I-131 · Timeline

After you file

1. 1

   1. Before a decision

   ◈High confidence Leaving the U.S. before USCIS decides a reentry permit or refugee travel document application does not affect that application. Separately, if USCIS requires you to appear for biometrics and you do not appear, it considers the request abandoned and denies it, unless by the appointment time it has received a change of address or rescheduling request that it accepts. The departure rule does not cover a pending I-485: there, apart from the H, L, K and V exceptions above, advance parole must already have been granted when you leave, and you must be inspected and paroled when you come back.^[1,2,3]

2. 2

   2. Decision

   USCIS approves or denies a reentry permit or refugee travel document as a matter of discretion and, if it approves, issues the document. A denial can be appealed under 8 CFR 103.3. Receiving either document does not affect any exclusion, deportation or removal proceedings you are in.^[1]