be able to do that either with an AP? How does this work? Am I just stuck in the US now until my status is adjusted? What are my options.

Thanks!

Once you file the I-485, you can NOT leave the US without an approved advance parole document in hand.  If you leave, for any reason, without approved AP, you WILL abandon your adjustment of status.   Once you have an approved advance parole document, you can leave and re-enter for planned or unplanned trips.

This is a major disadvantage of adjusting status.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[SalishSea 17,927]

3 minutes ago, MillieIKC said:

So, I am in the process of sending in all my documents (AoS, EAD, etc) and while I was working on the form for Advanced Parole so I can leave the country some concerns popped up.

First:
My husband and I have pre-booked flights from Canada to Mexico, initially planned for 2020 which, of course, had to be postponed. The group we are going with agreed on dates for this coming November (2023), while I was still in Canada awaiting approval to move to the US. Now I am here, and due to what I am reading I'm uncertain if I can travel for leisure. The form indicates humanitarian reasons. We'd only be away for 9 days but now I'm worried this won't get approved and it's getting close to too late to cancel our tickets. 

 

The second concern that arose is I had to leave some of my things at my previous residence in Canada and would like to be able to go collect them ASAP, would I not be able to do that either with an AP? How does this work? Am I just stuck in the US now until my status is adjusted? What are my options.

Thanks!

Those are drawbacks to the K-1.   If you leave the country with a pending AOS and no AP, you will have abandoned it.

 

They won’t expedite for a vacation.   It’s not a great move to book a vacation without AP.

[SalishSea 17,927]

12 minutes ago, MillieIKC said:

So, I am in the process of sending in all my documents (AoS, EAD, etc) and while I was working on the form for Advanced Parole so I can leave the country some concerns popped up.

First:
My husband and I have pre-booked flights from Canada to Mexico, initially planned for 2020 which, of course, had to be postponed. The group we are going with agreed on dates for this coming November (2023), while I was still in Canada awaiting approval to move to the US. Now I am here, and due to what I am reading I'm uncertain if I can travel for leisure. The form indicates humanitarian reasons. We'd only be away for 9 days but now I'm worried this won't get approved and it's getting close to too late to cancel our tickets. 

 

The second concern that arose is I had to leave some of my things at my previous residence in Canada and would like to be able to go collect them ASAP, would I not be able to do that either with an AP? How does this work? Am I just stuck in the US now until my status is adjusted? What are my options.

Thanks!

Also-  doesn’t sound like you did much planning around this process, but AP can take 8-9 months these days.

[MillieIKC 1]

17 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Once you file the I-485, you can NOT leave the US without an approved advance parole document in hand.  If you leave, for any reason, without approved AP, you WILL abandon your adjustment of status.   Once you have an approved advance parole document, you can leave and re-enter for planned or unplanned trips.

This is a major disadvantage of adjusting status.

But my question is can the AP be approved for such things, as I can't seem to find that information.

[MillieIKC 1]

17 minutes ago, SalishSea said:

Those are drawbacks to the K-1.   If you leave the country with a pending AOS and no AP, you will have abandoned it.

 

They won’t expedite for a vacation.   It’s not a great move to book a vacation without AP.

I didn't book it, it was bumped back multiple times for Covid restriction reasons until we landed on this date, while I was still in Canada waiting for my approval. It took 2 years for me to even get to the US from initial application, I had no idea how long I would still be there, and was told that there were options for people wanting to travel once arrived here prior to adjustment of status.

 

Again, my question wasn't if I can go without AP, it was if I can get AP for this or if there are other options. There's really no need for the judgement. I'm trying to figure out how all of this works, like anyone else on this site.

[MillieIKC 1]

12 minutes ago, SalishSea said:

Also-  doesn’t sound like you did much planning around this process, but AP can take 8-9 months these days.

How do you plan for a system that has not given a single accurate time estimate since your process was started? I'm just trying to figure out how this works, I can't help that there's no clear timelines anymore. I got to the US, got married and now we're trying to get our next steps done. I'm trying to figure out if I can make this trip, or not. Do you have information on what my options here are?

[powerpuff 6,729]

8 minutes ago, MillieIKC said:

But my question is can the AP be approved for such things, as I can't seem to find that information.

Do you mean an expedite for AP? AP will be approved regardless but in ~8-9 months from now. 

[MillieIKC 1]

1 minute ago, powerpuff said:

Do you mean an expedite for AP? AP will be approved regardless but in ~8-9 months from now. 

I didn't know of the timeframe so that is unfortunate. I imagine it can't be expedited for this then?

[powerpuff 6,729]

Just now, MillieIKC said:

I didn't know of the timeframe so that is unfortunate. I imagine it can't be expedited for this then?

Unfortunately, most likely, no. I’ve seen it approved mostly for emergency travel to see a gravely ill immediate relative. 

[MillieIKC 1]

7 minutes ago, powerpuff said:

Unfortunately, most likely, no. I’ve seen it approved mostly for emergency travel to see a gravely ill immediate relative. 

That's understandable. I appreciate the help and information. 

[Crazy Cat 41,979]

23 minutes ago, MillieIKC said:

But my question is can the AP be approved for such things, as I can't seem to find that information.

Normally, approved AP can be used for any trip outside the US.  It is a multi-entry document.  You can enter "TBD" on the I-131. 

Edited July 21, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[MillieIKC 1]

5 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Normally, approved AP can be used for any trip outside the US.  It is a multi-entry document.  You can enter "TBD" on the I-131. 

Thank you. I really appreciate the information.

[SalishSea 17,927]

40 minutes ago, MillieIKC said:

I didn't book it, it was bumped back multiple times for Covid restriction reasons until we landed on this date, while I was still in Canada waiting for my approval. It took 2 years for me to even get to the US from initial application, I had no idea how long I would still be there, and was told that there were options for people wanting to travel once arrived here prior to adjustment of status.

 

Again, my question wasn't if I can go without AP, it was if I can get AP for this or if there are other options. There's really no need for the judgement. I'm trying to figure out how all of this works, like anyone else on this site.

No judgement, just surprised that you didn't research the K-1 more thoroughly.

 

You cannot leave the US without either a Green Card or AP.  If you do, the process will be abandoned, and you will have to be petitioned for a new (spousal) visa.  The USCIS timelines for both of those processes are available on USCIS.gov, but I very much doubt you will have either one three months from applying.  Our GC took 14 months, and AP/EAD took 4.5 months, but that was when it was "fast" in 2018/19.  YMMV.

 

Just like it is impractical to make concrete wedding plans with the K-1, it is not practical to plan/pay for vacations until you have AP or GC.  These things are well known drawbacks to the K-1 (as is being unable to work for 8 months or so), therefore for most/many, the CR-1 is a better choice.  In retrospect, we would have chosen the CR-1, although K-1 wait times were MUCH shorter than now.

[SalishSea 17,927]

38 minutes ago, MillieIKC said:

I didn't know of the timeframe so that is unfortunate. I imagine it can't be expedited for this then?

Not for vacations.