Leaving the United States is easy. Returning is the problem, and for anyone whose status is pending, conditional or humanitarian, the document that governs the return must be in hand before departure. Every one of them is requested on Form I-131.
Which document is yours
Advance parole (issued as Form I-512L). For a person inside the country with a pending green card application, a DACA recipient, or a current parolee. Departure without it abandons a pending adjustment application in most cases.
Refugee travel document. For anyone holding refugee or asylee status who is not yet a permanent resident, for their derivatives, and for permanent residents who obtained the green card through asylum or refugee status. An asylee who travels on the passport of the country they fled has, in the government's eyes, said something about their fear. Leaving without the document can mean being refused re-entry or placed in proceedings.
Reentry permit. For a permanent or conditional resident who will be abroad for a year or more. It allows the person to seek admission without a returning resident visa and is the only real protection against a finding that residence was abandoned.
TPS travel authorization (Form I-512T). For a TPS beneficiary who wants to be inspected and admitted on return. A person whose TPS application is still pending applies for advance parole instead. Given the state of TPS in 2026, both are of diminishing use.
Carrier documentation (Form I-131A). For a permanent resident already abroad whose card or reentry permit was lost or stolen, so that an airline will board them.
Fees and waiting
Advance parole with a pending I-485, and a TPS travel document, cost $630 on paper or $580 online. A reentry permit is $630, paper only. A refugee travel document for a person in refugee status is free. Carrier documentation is $575, paid online.
The waits are the practical constraint. USCIS's median for advance parole in fiscal 2026 is around six months; for the other travel documents, around fifteen. Nobody should book a flight on the assumption that an application will be approved in time. Expedite requests exist for genuine emergencies and are granted sparingly.
Separately, H.R. 1 created a parole fee that CBP collects at the port of entry each time a person is paroled in, unless an exemption applies. It is a further cost of every trip on advance parole.
The travel ban
Proclamation 10998 has been in effect since January 1, 2026. It suspends entry entirely for nationals of nineteen countries and partially for twenty more. Lawful permanent residents are exempt. No visa issued before January 1 has been revoked under it. But a non-resident from a listed country who leaves on advance parole is, on return, an applicant for admission from a banned country with a document that promises inspection, not entry. The prudent assumption is that re-entry may be refused.
Approval is not admission
This is the sentence USCIS itself uses, and it deserves emphasis. A travel document is permission to present yourself at a port of entry. CBP decides there, every time, whether to admit or parole the traveler. An officer who sees a pending case, an old removal order, a criminal record or a listed nationality may refuse, and the person is then outside the country with a pending application and no way back.
For asylum applicants there is a second risk. Travel to the country of claimed persecution is routinely treated as evidence that the fear is not genuine. The document may be granted; the claim may be lost.
What to do
- Obtain the document before you leave, never after. There is no cure for departing without one.
- Apply months ahead. Six-month and fifteen-month medians do not bend for weddings.
- Carry everything: the travel document, a valid passport, the green card or receipt notices, and evidence of the underlying case.
- If you have accrued unlawful presence, take advice before any departure. Advance parole has historically not counted as a departure for the three- and ten-year bars, but that is a matter of Board precedent, not statute, and precedent can change.
- If you are from a listed country and not a permanent resident, do not travel.
The general rule of immigration practice has always been that a person with a pending case should stay put. In 2026 it is less a rule of practice than a description of the exits.