Hi
William:
My
I-485 application has been pending for more that 5 months. Can
I leave the U.S. while waiting for a Green Card
approval?
Answer:
Before
you leave the United States while waiting an interview on your
adjustment of
status application, you must apply for "Advance Parole," using Form
I-131 issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. You
may want to include Form I-131 with
your Form I-485 adjustment of status packet. You can also submit it
later
separately. You can avoid paying a separate fee with Form
I-131 application
by submitting a copy of the Form I-797 receipt notice that you got from
USCIS
upon submitting your I-485 adjustment application.
If you do
not submit the Advance Parole application before you leave the U.S.,
USCIS will
consider your I-485 application to have been abandoned, and will stop
processing
it. You will then be denied U.S. entry unless you have some other form
of visa.
An exception to the advance parole requirement
exists, however, for holders of
either an H and L visa. All of these allow for travel to and from the
United
States while your adjustment application is pending, as long as the
visas are
still valid and unexpired.
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