Re-entry Permit vs Refugee Travel Document

[yuzefovich]

Hey folks. I have a green card based on asylum, and I'm trying to decide which document to get for the travel purposes - either re-entry permit (RP) or refugee travel document (RTD). I tried searching this forum for more information on pros / cons of both but didn't find anything, so hoping to get some more insight.

Here is my understanding:

- Pros of RP:
- 2 year validity instead of 1 year for RTD

- Pros of RTD:
- some countries allow visa-free entry (e.g. Germany) whereas I can't find any information on visa-free entry for RP
- cheaper than RP by $440.

I've had RTD twice in the past, but 1 year validity with over a year of processing time is rather sad. Can anyone share their experience using RP? Do customs officers don't know that this document is about (this has been my experience with RTD).

Thank you for your time.

 

[yuzefovich]

Apparently, the first question that I need to answer is whether the Re-entry Permit is generally accepted as a travel document in place of a passport (since I don't have any valid passport). I found a helpful response on the Visa Journey forum (unfortunately cannot post links, google "Travel documents issued by third countries and territorial entities (Part I)", the first link is home-affairs.ec will have a spreadsheet ). It appears that most countries in EU (except for Malta and Denmark) accept it.