Re-Entry after approval, Help Please !

[Alexandria]

Dear all,

Sorry, if this topic had been raised before. Here is the question:
My wife got asylum approval couple weeks ago. Do I (as a derivative alylee) need to wait for a year before I would be able to visit my friends in Canada?
I am not sure if I can travel outside of USA before we send application for Green Card (in a year, obviously). If I can travel - then how does it affect the "one year residence in USA" rule?
Any comments & sources links would be very appreciated,

Thanks !

Alexandria

 

[vdostoi1]

Dear all,

Sorry, if this topic had been raised before. Here is the question:
My wife got asylum approval couple weeks ago. Do I (as a derivative alylee) need to wait for a year before I would be able to visit my friends in Canada?
I am not sure if I can travel outside of USA before we send application for Green Card (in a year, obviously). If I can travel - then how does it affect the "one year residence in USA" rule?
Any comments & sources links would be very appreciated,

Thanks !

Alexandria

You may travel to Canada. You would need to apply for a Refugee Travel Document on Form i-131 and obtain a visa to Canada. You may not need a visa to Canada if you still carry a national passport from your country of persecution AND citizens with those passports were not required to obtain visas to visit Canada. But you need the Travel Document in any case to be able to reenter the US.

 

[Alexandria]

Thanks so much.
Yes, I still carry my national passport, but not from one of those countries..
And prior visa to Canada has expired.. Do you know if they issue visas on national passports in Canadian Consulates? Yeah, I guess I'll need a re-entry permit.

Also, in terms of travelling, are there any restrictions for the derivative asylee (spouce), if his country of citizenship is different from the country of his wife's COP?
Thanks,

Alexandria

 

[floyd]

Thanks so much.
Yes, I still carry my national passport, but not from one of those countries..
And prior visa to Canada has expired.. Do you know if they issue visas on national passports in Canadian Consulates? Yeah, I guess I'll need a re-entry permit.

Also, in terms of travelling, are there any restrictions for the derivative asylee (spouce), if his country of citizenship is different from the country of his wife's COP?
Thanks,

Alexandria

3 things:
You need a refugee travel document, not a re-entry permit

any time you spend outside the USA will have to be deducted to arrive at the 1-year residency. So if you spend 1 week in Canada, you will have to wait for 1 year + 1 week before applying for your green card.

If you are asking if you can go back to your wife's COP or your own home country, there are people on this board who have done that.. But after you return, you may have to explain it to an immigration officer who has no clue, and make life tough for you.

Good luck

 

[Alexandria]

Hi, Floyd !

Your help is very appreciated. The thing is that I am from country A, while my wife is from country B.. We married before she decided to get a political asylum.. We were approved just couple weeks ago - so what are the possible restrictions for me to travel home to country A? Why would it arise questions at ports of entries??
One more question - why would I need refugee travel document, rather than re-entry permit? ( I still have my national passport). Wouldn't they stamp canadian visa on my national passport ?


Thanks in advance !

 

[vdostoi1]

Hi, Floyd !

Your help is very appreciated. The thing is that I am from country A, while my wife is from country B.. We married before she decided to get a political asylum.. We were approved just couple weeks ago - so what are the possible restrictions for me to travel home to country A? Why would it arise questions at ports of entries??
One more question - why would I need refugee travel document, rather than re-entry permit? ( I still have my national passport). Wouldn't they stamp canadian visa on my national passport ?


Thanks in advance !

Re-Entry Permit is issused only to permanent residents. You cannot obtain a Re-entry permit if you are only an asylee. A Refugee Travel Document is issued to asylees and refugees to preserve their status so that when they arrive to the US it demonstrates to the US authorities that you did not intend to abandon your status. If everything checks out well when you come back (and there is no reason why it shouldn't unless you commit some type of a crime in the interim) the officer will stamp your passport and the new I-94 with a returning asylee status. If you ask me, the RTD is basically a way for US to collect more fees from refugees and asylees, but you are required to have it when you come back. If you don't have it, you may have problems.

Technically, there are no issues with traveling back to your home country but the Refugee Travel Document lists the country from which you are an asylee. I am not sure what it would be in your case. I believe it would be your wife's coutnry but I am just not sure. So basically, you should have no problems coming back, but IOs at POEs have little clue about these things (like Floyd said) and you will have to explain if questions arise. But, they may not even ask you anything so it really depends. But from my expertise (and I am not a lawyer) you should not have any issues going back to your home country.