New Jersey Immigration Lawyer Explains Applying for a Travel Document
As a skilled New Jersey Immigration Lawyer, clients often ask me about filing for a travel permits and a work visa. I think everyone knows that over the last few years, there’s been this wonderful program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, since 2012. Since the work permits were issued for two, three years, we’ve been seeing a lot of people that are coming in for renewals of their work permits. Some people are even coming in and inquiring about travel permits.
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Last week, I had a meeting with a young man that was telling me about his grandfather that he had never met, who is dying of a terminal disease. He was hoping to visit his grandfather before he passes away. He had heard that if you are a DACA recipient and you’ve got your work permit through DACA, that it may be possible to travel, so he came in to find out the details.
It is possible for someone who is a DACA recipient, who has a valid work permit and a valid DACA eligibility, to apply for a travel permit. As an experienced New Jersey Immigration Lawyer, I suggested that we apply for a travel permit for him using Form I-131. Immigration generally grants advance parole, which is the permission to travel and return to the country, for several major reasons.
One of them is if people have an educational reason to travel, like if they want to study abroad, take a short-term program abroad. Another might be if someone has an important business reason to travel abroad on a short term. The third reason is considered a humanitarian reason. If people are going to visit a dying relative or to attend funeral services, that is definitely considered a humanitarian reason.
We advised him to obtain proof of their relationship like his birth certificate, his mother or father’s birth certificate, and the accompanying marriage certificates with all the translations. We also advised him to obtain proof of the serious medical condition. He got copies of hospital records; he got a detailed letter from the doctor treating his grandfather, and he got an email from another family member explaining that it was very serious and that he should come right away. We did put together the advance parole application for him, and we were successful in obtaining advance parole.
Sometimes you can even get expedited advance parole if you produce evidence of a death certificate and funeral arrangements if someone has to travel immediately. It is a great benefit for people that have been granted DACA.
One additional benefit of advance parole is that when somebody re-enters the US, it is actually considered a lawful entry. Many of the DACA recipients came in across the border, or they don’t have copies of their old visa, so they never had a lawful entry. If you do leave on advance parole and come back, it’s considered a lawful entry. If you are in your twenties or thirties and married to a US citizen, and did not have another means of interviewing in the US, you can use this entry as a qualifying entry to adjust your status in the US if you have a US citizen spouse. That’s kind of a side benefit to applying for advance parole as a DACA if you’re able to qualify for that.
Have you been having trouble getting a travel permit? Contact our professional New Jersey Immigration Lawyer for advice.
This education blog was brought to you by Susan Scheer, an experienced New Jersey Immigration Lawyer.