What is a Reentry Permit (or Travel Document)?
Guys who want to travel back home for more than a year
A reentry permit is a permission from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to a U.S. lawful permanent resident (LPR) to reenter the U.S. after an extended period of stay abroad. Normally, LPRs are expected to reside in the U.S. on a permanent basis. However, in many circumstances, an LPR needs to reside abroad for an extended period of time. The actual reentry permit looks a bit like a U.S. passport – a booklet with a tamper-proof photo page with biographic information and a number of stamp pages.
Generally, a reentry permit can help prevent two types of problems: (a) your Permanent Resident Card becoming technically invalid for reentry into the U.S., if you are absent from the U.S. for one (1) year or more or (b) your U.S. permanent residence being considered as abandoned for absences shorter than one (1) year if you take up residence in another country.
A reentry permit establishes a presumption that you did not abandon your LPR, and it allows you to apply for admission to the U.S. after traveling abroad for a period of up to two years, without having to obtain a returning resident visa. Reentry permits are normally valid for 2 years from the date of issuance.
I am a Green Card Holder – Do I Need a Reentry Permit?
There are two situations in which we recommend LPRs to obtain a reentry permit before travel abroad. First, if you will (or potentially could) remain outside of the U.S. for a period of more than one (1) but less than two (2) years. The second situation is if you are traveling frequently in and out of the U.S., especially if you spend considerable periods of time abroad, even though each of your individual stays outside of the U.S. is less than one year.
You may also want to get a reentry permit if you plan on traveling outside the U.S. and cannot, or do not wish to get a passport from your home country. Some LPRs based on asylum do not actually have foreign passports and for them the only travel document permitting them to leave the U.S. is the reentry permit. As a result, many countries throughout the world allow you to use a reentry permit much like you would use a passport – placing necessary visas, and entry and exit stamps in the permit – so you may use it as your main travel document.
How Do I Obtain a Reentry Permit?
The reentry permit application (Form I-131) is filed with USCIS along with supporting documentation and the correct filing fee. Effective April 2008, all reentry permit applications include a biometrics processing component. Each applicant must submit to biometrics processing at a local USCIS service center before his or her reentry permit can be issued. Failure to attend the biometrics appointment within 120 days of the application receipt date may cause the reentry permit to be denied.
How Long Does the Reentry Permit Application Take to Process?
A regular reentry permit application can take between 1-2 months from the time of applying to the biometrics appointment; with another 1-2 months for the actual reentry permit to be produced and mailed to the applicant. If you have a foreign passport and can travel internationally, then you can depart the U.S. after processing the biometrics. LPRs who need the reentry permit for international travel would need to wait until its production before they can make travel arrangements and depart the U.S.
Because of these processing times, we recommend that reentry permit applications be initiated well in advance of any planned trip. Additionally, USCIS has established an "expedited processing" procedure which permits, under certain circumstances and emergencies, the biometrics to be scheduled on a first-available basis so that the applicant can travel abroad. In many cases, under the expedited processing procedure, USCIS is able to schedule the biometrics appointment within 2-4 weeks of application filing, by also trying to accommodate specific travel dates the applicant is able to document.
How Much Does It Cost?
The USCIS filing fee for the reentry permit application is $360. Additionally, applicants between the ages of 14 and 79 are required to pay an additional $85 biometrics fee.
Should you decide to hire our office to handle your reentry permit application, our attorney fee is $595 per application. Volume and family discounts are available.
