Re-Entry Permits and Physical Presence -- a New AAO Decision
The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) has issued a ruling that really hammers home the basic requirements that if you are filing for a re-entry permit, you have to do it while you are still physically in the U.S. The regs make it very very clear that you must be physically present in the United States when you file the I-131 for a re-entry permit.
The Appellant in this AAO case made the argument that because he filed his I-131 before the expiration date of his then current re-entry permit period—even though he was out of the U.S. when he filed, his I-131 should still be approved. He left the U.S. on February 28, 2006 when his re-entry permit was still valid to April 28, 2006 and he filed for a re-entry permit, from outside the U.S., on April 24, 2008.
Basically, he was arguing that he was extending a previously granted re-entry permit.
But the AAO said the regs were clear. There is no reg that allows for an “extension” of a re-entry permit. Once a re-entry permit is no longer valid, then that re-entry permit must be surrendered to the U.S. and only then, when the applicant is still physically in the U.S., will a new re-entry permit be granted.
Bottom line: there is no exception to the physical presence requirement for filing an I-131 re-entry permit.
Of course, the AAO also pointed out that all is not lost for the applicant—if he or she did not get a re-entry permit in advance of being outside the U.S. for a period of more than one year, then they can contact a United States consulate abroad to learn how get an appropriate document in order to be allowed back into the U.S. More on that in my next entry.
