Travel during AOS: Getting an Advanced Parole

Fortunately or unfortunately, I have never traveled while trying to undergo my AOS.  My employer Company X paid for a lawyer to expedite processing of my Advanced Parole (AP) application, or my I-131, and I also made the Director of my team work with the lawyer to justify why my inability to travel overseas would cause "extreme hardship" to Company X.  However, due to a comedy of errors, I ended up not making the trip as I only got my hands on the AP about 5 days after the plane had left the US, by which time the trip was half-over anyways.  Ooooops.

I say that I can't decide if it was a good thing or not, because I obviously didn't perform a professional duty I was supposed to, which is a bad thing, but at the same time, it was pretty nice to not have to travel that far away right after Black Friday shopping.  Additionally there were a lot of executives going on that trip, and I wasn't interested in half the Executive team remembering me as the "awkward kid who's terrible on planes".

No, I don't like plane rides.

In all seriousness, once you shoot off the AOS package, you can't travel until you get your hands on the I-551 (more commonly known as the "Green Card", but USCIS likes to sound fancy and sinister), unless you have an AP document, or an I-512.  Even with the AP document, re-entering is a benefit, not a right -- you can  still be refused re-entry if the Customs officer at the Port of Entry finds you inadmissible for some reason.

I remember seriously considering deferring my AOS application for 3 months because I wanted to go back to Singapore to celebrate the Chinese New Year in late-Jan 2014.  Then I decided against it because the Hubby and I were tired of being stressed out over not knowing if Singapore or the US was going to be our final home.  And then the AOS packet went into the mail in late-Oct 2013, without the I-131 because we were so sick and tired of filling out forms by the time we were done with the mandatory forms, and suddenly I was fixated on the idea of going home for the Chinese New Year.  Then I had to travel for work so an AP fell into my lap just like that, and I didn't want to jump on a 20-hour flight home anymore, so I never went home for the Chinese New Year although I had everything I needed for it.

It's pretty apparent that I didn't cope very well with the stress of the AOS application.  On the bright side, there was never any risk of USCIS deeming that I had abandoned my AOS application by leaving the country.

That's all for today, my Fellow Aliens!