Form I-131: Application for Travel Document

This form is used in three cases:

1. If you go abroad and return to the USA not losing your current status, after you have obtained refugee status, but before you have obtained a green card. Complete Form I-131 and receive Refugee Travel Document. This document is issued for one year and authorizes multiple entries. It looks like a passport, “a little book”.

2. If you are a green card holder and you plan to reside abroad for more than one year and do not want to lose your status. Complete Form I-131 for it and receive a re-entry permit in advance. This document may also be used if you lost a passport of the country you came from (for example, Russia) or if a passport expired (It cannot be extended. Extension of a passport is equal to a travel to the country you fled from). The document is issued for two years. It authorizes multiple entries. It looks like a passport (like in the first paragraph)

3. If you have filed a petition to reunite with your spouse US citizen, but you have not had an interview yet, you can travel abroad and return to the USA. Complete I-131 for it and receive Advance Parole. You can use this document only one time. It looks like a piece of paper with a photo on it.

Terms

The form is usually being processed by USCIS for 1-3 months.

Translation

All your documents in any language, except for English, must be translated. You need to bring originals of all the documents mentioned in your application to an interview at the Embassy or Immigration Service.

Copies of documentary evidence attached to an application shall be of good quality and translated into English. Translation must be certified by translator’s signature with his/her name, contacts and qualification. All the originals will be returned after the interview.