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Advance Parole: what it is

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Advance Parole: definition

Key answer

Advance Parole is permission to re-enter the US while your green-card application (I-485) is pending. It is requested on Form I-131, usually together with the I-485 and I-765. Without it, leaving the US while the I-485 is pending can be treated as abandoning the application.

Filing the I-485 early under Table B (Dates for Filing) gives two practical benefits while Table A catches up to your date: the EAD (work for any employer) and Advance Parole (travel without losing the application). Plan trips ahead - the document must be in hand before you leave.

Keep status and parole apart: parole is not a status, and to adjust status you must actually hold lawful status.

Advance Parole: the official definition

“Advance parole allows you to travel back to the United States without applying for a visa. An airline or other transportation company can accept an advance parole document instead of a visa as proof that you are authorized to travel to the United States. An advance parole document does not replace your passport. In most cases, you must have your advance parole document before you depart the United States.”

USCIS Glossary (uscis.gov), read 2026-10-11. Quoted verbatim.

Advance Parole: the official source

I-131: how many cases USCIS handles

Q3 of fiscal year 2026 (April-June 2026): USCIS received 113,627 filings on this line, approved 43,791 and denied 18,200 (71% of decisions were approvals); 425,511 were waiting at the end of the quarter. Half of the completed cases took up to 5.8 months.

Line in the reportReceivedApprovedDeniedPendingMedian, mo.
I-131, advance parole for applicants inside the US113,62743,79118,200425,5115.8

Decisions are counted in the quarter they were issued, so some were filed earlier; the line covers every category of the form, not your visa alone. Source: USCIS, Number of Service-wide Forms (xlsx), read 2026-10-11.

Advance Parole: what to do - tools

Advance Parole: read next

Advance Parole: documents and templates from the library

Advance Parole: from community discussions

  • «EB-1A has more criteria and they're stricter, but on the other hand they're described in detail and the officer's actions are more limited and formalized. While EB-2 NIW is one big flight of fancy. Even in the USCIS officer's manual for this visa there are no clear instructions. If he wants, he approves it, if he doesn't want to, he kills it.»

    community member · from public community chats

  • «For a long time now they haven't been judging by the criteria you've met, those only give you the right to be moved to the second stage of review - final merits, and that's where the decision is actually made. But lawyers prefer not to talk about this and keep singing fairy tales about three criteria.»

    Alena · from public community chats

  • «Forget about three criteria. These days denials come even with 7 criteria met.»

    community member · from public community chats

Personal opinions of community members from public discussions, not legal advice.

Advance Parole: related terms

All glossary terms

A reference definition, not legal advice. Requirements and procedures depend on your case - verify on uscis.gov.

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