Travel on National Passport after getting Green Card from Asylum

E

Ehzan

New Member
I have a quick question if anyone can answer. I applied for a Refugee Travel Document (second time, my first one expired ) which is taking a long time to process as i still have not received the biometric notice and i applied in February 2015. Now i have a green card since then. I was wondering could i travel with my National Passport if i need to with my green card ? I wont be going to Country of Citizenship just using the passport of my citizenship country !

Or would that be a BIG NO ? as i am an asylee from that country ? would i face any backlash when i reenter using my National Passport with my green card as i am an asylee from that country or would i have any trouble when i apply for citizenship in the future as i travelled on my NP as an asylee ?
 
You cant visit your country of origin, otherwise it ll mean that you no longer fear for your life and your green card can be revoked.
It ll problably trigger some investigation about your claim of asylum if you go back home.
 

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it depends on your asylum case , if your case against the government of your country or any entity associated with it , do not get the passport . generally do not go or apply for a passport from your country regardless of your case if you want to keep your permanent residency in the US
 
There are a LOT of threads on this.

Essentially, if you do not fear the government directly and don't expect to be harassed on a short trip, you can justify a trip to your COP, especially if it's due to someone's illness back there. Also, travelling on your national passport can also be ok if you can explain why it wasn't a problem. In either case, it is unlikely you will have any trouble at the US border. The only questions you could get would be during your naturalisation interview.
 
USC2013 said:
You cant visit your country of origin, otherwise it ll mean that you no longer fear for your life and your green card can be revoked.
It ll problably trigger some investigation about your claim of asylum if you go back home.
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nss2009 said:
it depends on your asylum case , if your case against the government of your country or any entity associated with it , do not get the passport . generally do not go or apply for a passport from your country regardless of your case if you want to keep your permanent residency in the US
Click to expand...
cafeconleche said:
There are a LOT of threads on this.

Essentially, if you do not fear the government directly and don't expect to be harassed on a short trip, you can justify a trip to your COP, especially if it's due to someone's illness back there. Also, travelling on your national passport can also be ok if you can explain why it wasn't a problem. In either case, it is unlikely you will have any trouble at the US border. The only questions you could get would be during your naturalisation interview.
Click to expand...
Sorry guys if i was not clear enough in my original post but i was talking about just using my national passport to travel and not actually going to my COP or Home Country. As the travel document i applied in February still hasn't come yet and i need to travel.
 
Ah, using your passport for general travel is practically a non-issue. Indeed, CBP officers, when you re-enter the country, will often ask why an LPR is using a travel document, and not a passport. Remember, however, that if you lose it or it becomes damaged abroad, you might be in a pickle. Be VERY CAREFUL with it.
 
I don't think it's a good idea to use your national passport as an asylee. My lawyer told me that using a national passport could still be interpreted as receiving benefits from the government of the country you applied for asylum from. However, in practice, it might be a non-issue due to the ignorance of the CBP officer.

That said, I definitely wouldn't count on somebody's ignorance and lack of attention. Also there's always the risk of losing your national passport as mentioned by cafeconleche. If you don't travel abroad very often, I highly recommend sticking to the refugee travel document. Playing by the book is always safer.
 
Also one more thing. If you national passport expired, it is a VERY BAD idea to try to renew it coz it would definitely count as receiving benefits from your home country. You will be asked if you ever renewed your national passport on your citizenship application/in the interview.

Again, there might be people who got away with doing any/all of the above but my point is that there is always risk of doing so and it doesn't take a lot to avoid them (just get an RTD and use it).
 
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