Back in US after traveling with Advance Parole with deferred action

After getting approved for DACA and eventually getting my work permit, social security number and my driver's license in 2013 I finally decided to apply for Advanced Parole so that I could visit my Grandpa who is 88 yrs old who I haven't seen in 11yrs. I had to ask a relative in my birth country of Peru to gather all his medical history so I could prove he has a delicate health situation. My grandpa suffers from Parkison's Disease, has recently had severe anemia and is bed ridden as well. He has been one of my main father-figures and I just had to see him if I could have the chance to. My Advanced Parole got approved. My partner of 8 yrs and I bought our tickets and decided to travel to Peru in December so that I could visit my Grandpa.

On the way to the plane heading for Peru I had no issue boarding, I simply showed my Peruvian passport and my flight ticket and we were on our way. My partner is a U.S. citizen born here so he obviously had no delay going or coming back from Peru. We spent 3 days in Peru. I visited my Grandpa all 3 days, brought him things my mom sent for him along with snacks and a blanket. We spoke for hrs during those 3 days. My family's house is very deteriorated so my partner and I had booked a hotel before going on our trip.

Ok now for the trip back home to the U.S.A..

Arriving at the Airport in Lima, Peru heading back to the States. We were both asked to show our passports to enter the airport. Inside we searched for our airline ticket counter. We were asked by the airline employee who was Peruvian for our travel documents. The dialogue went like this:

Airline employee: Hi welcome, traveling with U.S. Residency or U.S. passport

Me: Hi I live in the U.S. and am traveling with a special travel document, it's called an Advanced Parole

He asked my partner if we were traveling together and to see his documents. My partner showed it to him. I also showed him my social security, my work permit and my license so he could feel more comfortable in knowing that it's all legit. Then the airline employee asked a co-worker for his opinion. I heard him say to his co-worker "this is the document our manager told us we might be getting from people lately". So apparently they had been informed young travelers might show this uncommon travel document. To me it makes sense that they would be extra careful since an Advanced Parole is not a common travel document. So after that he calls his manager to give it a final look. The manager took a good look at all the documents I had brought out and finally said " Ok gentleman you may go ahead".

After that we went to get our tickets at the booth and simply waited for our flight back home to the U.S.

Arriving in the U.S.:

We got off the plane and everyone walked towards the immigration inspection point. There are two lines, one for visitors and one for residents and citizens. An immigration officer is in the lobby helping people know which line to make. I asked her what line do I make since I live in the U.S. but don't have a resident card and have just returned with my Advanced Parole after a 3 day trip to Peru. She wasn't sure and asked another officer who said i needed to make the visitor line. My partner made the resident/citizen line and left the inspection point before I did. I had to wait longer. Soon all the residents and citizens had finished and the officers taking care of them started to take care of our line too. When it was my turn I walked up to one of the officers who had taken care of the resident/citizen line. He asked me:

Officer #1: passport please

I gave him my passport and also said;

Me: I travelled on Advanced Parole to see my Grandpa in Lima, Peru but I live here in the U.S.

He took my Advanced Parole and my passport and I gave him my work permit too, I asked if he wanted my license and he said it wasn't necessary.

he then told me:

Officer #1: You know that you where never supposed to make the visitor line, you were supposed to make this line since you live here.

I was happily surprised to hear that and very relived he was a nice guy.

He then told he he would be back, he was going to check my documents.

He came back and told me to follow him to a waiting area.

There were about twelve people waiting for another officer to call them up to his counter and have some questions asked and finish processing their paper work. A guy who was waiting walked up to the officer at the counter and asked how long did he have to keep on waiting. The officer told him "as long as it takes for you to tell me the truth".

When my turn came the officer called my name and I approached the counter, I filled out a small form and handed it back to him, he input the info on his computer then he asked:

Officer #2: You used to work for a cruise ship right?

Me: Yep I did

Officer #2: What was the name of the ship you were in?

Me: I gave the name of the cruise company instead of the ship ( I was a little nervous so i didn't pay attention to the question)

Officer:#2 Oh ok, what kind of ship is that?

Me: Oh well the company's name is *** and the ship's name is ***

Officer #2: Ah ok

I decided to throw in a little humor to not feel tense and said:

Me: But it wasn't any of those that sank.

Officer #2: (laughs) and says "ok"

Officer #2: So you're going to adjust status?

Me: Yes

Officer #2: marriage?

Me: yes, we are getting married in two weeks in ***

Officer #2: ok

Then he started stamping everything and said

Officer #2: Alright the exit is that way thank you

Me: Thank you sir, happy holidays

Officer #2: You too!

I must of waited about 20-30 mins in the waiting area. After that I walked out of that inspection point and saw my partner sitting down waiting for me. We walked together to customs and they checked our documents again.

Me: I went to see my Grandpa with my Advanced Parole travel document

Officer #3: (he makes a joke): Advanced Parole? Parole? Have you committed a crime and that's why you have Parole? ( you can tell he's kidding by the tone of his voice)

Me: No! No of course not (and laugh)

Officer #3: Alright you're good to go.

We got married 10 days after and have already sent our marriage papers to immigration, I got to see my Grandpa after 11yrs and hope to save up to visit him again this year. My partner and I don't have to be afraid of being separated and can focus on our future together and possibly have a family. I came to this country when I was 7 yrs old. I've been to school all though out elementary and middle and went back to my country to do high school. I worked on a ship for 7 months when I was 19yrs old and on my 2nd trip to the cruise chose to stay here where I had grown up as a child and teenager. I could never feel save in my birth country, the crime, the violence, the lack of safety, the lack of civil freedom and equality. I'm so grateful this country has allowed me to have a future and to be the best with my talents, something i was never able to achieve in my birth country. I met all the requirements for DACA and got my GED here as well even though I had graduated high school in my birth country.

So to all out there going through all this DACA/Advanced Parole process be very detailed in all the documents you present and when you go through immigration at the airport don't lie, always say the truth because the officer can see all your immigration history, they are just waiting for you to answer truthfully.

I currently work for a financial institution and try to volunteer within my job in as many volunteer positions they have available for any events they do on weekends. I also volunteer for festivals when the chance and time allow for it. I'm trying to volunteer for any institution that cares for animals in need and also trying to find an evening job on the weekends. I'm trying to give back to the community as much as I can for all the blessings and success I've been able to get after 24 years of hardships and difficult trials.

I'm fluent in both english and spanish and love learning new languages. i love this country as it were my birthplace and would never impose anything on how our way of life is here. Our country the U.S.A. is truly a country of immigrants and if we weren't able to be fighters for a better way of life in our birth countries we should always do our best to be fighters to make this country even better.

Best of good luck to everyone in the process of getting your DACA/Advanced Parole

lucky you ,so how did you apply for parole did you see a lawyer or just try to apply on your own. was the proccess hard? i would too like to see my grandparents who are getting up there with age, i don't know if i would qualify for it. since they aren't really ill they are just getting old

Thank you for the success story. I'm going in August!

Thanks for sharing! Best of luck to your adjustment!

Congratulations to you and your partner. Your experience was a lot like my wife's. The next step is the easiest. My wife got her green card within 3 months of submitting the petition.

here is my post everyone! thought it would help (I've been posting it to similar posts that the one I originally posted to becasue I continue to see the same questions that have been asnwered in similar posts)

HI EVERYONE!!

I just returned from Colombia using Advance Parole. Everything was really smooth!
I wanted to provide my experience in detail in case you are also thinking of traveling and to help demistify some of the things that I was really worried about. hope you find it helpful

Personal Info:

-DACA Approved
-Advance Parole Approved for humanitarian reasons (my father's illness)
- traveled through: Boston Logan International Airport, making a stop in Miami Intl, then Medellin, Colombia
- traveled with: Colombian passport
- additional info: have been in the US since the age of 12, visa expired. obviously accruing unlawful presence and subject to the 10-year ban for adminissability
how I am currently waiting to adjust my status: my mother is a US citizen. I applied for an I-130 and is currently pending. I am over 21 so my wait time for approval of greencard is quite long


Experience:

Leaving the U.S:
Leaving the US was a breeze and the AP documents are not needed. all you have to do is show your colombian passport to the airline and go through smoothly.

Returning to the US:
- arrived at medellin's airport 3-hours before my flight anticipating delays of airline agents that did not understand Advance Parole (AP) and how to process paperwork. when the airline agent took my password and the AP to provide me the boarding pass for my flight, she called her supervisor, who quickly read through the document and told her how to fill out the information to print my boarding pass. he told her that in the future, to pay specific attention to the start and end dates on the AP document as they can only let you on the plane if you arrived and departed before it expired. Everyone was super nice in Medellin's intl airport.

NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU KEEP BOTH AP DOCUMENTS. IMMIGRATION WILL NEED THEM BOTH WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN THE US - THEY KEEP ONE AND YOU KEEP THE OTHER. in your home country, make sure the airline makes a copy of the doc and do not keep your original. if they ask, let them know that immigration in the US needs both to parole you in. YOU NEED THE ORIGINALS!!!!

In medellin I had to show my AP documents to the airline, immigration in colombia and also before boarding my plane. keep them handy as you'll need to present it everytime you present your passport.

on the plane you are given a customs paper to fill out. make sure you fill it out, as it is required and immigration will ask you for it.
After I arrived in Miami, everyone has to go thorough immigration. unlike some of the other cases I have read, it took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to go through immigration so make sure if you have a connecting flight, you have at least a good 2-3 hour layover so you can make it.
I went through the visitors/greencard holders line. my mother, who is a US citizen was also in the line with us and there were no issues for this. though my mother gave a sense of security, it did not seem like it mattered at all, as she wasnt asked any questions.
when I finally got to the immigration officer's booth, he took my fingerprints on the left and right hands (everyone has to do it), took my custom's paperwork the airline had given me and asked me "why are you a parolee" I explained that I was approved AP through deferred action also known as the dream act for humanitarian reasons. that was the only question he asked me. he then took my passport, custom document, and AP and called an officer to take me to another room for further verification of paperwork. I knew this was a normal practice basedon other postings I had seen on this site.
everyone was really nice and curteous. many of them were cubans and spoke to me in spanish.
in the room, I waited with my mom (they allowed her to come with me) for about 45 minutes. during that time,. they were checking a ton of things on the computer but I never found out what they were looking for. they then called my name and gave me back my passport with a stamp that said paroled until next year and a stamp on one of the AP documents I was allowed to keep. they placed the stamp on the right hand corner in the blank box.

they did not ask me any questions or asked me to sit wih them. they simply called me when the docs were ready.

I then got on my miami-boston flight smoothly.

I was so relieved at how easy it was!!!!!!! hopefully this will ease your worries of traveling once you've been approved for AP.

Good luck!

ps. remember to travel ONLY any day between the approved dates. you''ll be stuck in your country if you try to depart after it has expired




Hi there,
sorry for the late reply of this. [i wrote the original post]
oF course, I actually fileld out all the paperwork myself.
The bottom line is this --> they don't know you and don't know your case, therefore, you need to prove to them EVERYTHING including, that you are you (a copy of a legal document that proves that you are you), proof that the person you claim to be your father is your father (a legal, translated doc by an official translator like a birh certificate, and officilal doctor's documentation that explains his illness, translated to english.
also, remember that these are immigration officers and NOT doctors, so I also sent copies of explanations of the illness my dad has from a reputable site online webMD that explained his illness in detal.

I followed the instructions for the application to the T (meaning I read it over and over again) and made sure my packet was organized, like a story, so the immigration officers had an easy time understanding it.

here are the isntructions to the application. READ THEM SLOWLY. you'd be applying for #3 advanced parole http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/f...i-131instr.pdf

-I first proved that I was who I said I was
- I then proved that my father was my fatehr with a copy of the spanish birth certificate and a translation attached to it from a reputable translating company
- I then proved his illness - provided copies of doctor's paperwork explaining his diagnosis. I included the spanish copies and the english translations
- I then proved that the illness was serious by providing an explanationo of the illness dfrom a reputable site (webmd).
- I then explained the reason why I needed to travel to see him (to help locate good medical care for him)
- note that the instructions say sending copies is ok. I NEVER SENT ANY originals in case they got lost.

my application was approved the first time around ==> it took about two months for it to go through.

let me know if you have any other questions

oh and ps. I worked for 1 year with an immigration attorney so that's how I learned to be methodical in submitting applications

From the very beginning I've had an attorney help me out with all the paperwork.

Yes the process was easy, if there's anything that requires a bit of effort is gathering the proof that shows your reasons for advanced parole are legitimate, I had to ask an aunt from Peru to gather my grandpa's medical history and send it to me here.

thanks for sharing, best wish for you

best wish for you

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