I am a lawful permanent resident and I do not have a real passport; I have “Syrian travel document for Palestinian refugees,” which most countries do not recognize. I plan to apply for an I-131 so I can travel. My question is: How long does it take to get the travel document and am I eligible to expedite this process?
Answers

Ed Beshara
Immigration attorneysYour experienced EB-5 Immigration attorney will be able to advise you on your travel plans. The main question is whether the new Executive Order effects your travel for re-entry into the U.S. The question will be: are you considered to be Syrian under the Executive Order? If not, the process for obtaining Advanced Parole for re-entry into the U.S. should only take a few months of USCIS processing.

Barbara Suri
Immigration attorneysIt generally takes about 90 days after filing. You must file for the travel document while you are present in the U.S. However, you do not have to wait for its issuance before traveling. You may ask to have it delivered to the Embassy/Consulate in the country that you are visiting for your pickup. You may need to return for fingerprinting.

A Olusanjo Omoniyi
Immigration attorneysTypically, the request for an I-131 Travel document is not supposed to be more than 90 days. If you have an emergency circumstance, go ahead and do an InfoPass, by which you show up at the nearest office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as part of efforts to speed up the process.

Julia Roussinova
Immigration attorneysIt takes, on average, 90 days. An application may be expedited if you meet expedite criteria that are listed on USCIS website.

Fredrick W Voigtmann
Immigration attorneysThe processing time for an I-131 usually is about 90 days. USCIS has certain expedite criteria.

Charles Foster
Immigration attorneysThe length of time it takes to process an I-131 travel document for a refugee can take many months; so, the sooner you file, the better. The timing will go up and down, but it will likely take as long as 6 months.

Raymond Lahoud
Immigration attorneysGiven that you are a lawful permanent resident, it does not appear that you need a travel document to re-enter the United States unless your time away from the United States is going to be prolonged. As an LPR, you are free to travel in and out of the United States.


Bernard P Wolfsdorf
Immigration attorneysPresently a reentry permit is taking about 4-5 months. Any application can be expedited if you meet the expedite criteria.

Jinhee Wilde
Immigration attorneysUsually, I-131 travel permit applications take about 3 months. However, with the current travel ban and extreme vetting process put in place by the Trump Administration, not having a real passport may pose some problems when trying to enter back even with the travel permit. We are even seeing permanent residents having difficulties from certain countries.
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