Cases that need an individualized travel review
The highest-priority cases involve employees who may have accrued one year or more of unlawful presence before leaving. Prior removal orders, status violations, pending applications, and earlier immigration history can also matter. An approved document alone cannot answer those separate questions.
Every employee’s record is different. Counsel first needs to determine whether the employee actually accrued unlawful presence. In many cases, that answer resolves the main concern before travel begins.
What the decision changed
In Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, the Board of Immigration Appeals held that leaving under advance parole is a departure for the ten-year unlawful-presence provision and overruled a 2012 precedent that had treated this travel differently. The Board said the new holding will apply prospectively because it is a significant change from longstanding precedent.
The decision did not cancel advance parole or make every trip unsafe. USCIS still describes it as a document that allows an employee or other traveler to appear at a port of entry and ask to be paroled into the United States. The change concerns how a separate inadmissibility ground may apply to a particular immigration history.
A practical pre-travel checklist for employers
Before nonrefundable plans are made, confirm the intended reentry document and review the employee’s status history. Pending applications, prior orders, or a country-specific consular issue may also affect the advice. The review should be based on the employee’s records.
Employers do not need to make the legal determination. Their role is to route travel requests early, keep the relevant immigration records available, and leave enough time for advice based on the employee’s own history.
What to do now
- The decision does not mean every employee with advance parole is barred from returning.
- Advance parole permits an employee to request parole; it is not a guarantee of admission.
- Route travel plans early enough to review possible unlawful presence before departure.
- Review pending filings, prior orders, status history, and the intended reentry document together.
Sources
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Immigration outcomes depend on individual facts and current agency guidance.