Our experience traveling with Advance Parole

My wife and I just returned to the US for the first time with her Advance Parole document, and I just wanted to share our experience so that anyone who is about to use their Advance Parole for the first time or is thinking about doing so can have an idea of what to expect. When we arrived at the airport we went to the counter to check in and check our bags, and the person working there asked for our passports. When she saw that my wife was traveling with a non-US passport, she asked for her green card. My wife presented her Advance Parole letter, and the woman had absolutely no idea what it was. She called over her supervisor who was equally as confused. They both told us that they had never seen this type of travel document before.

The supervisor apologized and told us that she had to confer with someone in the airline’s office. She took my wife’s passport and Advance Parole letter to the office and we were instructed to wait off to the side. We stood there waiting for almost 30 minutes, which was very stressful as we were worried that there was something wrong. Finally, the supervisor returned and told us that she just had to get instructions from someone (I assume over the phone or via email based on how long it took) about how to correctly enter the document into their system.

Unfortunately our flight ended up getting cancelled and we were rebooked on another flight out of a different nearby airport for the following day. When we went to check our bags at the new airport, the worker there was once again very confused by the document. Since it had already been entered into their system the day before, he didn’t have to do that again. Instead, he was caught up on the fact that it wasn’t stamped. Eventually though, he understood that it gets stamped by CBP when you return to the US. For what it’s worth, we flew on Copa Airlines. I suspect that we may not have had these issues with another airline, particularly a US based airline. We then flew to my wife’s home country with no issues.

When we arrived for our return flight, it took the airline workers a little while to check us in because they had to correspond via email with someone from CBP in the US in order to receive an “Ok to board”. They explained to us that this is completely normal, simply because the conditions of everyone’s Advance Parole are different and that CPB needs to verify that everything looks good on their end. My wife’s document is valid for multiple entries from multiple countries.

After we landed in the US, my wife had to go in the line for visitors since she doesn’t have a US passport or a green card. Unlike the airline workers, the customs officer immediately knew what an Advance Parole document is. He inspected it and told us that it just had to be reviewed by one more person after we got our bags. The second officer read over the letter, stamped it, and we were on our way.

So in summary, be prepared to stand at the airline counter for a while, both when departing and returning, while they look over your document and enter it into their system. While this may be stressful/annoying, they are just making sure that they are following the proper procedures. Don’t be alarmed if the airline employee who is checking you in doesn’t know what Advance Parole is; someone who works for the airline does and will come to their aid. It just might take a while.

Safe travels to everyone!