Global Mobility & Immigration Law

Policy Change Regarding Advance Parole For Adjustment of Status (Aos) Applicants

USCIS has started denying Form I-131 advance parole applications where the applicant has traveled abroad during the pendency of the application. USCIS is denying the pending Form I-131 application even if the applicant has a separate valid advance parole document or a valid H or L visa to return to the United States while his or her I-485 application is pending. In the denial notification, USCIS points to the Form I-131 instructions at page 6 where it states that "[i]f you depart the United States before the advance parole document is issued, your application for an advance parole document will be considered abandoned."

This shift in policy contravenes USCIS’s prior longstanding policy, which allowed an applicant for advanced parole to travel abroad while the application was pending, as long as the individual had other valid means of being readmitted to the United States.

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