URGENT: Travel while AP approved but not received?

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chp

Registered Users (C)
Question: can someone in Adj of Status leave the country knowing that her Advanced Parole is approved, but before having received the physical document in her own hands?

Is it legal?

Does it work?

Has anyone done it?

Here is our situation: my wife needs to go abroad for family reasons. She is scheduled to leave Wed June 11, we have the plane tickets already and they would be very inconvenient to change.

After two RFEs (marriage certificate, then new photos), her AP renewal finally got approved yesterday Thu June 5, according to the online case status. Now the notice has to go from CSC to my employer's lawyer in DC, who then mails it back to us in California. It is thus uncertain that we will receive it before she has to leave. I am following her in four weeks, so I can bring her AP along (and mine) for when we come back.

I talked to the lawyer over the phone this morning; her answer was "strictly speaking you cannot, but I will check if there is some wiggle room (sic) we could use". I have to call her back this afternoon.

We are also considering going to the local San Jose office and ask for emerency AP (my wife's uncle is in a critical condition), but I have read that it is now rare to get same-day approval. Any opinions or experience on that?

Thanks for any help!
 
Check out the last few posts of the following previous thread...
Previous Thread

I got the same answer from IIO, not advisable to leave without AP, but possibly doable because who's really going to check?
 
Some members in this forum have successfully used it. You dont need to show AP while going out of the country , but some airlines will not allow you to board if you dont have a valid document in hand.
I dont see any BCIS problem. It is true that BCIS site says that you have to get the AP approved before leaving the country, but that does not mean that somebody with a valid AP will be denied entry into US for this reason.

I have entered into US with a AP whose approval date was past my departure date. I had secondary inspection. No questions about why you left US before getting the AP approval...

Your luck might vary though.
 
Thank you jaxen and cajvrod.

To be complete and accurate, here is the online notice:

This case has been approved. On June 5, 2003, an approval notice was mailed. If 14 days have passed and you have not received this notice, you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address, please speak to an Immigration Information Officer during business hours.
Click to expand...

I talked to the lawyer (call her L) minutes ago. In a word, she says my wife (call her W) can travel as soon as L (not necessarily W) receives and checks the approval (of course L then has to forward it to W before W comes back).

If W leaves before L gets the approval, the risk is that if the approval gets lost or is in correct, W being abroad cannot apply for a new one and she is stuck. Otherwise it would most likely work just fine as well. I have used my AP twice and no one ever asked for it when I left (flying Delta and United).

Will we get it on time? If "mailed" means "in the hands of USPS", we stand a fair chance. If it only means "in the CSC mail-out pipe", all bets are off. However, the previous RFEs were received by L only a couple days after the online notice date, so I am fairly hopeful.

Stay tuned...
 
Hi Jaxen,
Did u leave US before ur AP approval got through or after the online status said ur AP was approved.
Can u give me the details of how long before ur AP got approved u left US?
Also did u have secondary inspection because of ur AP or some other reason? Thanks in advance.
Badobo
 
Hi Jaxen,
Did u leave US before ur AP approval got through or after the online status said ur AP was approved.
Can u give me the details of how long before ur AP got approved u left US?
Also did u have secondary inspection because of ur AP or some other reason? Thanks in advance.
Badobo
 
badabo, to be on the safe side, print the online approval message. This online BCIS messages keep on changing. If something worst happens and your online message changes, you atleast have the printout to fight your case.
 
I undertook Travel Before AP approval (2 weeks). Happened about 2 years ago right after 9/11. Sweated out in home country for 4 weeks.

All AP users get secondary inspection.
 
Travelling before Approval

This is a cropped image from I-131 application form from BCIS website., clearly says dont travel if AP not approved.
 
gee

kjkool, so you know how to do ctrl-prtscr:)
Any attempts at the logical question raised in my post. Where does it say AP will be invalidated if you dont apply when you are in US?
 
Case update:

My wife's case number was WAC-02-100-xxxxx, dated February 10. Note that we got two RFEs (asking marriage certificate, then new photos because of a tiny lock of hair on the ear...), which is why we end up being so tight on schedule. My own renewal was started at the same time and was approved months ago.

My wife tried to get emergency AP in person this morning at the San Jose office, unsuccessfully. Her request was refused for two reasons: (1) only direct lineage parents count as emergency (parents, children, siblings). Her uncle was not considered a close enough parent. (2) emergency AP have to be requested in the center where the I485 is pending, i.e. Laguna Miguel (L.A.) in our case.

Note that overcrowding seems to ease up a bit at San Jose offices these days: based on previous experience, she was there at 2:45am, and was only third in line, so by 7:30am she was done with it. This being said, the office staff were as grumpy and unwelcoming as ever.

We are now eagerly waiting for our attorney to tell us that they received the approval. Following vrajbhumi's advice, I printed the online notice just in case.

I will tell you :(
 
Jaxen,
But if you apply, and then leave before approval, then it will be considered abandoned. But I know ppl who've done that, and you have done that, and have returned back safely, so it was just a view I thought I should let others know. After that its upto them.
 
From Personal Experience

OK, If you are going to do this then there is a risk, how large I don't know.

AP for me had been approved, but we had moved and it was sent to our old address. BCIS mail does not get forwarded so eventually it was returned to the service center and because they had our new address we saw online notification that it had been mailed back. This was Friday and due to travel Wed. By Wednesday morning it had not arrived, but I took the risk anyway and traveled. No-one asked about anything, and I did not have to present any documents. The Friday after I left the AP document arrived. I then had the documents scanned and emailed to me, so at least I had a copy. You get 3 copies, all originals of your AP document. I had 2 sent Fedex priority, and sent the other USPS Global Priority. Fedex arrived in 5 days USPS took about 7. I had the AP's split up to minimize the risk of 100% loss.

The return entry into the US was uneventful.

From my reading you only need approved AP, not physical custody of the documents. However we received strong advice from our lawyers, this forum and others not to do it. Did it anyway!

You must however understand that this is a risky manouver.
 
Epilogue

Here is what finally happened:

By Tuesday evening, our lawyer had still not received the AP. We took no chance and my wife did not take her flight on Wednesday morning. As it turns out, the AP only arrived this Monday at my lawyer's office and is now in the mail coming our way. So in retrospect, my wife could probably have left last week as planned, I would have brought the AP a couple weeks later and all would have been fine, though possibly not quite legal.

So my wife is still at home and our vacation plans are all messed up, but we are otherwise fine. Not nearly as bad as spending a night detained in an airport and being deported the next morning...

Thank you to everyone for all the helpful advice!

ChP
 
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