Advance Parole

Hi everyone,

I just discovered this forum, and I'm so happy to read all the positive experiences about traveling on AP, although I haven't seen any with pending asylum cases. Here is my story so far:

> Applied for asylum in Jan 2017 and ended up overstaying a student visa. I haven't been called for an interview on my asylum case and probably won't be called any time soon because of the major delays in old asylum case processing. Thanks to Trump.

> An uncle of mine got a stroke in October 2019 and is being treated in a 3rd country (not my home country). I REALLY want to visit him!!!

> I told my lawyer that I would like to apply for AP and he explained all the consequences to me. He said:
     > Getting allowed back into the U.S. is not guaranteed with AP, especially as an asylum seeker who overstayed a visa.
     > Getting allowed back into the U.S. will depend on the immigration officer.
     > The worst case scenario would be if the officer asks me why I can't just seek asylum in the 3rd country, since I was
         granted a visa to visit and have relatives there. In this case, the officer would try to send me back to the 3rd country.
     > The other scenario would be if the officer detains me for overstaying my student visa. In this case, I could end up in
         detention for 3 months as my asylum case gets reviewed by a judge (honestly, I don't think this would be terrible
         because at least my application would FINALLY be reviewed. I'm tired of waiting!)

> I decided to apply for AP anyway and my application was sent today (2/17/2020). My lawyer says it can take up to 3 months to get a response, so I'm going to sit tight and wait.

I will keep you all updated. If anyone else has applied for AP as an asylum applicant, please share your experience and advice. I'm so happy I found this forum!

Take care.