Foreign nationals intending to travel internationally during the holiday season should ensure they possess the necessary information, immigration documents, and guidelines for departure and reentry into the United States. New immigration regulations may make it harder for foreign nationals to move freely and raise the possibility of delays in travel and return. You can better prepare and plan for the forthcoming travel season by being aware of your immigration duties and the present situation.
Make sure you do the following before you travel overseas this holiday season:
Verify the validity of your passport. Your passport must be valid for a minimum of six months after the end of the time you were granted entry into the country. This is to guarantee that you will be able to depart the United States at the conclusion of your visit and return to your own country or another nation.
Check your visa to make sure it is valid for reentry into the United States. The visa stamp on your passport must indicate your current nonimmigrant visa status, be unexpired, and, if the visa has a limited number of entries, have a valid entry available on the intended date of reentry into the United States when you return to the country after traveling abroad.
Students from other countries should make sure they have all the necessary paperwork and are still in active SEVIS status. Foreign nationals with student nonimmigrant status (F, M, or J) who intend to return to the US as students should verify with their schools that their SEVIS profiles are still current before making travel arrangements. Additionally, students should keep an eye out for any Department of State visa revocation letters sent to the email address they supplied for their student DS-160 visa application.
Find out if you require prior authorization to travel before departing the United States if you are an adjustment application. If you currently have a valid H-1B, H-4, L-1, or L-2 visa, you may not require advance parole. However, you may need to ask for advance parole, or permission to travel, in order to leave the country while your application for adjustment of status to permanent residence is being handled.
Are you currently awaiting a change of status request from USCIS? You should refrain from traveling abroad until your Form I-129 petition or Form I-539 application for a change of status to another nonimmigrant category is resolved. If you leave the country while your change of status request is ongoing, USCIS will consider it abandoned. The underlying H-1B petition will not be allowed unless the employer either pays the new $100,000 proclamation fee or obtains a national interest exception for individuals wishing to convert status to H-1B.
Do you currently have a pending stay extension with USCIS? Traveling overseas while a Form I-129 petition to extend your nonimmigrant status is underway should not affect your nonimmigrant visa petition if you are the primary beneficiary. International travel, however, may make the H-1B employer more vulnerable to the additional $100,000 cost imposed by President Trump’s September 19 proclamation for H-1B extension of stay requests.
Make sure you follow program rules if you intend to go to the US for work or pleasure under the Visa Waiver Program. Under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), citizens and nationals of specific countries can enter the United States for up to 90 days of business or tourism without a visa as long as they fulfill certain passport and registration requirements and only participate in authorized business visitor or tourist activities.
Luke Bowman Law will continue to monitor and update the situation. If you have questions regarding your specific situation, feel free to contact us or book an appointment here
***
If you have any questions or concerns about the information provided above, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Luke Bowman
The Law offices of Luke Bowman