successful but hard knock Advanced parole petition

[longstrangetrip]

Lao Pao just got her travel documents.

 

We made a few mistakes along the way so I thought I would point them out here to make others trip less painful.

 

 

Although it says that you can file a I131 petition with an info pass you must have a valid "emergency." If you do not they will not let you in the door. Literally the woman at the desk told us we couldn't go in, and I asked if there was anyway to speak to a supervisor since this was important to us and they had us wait near the desk on some chairs outside the security office where I swear I heard extended snoring. They would not take the petition.

 

Also you must have proof of some sort of the emergency.

 

So we sent it to the lock box 8 weeks before the date we wanted to travel. Waited until we got the confirmation that they had received the paper work. We knew it wouldn't get processed on time so we had my employer write a letter about how I needed to be out of the country for work for 4 weeks and my wife without a driver's license would be at great risk.

 

Took this paper to a new infopass. This was about 3+ weeks before departure. They would not adjudicate on it there--they just sent it by fax to the California processing center.

 

This is where it gets interesting in a sad way. The officer said that they would decide. I said, what if I don't hear from them when shoudl I come back with an infopass. He said a day four days before my departure. I said can't we come earlier. So he says, "okay come back 10 days before if you don't have it yet."

 

That would have been tomorrow, but luckily it was in our post box today. Life is good.

[tywy_99]

I'm glad it all workd out for you. Thanks for the story!

[Randy W]

At some InfoPass centers, the "emergency" can be leaving next month!