Once your application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status (green card) has been filed, you should not depart the United States for any reason before you obtain advance permission to reenter the United States. This permission is called Advance Parole. If you do depart the United States without the Advance Parole document, it will be deemed as an abandonment of your application for a green card.

You will need a bona fide personal or business reason for the Advance Parole document. Once approved, you will be allowed to leave the U.S. and re-enter again while your application for a green card is pending.

Caution: If you were out of status for six months or more after April 1, 1997, you should not the depart the United States even with an Advance Parole because you may be subject to the three- or ten-year bars to permanent residence.

Three or Ten-year Bars to Permanent Residence:

If you were unlawfully present in the United States for more than 180 days after April 1, 1997 and you attempt to reenter the United States, you will be barred for three years. If you were unlawfully present in the United States for more than one year after April 1, 1997, you will be barred for ten years.

Some exceptions apply to minors, persons with pending asylum applications, some battered spouses and children and aliens with a pending application for change, extension or adjustment of status who have not worked illegally. Further, the Attorney General may provide a waiver for an immigrant who is the spouse or child of a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident, if the immigrant’s departure would cause the citizen or resident extreme hardship.