What are the differences between an advance parole and a reentry permit?

The advance parole is available to anyone who has a pending adjustment of status case.

An advance parole document is a travel permission document for applicants for adjustment of status. A reentry permit is a document used by U.S. permanent residents who plan to spend extended periods of time outside the U.S.

You would obtain Advance Parole while your Application for Adjustment of Status is pending based upon an approved EB-5 investor visa petition or other appropriate visa petition after visa numbers are available and you have applied for Adjustment of Status. Normally you can obtain Advance Parole within 90-120 days. You could apply for a U.S. Reentry Permit only after you are already a conditional Permanent Resident or regular Permanent Resident. The U.S. Reentry Permit is evidence of your intent to return to the United States and maintain your Permanent Residency and arguably with same you could remain outside of the United States for the duration of the Reentry Permit without being deemed to have abandoned your Permanent Residency within the United States.

Advance Parole is issued during your Adjustment of Status pending period to allow you to travel while waiting to become a lawful permanent resident and Reentry Permit is granted to lawful permanent residents (ie., after your green card is granted) to allow you to travel abroad at lengths (ie., >1 year or more) without jeopardizing your "permanent resident" status (ie., abandoning permanent residence in the U.S.). Neither are available while EB-5 petition is pending.

An advance parole is most-commonly associated with a pending adjustment of status application (Form I-485). The I-485 can be filed (and the advance parole obtained) ONLY if the following conditions are met: (1) the I-526 petition has been approved, (2) there is an immigrant visa number immediately available, i.e., the priority date is current, (3) the applicant is physically in the United States while maintaining a valid nonimmigrant status, and (4) the applicant is otherwise admissible to the United States. A reentry permit, on the other hand, usually is for a U.S. permanent resident (permanent or conditional) who needs to spend extra time outside of the United States than is normally permissible, i.e., more than six months on any given trip (absence from the United States). An eligible reentry permit applicant is (1) a permanent U.S. resident (green card holder) and (2) physically present in the United States at the time the reentry permit application (Form I-131) is filed. At the present time, under the current immigration laws, there is no travel document (other than a valid U.S. nonimmigrant visa) that would allow an EB-5 investor with a pending I-526 petition to regularly travel to and from the United States.

A travel document/advance parole becomes relevant after you receive your conditional green card and it serves to protect your resident intent during extended absences from the US. Your attorney should advise you of everything you need to know regarding preservation of your conditional permanent resident status.

Advance Parole is a parole given in advance of, in this case, permanent residency approval. It is usually given to a non-immigrant status holder currently residing in U.S., for example, F-1, when he files his adjustment of status I-485 application. Reentry Permit is given to a Permanent resident who wishes to remain outside of the U.S. for more than 12 months without having his residency presumed to have been abandoned for not residing in U.S. permanently.

Advance parole is applied for with an application for adjustment of status and permits international travel while the adjustment application is pending. A Reentry Permit is issued to green card holders and serves to put the government on notice that you may be out of the US for an extended period of time and have no intent to abandon your green card status. It is typically valid for 2 years.