Immigration Attorney
Services & Fees

Monday, December 22, 2003

Because of the delay in processing advance parole travel documents at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) California Service Center (“CSC”), the San Jose and San Francisco local USCIS offices announced, last week, that they would issue advance parole travel documents based upon a pending adjustment of status (I-485) application at the CSC provided an advance parole application has been pending for 90 days, and the applicant faxed an expedite request with the CSC. We recently learned, contrary to this directive, that the San Jose and San Francisco USCIS local offices will not issue advance parole travel documents for employment-based cases. All expedite requests must be submitted to the CSC where the advance parole application is pending.

What this means:

Departure from the United States without advance permission to leave during pendency of an adjustment of status to permanent resident application is considered abandonment of the pending adjustment. However, advance parole is not required for persons in valid H-1B and L-1 status and their dependents. They may travel pursuant to an unexpired H or L visa stamp.

The local USCIS offices in San Francisco and San Jose will issue advance parole on a case-by-case basis for non-employment based emergencies. Business trips are not considered an emergency. The applicant must provide proof of the personal emergency and a new Form I-131 with the requisite fee and photographs.