Entering the US using an Advance Parole

January 3rd, 2008 admin Posted in Experiences |

I have been using my H-1B Work Visa to enter the US the last few times I traveled abroad. A few days back I entered the US using an Advance Parole document, instead. I provide a few tips here for someone in the same situation. An hour or so before the inbound flight is expected to land in the US Port of Entry the airline staff will pass around a Customs Declaration form, a Visa Information form (white in color) and a Visa Waiver form (green in color). Everyone has to fill out the Customs Declaration form. Its purpose is to declare to the Customs official at the port of entry, how much money and what other goods you are bringing in to the US. It is straightforward to fill out and requires you to make some quick estimates about the value of the stuff you are bringing in. For the purposes of this form and the others, if you are traveling on an Advance Parole, you are a “resident”. That is, you are not a visitor and you are not a citizen. You do not have your Green Card yet, so you are not a permanent resident yet, but you still are considered a resident. The green, Visa Waiver form applies to some specific countries and the airline staff can help you identify if you need to fill that form. India is not one of those countries. Indians, traveling on either a visitor or work Visa, or an Advance Parole, will need to fill out the white, Visa form. A part of this form eventually becomes the I-94 card that is stapled to your passport by the immigration official at the port of entry. A question in the white Visa form ask for the place and date of Visa approval. I simply put in the place and date of the Advance Parole approval, since I was using that document instead of a Visa to reenter the country. After landing at the port, Newark, in my case, I went through the Immigration Check first. There are 2 separate groups of lines. One group is for US Citizens and Residents. Another is for visitors and other Visa holders (such as H-1B or F-1 visa). I went to the US Citizens and Residents line. This line is much shorter than the other one. An Immigration Officer checked my Advance Parole, Customs form, the white, Visa form and my passport, put them all into a clear plastic envelope and asked me to take those to another officer who would verify the Advance Parole details. I assume this is needed only for people traveling on Advance Parole, and not for Citizens or Permanent Residents (Green Card holders). I took an elevator down to this next officer. His cubicle was actually right next to the baggage claim carousels and I think their office also inspects luggage which fails customs clearance. After sitting for about 10 minutes in the waiting area there, the officer got to my envelope and called me over. He checked everything was good and gave me my stamped and dated Advance Parole original, the stamped and dated Customs Form, the stamped and dated I-94 stapled to my stamped and dated passport. Then I stepped out of that area, picked up my checked-in baggage from the baggage claim carousel and joined the customs inspection line. I handed over the Customs Declaration form to the officer there and walked out of there with my luggage. Some people were being diverted, along with their luggage, for a customs inspection. I am not sure if it was because their Customs Form was not stamped like mine was, or because they wanted to actually inspect something in the luggage because of what was declared by the traveler. The last step, in my case, was to re-check-in the check-in baggage and go through the security check again because I had a domestic flight to catch to get back to Raleigh. The re-check-in area was placed, conveniently enough, right after the Customs. So I could not miss it. My bags had been checked in all the way to Raleigh at Delhi itself. So I did not have to actually check-in again. I simply dumped by bags in the re-check-in area, where it was helped on to the moving luggage belt by a couple of guys. Then I walked a but further and noticed the long security check line to reenter the terminal. That was it. My international journey was over and the domestic journey began.