Most employment authorization cards (or “EAD”s) contain the statement, “NOT VALID FOR REENTRY TO U.S.” near the bottom of the card, just above the validity date.
However, if you have received a card that instead contains the statement, “SERVES AS I-512 ADVANCE PAROLE,” you have received a Combination Employment Authorization and Advance Parole Card (combo card).
The combo card serves as both an employment authorization document and an advance-parole document while your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, is pending with users. If you travel outside the United States, you may present, in addition to other documents, the combo card at a port of entry to seek parole upon your return.
In addition, U.S. immigration law requires passengers to present evidence of authorization to apply for admission or to otherwise seek lawful entry into the United States before they may board a vessel or aircraft destined for the United States. Presenting a valid combo card will authorize a transportation carrier to accept you on board for travel to the United States, provided that you return to the United States on or before the expiration date on the card.
The card is valid for multiple applications for parole into the United States until the expiration date.
If you travel outside the United States, you may use the combo card to seek parole upon your return. However, issuance of an advance parole document or the combo card is not a grant of parole nor does it guarantee that you will be paroled upon arrival at a port of entry. Instead, an advance parole document or combo card merely allows a transportation carrier to accept the document as proof that you will be allowed to seek parole upon your return to the United States. Therefore, the transportation carrier can accept you on board to travel to the United States without fear of penalty or fine for unlawfully bringing you imo the United States.
In all cases, you are still subject to immigration inspection at a port of entry to determine whether you are eligible to return to the United States under the terms of this advance parole document. The fact that you have this combo card does not prevent the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in the exercise of its discretion, from refusing to parole you into the United States if DHS determines that parole no longer serves the public interest of the United States. Parole into the United States is not an admission. When you present an advance parole document at a port of entry, you are an applicant for admission. If you are paroled into the United States you still remain an applicant for admission. regardless of any status you may have had before leaving the United States, and therefore you will continue to be subject to further inspection and to the inadmissibility grounds under section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
DHS reserves the authority to revoke your advance parole document at any time, whether you are in the United States or abroad. If DHS revokes your advance parole document, then your combo card will no longer serve as evidence of authorization to apply for parole at a port of entry. If DHS revokes your advance parole document, you may not be able to return to the United States unless you are eligible for and obtain a visa or other valid travel document. If DHS does parole you at a port of entry, DHS may also terminate or revoke your parole at any time. In the same way that you remain an applicant for admission during your parole, you will remain an applicant for admission if DHS revokes or terminates your parole or if your parole expires, regardless of any status you may have had before leaving the United States. Since you remain an applicant for admission even if DHS revokes or terminates your parole, you will continue to be subject to further inspection and to the inadmissibility grounds under section 212 of the INA. Inadmissibility in general. If you are concerned that traveling abroad may affect your admissibility, you may want to consult an immigration attorney or an organization accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals before making any travel plans.