Leaving US before receiving the Green Card

[Guriix]

Hello everyone!
I would like to know if you are allowed to leave US before actually receiving the Green card. I know you have to entry US in maximum 6 months before your visa or medical exams expire...however if I can not stay there for 2-3 months, only 2 weeks, until the green card will be issued would it be a problem?
Thank you!

With the stamp in your passport you are good to use it for a year in place of the actual card but it's always good to wait for the green card to be sent. That takes anywhere between 30 days to 45 days.

 

[Vlada Morozov]

Hello, I applied for a green card in December 2016 and currently awaiting for it to arrive. I however already have a refugee travel document. Can I travel aboard without a green card and more importantly, can I safely return? I am a lawful asylee. What other documents should I have with me? I've learned that I can not use my foreign passport in any circumstances, is that right?

 

[Guriix]

Hello, I applied for a green card in December 2016 and currently awaiting for it to arrive. I however already have a refugee travel document. Can I travel aboard without a green card and more importantly, can I safely return? I am a lawful asylee. What other documents should I have with me? I've learned that I can not use my foreign passport in any circumstances, is that right?

Read below and see which category you fall in

Travel Documents
Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, is used to apply for three different types of travel documents:

• Advance Parole
• Refugee Travel Document
• Re-Entry Permit

Form I-131A allows an individual to apply for another type of travel document: carrier documentation.

Below you will find more information about these four types of travel documents. For more information on how to apply for these travel documents, see Form I-131 (PDF, 436 KB) and Form I-131A (PDF).



WARNING

If you have been in the United States illegally, then you may be subject to a bar to admission if you depart the United States, even if you have been issued a travel document. For more information please see Section 212(a)(9) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

If you are an asylee who applied for asylum on or after April 1, 1997, then your asylum status may be terminated if you return to the country from which you were seeking protection. See the “Fact Sheet: Traveling Outside the United States as an Asylum Applicant, an Asylee, or Lawful Permanent Resident Who Obtained Such Status Based on Asylum Status” (PDF, 45 KB) for more information.

Advance Parole
Advance parole is issued solely to authorize the temporary parole of a person into the United States. The document may be accepted by a transportation company (airlines) instead of a visa as an authorization to travel to the United States.

An advance parole document does not replace your passport.

Advance parole is most commonly used when someone has Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status, pending. If you depart the U.S. while your I-485 application is pending without first obtaining advance parole, your case will be denied unless you fit into a narrow exception for those maintaining certain nonimmigrant statuses.

Advance Parole for Asylees
An asylum applicant who has a pending Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, and has not received a final decision may be allowed to travel outside the United States.

If you are an asylum applicant and you intend to travel outside the United States and return you must apply for and receive advance parole. If you leave the United States without first obtaining advance parole, we will presume you abandoned your asylum application.

Advance parole does not guarantee that you will be allowed to reenter the United States, rather, an immigration inspector from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) must inspect you and determine whether you will be allowed to reenter the United States.

Refugee Travel Document
A refugee travel document is issued to a person who has been granted refugee or asylum status, or to a permanent resident who obtained a green card because they were a refugee or asylee.

If you hold refugee or asylee status and are not a permanent resident, you must have a refugee travel document to return to the United States.

Derivative asylees and refugees must also obtain a refugee travel document before leaving the United States.

If you do not obtain a refugee travel document in advance of departure, you may be unable to re-enter the United States, or you may be placed in removal proceedings before an immigration judge.

For more information, see the “Fact Sheet: Traveling Outside the United States as an Asylum Applicant, an Asylee, or Lawful Permanent Resident Who Obtained Such Status Based on Asylum Status.” (PDF, 45 KB)

Re-entry Permit
A re-entry permit allows a permanent resident or conditional resident to apply for admission to the U.S. upon returning from abroad during the permit’s validity, without having to obtain a returning resident visa from a U.S. Embassy or consulate. Permanent or conditional residents should apply for a re-entry permit if they will be outside the United States for one year or more.

Carrier Documentation
Carrier documentation allows an airline or other transportation carrier to board permanent residents who have temporarily been outside the United States and whose green card or reentry permit has been lost, stolen or destroyed. If you are a permanent resident in this situation, you may need to file a Form I-131A. For more information, see theForm I-131A, Application for Travel Document (Carrier Documentation) page.

 

[PetyaM]

The stamp you get in your passport when you activate your visa at the point of entry acts as a green card until you get the physical card. We activated our visas and then left the US without the cards themselves (which came a few weeks later).

The second part of the statement is correct. Stay out of the US for a year and you run the risk of losing your status.

Hi Emily, question. By the time you reentered the countey, had your actual physical green cards been issued but you hadn’t received them yet because of being abroad?

 

[Sophia Rose]

The stamp you get in your passport when you activate your visa at the point of entry acts as a green card until you get the physical card. We activated our visas and then left the US without the cards themselves (which came a few weeks later).

The second part of the statement is correct. Stay out of the US for a year and you run the risk of losing your status.

Hey Emily, good response. I'm in the same boat as you I think but just to clarify...
I'm heading to the US before September which is when my medical expires. I'll be able to stay there for a little while, a few weeks, but if my physical green card and social security card don’t arrive in that time ill have to come back to Australia to sort out my end of lease, job etc.

But it sounds like you are saying that once you have entered that first time, you get the visa stamp which acts as a one year green card so you can leave and come back during that year.

And so long as your physical green card is being sent to a safe address in the US, should be no problem to collect it when I re enter within a year.

Is that correct? Am I missing anything?

Thank you. This is my first time using this forum and it seems fantastic!

 

[Britsimon]

Hey Emily, good response. I'm in the same boat as you I think but just to clarify...
I'm heading to the US before September which is when my medical expires. I'll be able to stay there for a little while, a few weeks, but if my physical green card and social security card don’t arrive in that time ill have to come back to Australia to sort out my end of lease, job etc.

But it sounds like you are saying that once you have entered that first time, you get the visa stamp which acts as a one year green card so you can leave and come back during that year.

And so long as your physical green card is being sent to a safe address in the US, should be no problem to collect it when I re enter within a year.

Is that correct? Am I missing anything?

Thank you. This is my first time using this forum and it seems fantastic!

That is correct.

 

[AussieGCHopeful]

This is an issue I'm a little stuck on as my first trip will involve a bit of sightseeing and visiting locations to live during the activation trip so I won't have an address as such while I'm there.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to where to get the GC delivered (or delayed until my return) as I don't know anyone in the US and don't want to risk losing them. I have thought about contacting a lawyers office and asking them to accept the documents on my behalf. Would there be any issues there (besides costs), e.g. authorising them to sign on my behalf?

 

[Sophia Rose]

Hi team,

Another question.

I'm an Australian, and am entering the US for the first time since being accepted at interview in July (yayyy).

But I am planning a trip to Europe in the weeks before, so will travel from Rome Italy to NYC. I'll obviously still be travelling with my Australian passport, so cant imagine it will make much difference.

But just checking there is no issue with not going direct flight from Australia to America...

 

[Britsimon]

Hi team,

Another question.

I'm an Australian, and am entering the US for the first time since being accepted at interview in July (yayyy).

But I am planning a trip to Europe in the weeks before, so will travel from Rome Italy to NYC. I'll obviously still be travelling with my Australian passport, so cant imagine it will make much difference.

But just checking there is no issue with not going direct flight from Australia to America...

No issue with that, however, I hope you are leaving something out. Your visa has an expiry date, which would have long expired since a July interview. So - I;m hoping you are neglecting to mention some other trip where you activated your status.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Also wondering about the visa expiry, given the statement about entering for the first time. Maybe it was a different month?

Edit: this poster posted (above in this thread] in March 2019 about entering before her medical expires in September. Clarification definitely needed.

 

[Britsimon]

Also wondering about the visa expiry, given the statement about entering for the first time. Maybe it was a different month?

Edit: this poster posted (above in this thread] in March 2019 about entering before her medical expires in September. Clarification definitely needed.

Yup - probably just a typo on July.

 

[Aidyn]

hmm I'm thinking maybe they mean they will be entering for the first time in July... since being approved for their visa

come back and put us all out of our guessing misery lol