Process and timing

Advance parole

Also called AP, advance parole document, travel document for adjustment.

Advance parole is the travel document that lets someone with a pending Form I-485 leave the United States and be paroled back in without the departure being treated as abandonment of that adjustment application.

What it decides

8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii) makes departure an abandonment of a pending adjustment application unless advance parole was granted first and the applicant is inspected and paroled on return. The narrow exception is for someone in lawful H-1 or L-1 status, or the H-4 or L-2 dependent of one, who returns with a valid visa to the same employment, and for K-3, K-4 and V holders. It is requested on Form I-131, edition 01/20/25, which can be filed online only where the pending Form I-485 carries a receipt number beginning IOE, and costs $580 online or $630 on paper; the old no fee treatment survives only for a Form I-485 filed with its fee before 1 April 2024 and still pending. The document authorizes the trip rather than the entry: parole is a separate discretionary decision made at the port each time under INA 212(d)(5)(A), and USCIS can revoke the document while the holder is abroad.

Governed by 8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii)(A) to (D); 8 CFR 212.5(f), which is only the one sentence authorising issuance of the document; INA 212(d)(5)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)(A); 8 CFR 106.2(a)(7)(iii) and (iv) with the online discount at 8 CFR 106.1(g). Fees confirmed against Form G-1055, edition 05/29/26, which is the payable schedule; the online filing condition and the 01/20/25 edition date come from the USCIS Form I-131 page, and the port of entry and revocation warnings from the Form I-131 instructions of the same edition.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into advance parole rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Adjustment of statusAdjustment of status is the process under 8 U.S.C. 1255 by which someone already in the United States becomes a permanent resident without leaving, on Form I-485, instead of collecting an immigrant visa at a consulate abroad. An EB-5 investor who adjusts is granted conditional permanent residence for two years, the same status a consular applicant receives on admission.
Form I-485Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, is the application by which someone already inside the United States becomes a permanent resident without going abroad for a consular interview; an EB-5 investor who files it receives the same two year conditional residence a consular applicant gets on admission.
Form I-131Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records, carries two unrelated EB-5 requests: advance parole, which lets an adjustment applicant leave the United States without abandoning Form I-485, and a reentry permit, which protects a resident's status during a long absence abroad.
Employment authorization documentAn employment authorization document, Form I-766, is the card USCIS issues on an approved Form I-765 to prove that its holder may work in the United States for a stated period, and an EB-5 investor needs one only while a Form I-485 is pending, because a green card is itself evidence of work authorization.
Concurrent filingConcurrent filing is submitting Form I-485 together with Form I-526 or I-526E, or while the petition is still pending, instead of waiting for the petition to be approved. 8 U.S.C. 1255(n) permits it whenever approval of the petition would make a visa immediately available to the investor.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary