Here was what the INS said about this situation:
Several commenters remarked favorably on the proposal to revise 8
CFR part 223 to allow refugees and asylees to apply for refugee travel
documents from outside the United States, after departure from the
United States, under certain very limited circumstances. The Department
proposed this revision with full awareness of the provision in section
208(c)(1) of the Act under which the Attorney General may allow the
alien to travel abroad ``with the prior consent of the Attorney
General.'' Despite the implied language of the statute, the Department
felt that an exception was warranted for those cases where the alien
innocently departed in ignorance of the requirement or, although aware
of the requirement, departed without applying for the document due to
an urgent humanitarian need, such as the impending death of a close
relative. It should be noted that the current regulations only require
that an application be filed before departure, not that the applicant
delay travel until after the application is approved and the document
is received. The Service has always provided the option of allowing the
alien to pick up the document overseas at an American consular post.
A few commenters suggested that the decision whether to accept such
applications not be left to the discretion of the Service. This change
has been made. However, the regulation does not remove the general
requirement that the application be filed before departure, nor does it
intend that the new procedure be viewed as a routine method of
obtaining the document. Although not specifically stated in the
regulation, the Department intends that if it is apparent that the
alien knew of the general requirement and simply chose to ignore it
(e.g., if the alien had previously been issued a refugee travel
document through this ``overseas procedure'' and there was no emergency
necessitating the more recent departure), the director may determine
that favorable exercise of discretionary authority is not warranted.
Accordingly, the regulation provides that the district director having
jurisdiction over the overseas location, or over the inspection
facility in the case of an alien at a port-of-entry, may deny the
application as a matter of discretion.
A few commenters suggested that there be no limit on how long after
departure the application may be filed. Others suggested that the time
limit be shortened from 1 year to 6 months to coincide with the 6 month
time frame in section 101(a)(13)(C) of the Act, which is the period
during which a lawful permanent resident who meets certain other
requirements is not considered to be an applicant for admission.
Another commenter stated that the validity of a refugee travel document
approved under this process should not be limited to 1 year from the
date of the alien's departure from the United States, so long as the
application was filed within 1 year of that departure. The 1-year
limitation was chosen because it is the maximum validity period for
which a document would have been approved had the alien complied with
the requirement of filing prior to departure. Allowing an applicant to
file from outside the United States more than 1 year after departure
would effectively authorize a longer validity period for the person who
failed to comply with the requirement than for one who did. This would
not be appropriate. Likewise, the 6-month period during which a lawful
permanent resident (who meets the other criteria in section 101(a)(13)
of the Act) is not deemed to be seeking admission is not analogous to
that of the stranded refugee, since the refugee is clearly deemed to be
seeking admission. Additionally, 6 months might be too short a time for
the alien who realizes his or her error to file the application and for
the Service to verify eligibility and approve that application. The
Department feels that in those cases where it is proper to allow an
exception from the requirement to file before departure, it is
appropriate that the document be valid for the same length of time as
for the person who complied with that requirement.
