Advance Parole

Overview. Advance parole is permission obtained before leaving the United States to be paroled back in on return. It is requested from USCIS on Form I-131, now titled the Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records, and if granted it produces an advance parole document. The device exists because certain applications pending with USCIS are treated as abandoned if the applicant simply departs, and because some applicants have no visa with which to return. Advance parole solves a travel problem; it does not confer status, does not authorize employment, and is not a visa.

Parole is not an admission. The underlying authority is INA 212(d)(5)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)(A), which allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to parole a person into the United States temporarily, in discretion, only on a case-by-case basis and only for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. The same provision states that parole is not to be regarded as an admission, and 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(13)(B) confirms that a person paroled under 212(d)(5) has not been admitted. A parolee therefore remains, in law, an applicant for admission. Under 8 C.F.R. 212.5(e) parole terminates automatically on departure from the United States or at the expiration of the period authorized.

The document is not a guarantee of re-entry. USCIS states that an advance parole document allows a carrier to board the traveler without a visa but does not replace a passport, and that it does not guarantee re-entry: a Customs and Border Protection officer makes the final decision at the port of entry. The document is evidence of permission to seek parole. It is not an entitlement to be let in, and it does not cure any ground of inadmissibility.

Who ordinarily needs it. The two most common situations are a pending Form I-485 application to adjust status and a pending Form I-589 asylum application. USCIS states that a person who leaves while an adjustment application is pending, without first obtaining advance parole, will have that application denied unless a narrow exception for certain nonimmigrant statuses applies, and that an asylum applicant who leaves without advance parole will be treated as having abandoned the asylum application.

Departure and abandonment of an adjustment application. The rule is at 8 C.F.R. 245.2(a)(4)(ii). Departure by an applicant who is in exclusion, deportation, or removal proceedings is deemed an abandonment of the application, and advance parole does not change that. For an applicant not in proceedings, departure is likewise deemed an abandonment unless advance parole was granted beforehand and the applicant was inspected and paroled on return. The same regulation adds a consequence that is easy to miss: if the adjustment application is afterwards denied, the person is treated as an applicant for admission and is subject to INA 212 and 235.

The nonimmigrant exception. Under 8 C.F.R. 245.2(a)(4)(ii)(C) and (D), travel by an adjustment applicant who is not in proceedings is not an abandonment where the applicant holds lawful H-1 or L-1 status, remains eligible for it, returns to resume employment with the same employer, and holds a valid visa if one is required. Parallel provisions cover H-4 and L-2 dependents whose principal maintains H-1 or L-1 status, holders of K-3 or K-4 status, and holders of V status. This is a separate mechanism from advance parole and rests on the nonimmigrant status itself. Many applicants who qualify for it nonetheless obtain an advance parole document as a fallback, and the choice of which document to present on return has consequences that are worth taking advice on.

Unlawful presence and the entry bars. A person who has accrued unlawful presence and then departs may become inadmissible under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(B) for three years, where the unlawful presence exceeded one hundred and eighty days but was less than a year, or for ten years, where it lasted a year or more. USCIS follows the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals in Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012), which held that travel on advance parole is not a departure that triggers the ten-year bar for an adjustment applicant, and USCIS applies the same analysis to the three-year bar and to travel on Temporary Protected Status travel authorization.

The limits of that protection. Arrabally does not make travel safe for everyone. It does not reach the separate bar at 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(C) for a person who has accrued more than a year of unlawful presence in the aggregate, or who has been ordered removed, and who then enters or attempts to enter without being admitted. It does not dissolve an outstanding removal order, and departure while such an order exists may itself execute the order. USCIS warns in terms that a person with accrued unlawful presence or a removal order may be found inadmissible on seeking admission after a departure even when holding a travel document. Anyone in either position should obtain advice before booking travel rather than after.

Advance parole is one document among several. Form I-131 is also used to apply for a reentry permit, which serves a lawful permanent resident planning a long absence; for a refugee travel document, which serves a person holding refugee or asylee status; for Temporary Protected Status travel authorization; and for advance permission to travel for certain long-term residents of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The documents are not interchangeable, and applying for the wrong one wastes time that a pending case may not have.

Temporary Protected Status. Travel by a person who already holds Temporary Protected Status is not handled through an advance parole document. USCIS states that an approved applicant holding that status is issued Form I-512T, a travel authorization document, while an applicant whose initial Temporary Protected Status application is still pending is issued Form I-512L, an advance parole document. Whether a returning traveler is admitted into Temporary Protected Status is determined by the Department of Homeland Security at inspection, and USCIS cautions that being outside the United States while a registration or an initial application is under consideration carries its own risks, including missing requests for evidence.

Deferred action. A person granted deferred action under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy may file Form I-131 to request advance parole once deferred action has been granted, and may not travel while the request is pending. USCIS also warns that a person previously ordered deported or removed who departs without first addressing the removal proceedings will likely be treated as having been deported or removed. The policy has been restricted by court order and remains in litigation, so availability should be confirmed with the agency rather than assumed.

Timing. The application must be filed, and in the ordinary case approved, before departure. Travel booked against an unapproved application is a gamble, because the underlying benefit application can be treated as abandoned the moment the applicant leaves. USCIS maintains expedite and emergency travel procedures for urgent cases. Filing fees and processing times are set by the agency and change, so they should be checked on the Form I-131 page rather than taken from any secondary source.

The document's validity is not the same as the underlying case. An advance parole document carries its own validity dates, and those dates say nothing about whether the application it was issued to protect is still alive. The document can remain unexpired after the adjustment application has been denied, and parole granted on return ends automatically on the next departure or at the end of the authorized period under 8 C.F.R. 212.5(e). Neither the document nor the parole it produces creates a status, extends a status, or authorizes work; employment authorization is a separate matter with its own application.

Before traveling. The decision to leave the United States while a case is pending turns on facts that are specific to the individual: what is pending, what status is held, whether unlawful presence has accrued, whether any removal order or prior immigration violation exists, and what will be presented on return. These questions are better resolved before tickets are bought.

Related pages. Other Matters introduces this part of the handbook, and Reentry Permits covers the different document that a lawful permanent resident needs for a long absence. Questions about a particular case may be raised through the contact page.