USCIS announced that it will automatically extend parole, and employment authorization if applicable, for certain aliens present in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). This specific extension of parole will apply only to current parolees whose parole status will expire on June 29, 2020.
Hi everyone I have finally been granted asylum. I filed my case in November of 2014. A lot of people said it will be difficult for me to be granted because I have been travelling in and out of the US for a long time.
1. What documents do I need to travel outside the United States?<br>
2. What documents do I need to present to reenter the United States?<br>
3. Does travel outside the United States affect my permanent resident status?<br>
4. What if my trip abroad will last longer than 1 year?<br>
5. What if I lose my green card or reentry permit or it is stolen or destroyed while I am temporarily traveling outside of the United States?
1. In general, you will need to present a passport from your country of citizenship or your refugee travel document to travel to a foreign country. In addition, the foreign country may have additional entry/exit requirements (such as a visa). For information on foreign entry and exit requirements, see the De
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
Can I keep the notarized copy of my green card instead of original green card? Because I think it’s risky to carry GC all the time and have fear of it getting lost. cost and wait time for replacing GC is very high.
When I will travel out of town or government buildings I can take my GC with me. But for other day to day routine travel can I keep my GC safe at home ? What is the maximum penalty I have to pay if random checked by immigration officer (very unlikely) I provide my driving license and notarized copy of GC? Is it very serious offense ? Have you seen people getting into immigration(USCIS) trouble for not carrying original GC?
Do we have to do police complaint if GC is lost? If yes then can you please explain the procedure, and forms to fill.
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
Wanted to share that I had a trip with my mom to Europe back in September we both had RTD flew to Germany with delta and got stamped in less a minute by german passport control then we flew same day to Barcelona no problems at all then spent few days then flew to Athens and all went well they just checked at the gate took a look at out RTDs and look at the entry stamps and we spent few days in Athens everything was fine and then we flew to paris at the airport at athens while boarding the boarding agent checked our RTDs while boarding didn’t know what’s th
USCIS offers a Questions and Answers to clarify issues on filing adjustment applications, work authorization documents, and refugee travel documents for refugees and asylees.
I will copy and paste the conversation between me and the Norwegian Embassy in San Francisco/CA. I just think the Embassies should be aware about the Travel Document...they look at it like it's an alien from Mars!!!
ME: Good morning Norwegian Embassy SF-CA
Hello, everyone. This is Rajiv S. Khanna for immigration.com, the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
I wanted to talk with you folks about requirements for naturalization for people who get their Green Card based upon employment and then have to stay outside USA for a certain period time. Many of the criteria here are common to people who have obtained their Green Card through any other method such as through marriage or through political asylum. Pretty much, it is the same law. But I want to focus primarily on people who have gotten an employment-based Green Card, because those are the inquires I receive the most and I don’t want to miss anything, because N-470 typically does not apply to people in non-employment situations, except for missionaries. I’ll get to that in a second.
So, first of all, let’s look at the requirements for somebody to get naturalized in USA. What are the normal requirements?
Right here. You must have received your Green Card approval five years ago. Actually, it is a little bit more complicated than that. You can apply 90 days before your 5th year anniversary of Green Card. In case you got your Green Card through marriage, then it is three years, when you are married to a US citizen. After that, you must have stayed in USA for at least 30 months physically. 2 ½ years. Half the time. You should not have visited outside USA for a year or more. If you go outside USA for a year, your Green Card is gone. It’s difficult to get it back. Not impossible, but what you will have to do if you end up staying for a year or more outside USA is, you will have to go to the consulate and convince them that you have not abandoned your US permanent residence, your Green Card, and you can do that by a process called SB-1 (Returning Resident Permit). I’m not going to go into that in too much detail, but just to give you an idea. If you are outside USA for one year or more, for naturalization purposes, you have to start your five years all over again, except in the following two circumstances, I-131 and N-470, which are these. I’ll get to that in a second as well.
So, physical presence of 2 ½ years, no visit outside USA for a year or more, any visit outside USA for six months or more but less than one year, you have to explain. Why were you gone that long? So this is for people who have not filed these special forms called I-131 and N-470. I also want to make a quick note about I-131 and N-470.
What is I-131?
It’s the same form you used for filing for Advanced Parole when you are in need of Advanced Parole during your Adjustment of Status. It’s also the same form used for protecting your Green Card through a process called Reentry Permit. So you use your 1-131 to apply for a Reentry Permit, which is typically given for two years at one go, and you can get that extended, depending on the circumstances. Basically, the I-131 tells the government, “Look. I am not abandoning my permanent residence. I am just going outside temporarily.” Once you file the I-131, things change for naturalization purposes.
Did you stay outside USA for one year continuously?
If you did, ordinarily, if you had not filed I-131, you would have to start five years all over again, if you have not lost your Green Card. You could have even lost your Green Card. But, if you had filed your I-131, you don’t lose your Green Card, and you also get a respite of one year. When you come back, you have to establish your US residence for four years and one day instead of five years and apply after you have accumulated physical presence in USA for 2 ½ years. It gives you one year off from those five years. That’s an added advantage of I-131. It protects your Green Card as much as humanly possible. There’s more to it. I would always advise you to talk with a lawyer before you take any steps of going outside USA for an extended period of time. It also shortens the time of five years that you would have to otherwise accumulate for naturalization.
Did you stay outside USA for one year continuously after I-131?
If the answer is no, then these same requirements that apply to normal people will apply to you. Physical presence of 30 months, no visit outside USA for a year or more, six months or more will have to be explained.
Then comes N-470.
N-470 is one of those tricky strange forms. It’s applicable to a certain group of people. I would strongly encourage you to read up on the instructions on N-470. They’re pretty informative.
The way this works is, if you’re going to work for a US company abroad and, again, I am talking about employment context. There are other reasons N-470 can be filed. Read the instructions. What N-470 does is it allows you to stay outside USA for a year or more and not have a break that will restart your five years all over again. Let me explain. Let’s say I file I-131 and N-470. I do it together. Usually, in most cases, we do both forms together. When you file I-131 and N-470 together, let’s say you stayed outside USA for 1 ½ years. Normally, when you come back, you have to start that five-year period all over again, because you were outside USA for one year or, in case of I-131, you have to start the four year, one day period all over again. But N-470 says, “We forgive your stay outside USA for one year or more for naturalization purposes. We don’t forgive your requirement of 30 months of physical presence.” But it stops the discontinuity that would normally restart the five-year clock or the four year, one day clock after having stayed outside USA for one year. It is a clock-stopping device. It is a very good device. One problem though. N-470 has one strange requirement. You must have at least one year anywhere during your stay in USA as a Green Card holder where you did not travel outside USA for even for one day. Makes no sense to me. I don’t know why it is there, but it’s there. Go figure, but keep that in mind.
I hope this has been informative. I had told one of our posters. Somebody had posted a comment on immigration.com wanting to know more about this. And I told him that I’ll record something, but I’ve had some technical issues. They’re working on our website developing some new material that will make it easier for us to post our videos. I hope to be doing this a lot more, and I’ll continue to do so.
Thank you for being here. I hope to speak with you very soon.
Hey guys,
I just got back from my naturalization interview downtown Los Angeles and wanted to share my experience:
I arrived 10 mins before my appointment and was called about an hour later;
A male officer greeted me and took me to his room, did not even close the door.
Asked me to raise my hand and swear to tell the truth, state my age, name and address. Then he asked me to see my driver’s license and green card.
My application was strong but my interview was weak and I slipped on a question or two. Towards the end of the interview, the asylum officer was very quiet and cold and when I told him that I would send him the document he requested he seemed like he didn't care. Do you think that means he is going to deny my application? How many days did it take for you to get your decision by mail
Hi All,
Sorry for the delay in posting about my experience.
As some of you know, I filed in August 2007 and got stuck in the front-log, and was unable to do my finger prints until December 2007. However, luckily, my interview was scheduled right away for March 2008.
In Buffalo, we do not have same day oath, so I knew going in that I would not be sworn in the same day. I did know however, that I would get the oath notice right away (on the spot) if I passed, because they hold ceremonies every 2 weeks.
Hi everyone,I had my interview in NYC. It took about 10 min or less. I was approved on the spot and advised to wait for the oath letter, which I did.
Yes, I renewed my passport and went to COP three times (short trips) - I listed all trips on my application. No questions had been asked. However, being a member of this forum for years, I had all kind of docs with me to defend my decision to go.
No questions about asylum whatsoever. Just wanted to share. Good luck to everyone.
Taken Question Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
August 17, 2012
Question: Does the United States recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum beyond its Organization of American States (OAS) commitment? What is the U.S. position on the OAS Permanent Council meeting to consider convening a Foreign Ministers meeting on the situation between Ecuador and the United Kingdom?
21.5 years ago I arrived to USA and June 4 I will have a citizenship interview. You can read my story.
Following is a time table of my case1. December 1990 arrived in US
2. February 1991 applied for political asylum, till 1998 was waiting for an interview due to backlog
3. Sometime 1998 interview with immigration office, denial of asylum
4. March, 1999 granted a political asylum status by immigration judge, New York
On Nov. 4, 2013, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington granted final approval of the revised ABT Settlement Agreement, bringing to a close class action litigation that began in December 2011.
Eligible nationals of Haiti who currently have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) must re-register for TPS by May 2, 2014. Failure to re-register by this deadline may result in the loss of your TPS and your work authorization.
The process of E-filing was easy !!. The ASC took only 10 min for the photos and Finger Prints.
Advantages of E-File:
- Enter the data yourself => so NO chance of Typo errors by TSC. Make sure YOU do not make typo / name swapping errors : See : http://forums.immigration.com/
- Pay by CC ; => you can immediately see that the Money has safely been charged. (Hey earn some credit card miles ..or points !! See Below : about Security Code when using Credit Card ) http://forums.immigration.com/
- Get Recipt # instantly.
Thanks to Leila for doing a wonderful follow upon RFE for the EAD. I got my EAD approved very soon after an RFE was issued.