What changed for people with advance parole?
Since 2012, people with long unlawful presence could often leave on advance parole, return and apply for a green card, because that trip was not a departure under the unlawful-presence bar. The Board of Immigration Appeals ended that on August 13, 2026, in 29 I&N Dec. 830, reading departure by its plain meaning: to go away. The holding addresses the 10-year bar, but USCIS says a departure with an Advance Parole Document now counts under § 212(a)(9)(B)(i) as a whole, which includes the 3-year bar. The rule is harsh by its terms: the document lets you ask to return; it does not protect you from inadmissibility. USCIS now warns about this on its Form I-131 page. Next step: cancel or postpone non-urgent travel until a lawyer has counted your unlawful presence.
I traveled before August 13, 2026. Am I safe?
Probably, but the decision does not say so outright. The Board wrote that it will apply the new holding prospectively, and it declined to decide whether the respondent's own 2024 trip was a departure. USCIS says the rule applies as of August 13, 2026. An Immigrant Legal Resource Center advisory dated September 1, 2026, reads this to mean earlier trips should not trigger the bars, and it reports approvals for former DACA recipients who traveled and returned earlier. That is a reasonable reading, not a promise. If you left before that date but returned after it, or are still abroad, your risk is higher: ILRC says the decision should not apply, but you may have to argue it. Next step: keep your advance parole document, the parole stamp and any travel record showing the date, and give copies to the lawyer filing your Form I-485.
How do I know whether a trip would trigger a bar?
Count unlawful presence first. More than 180 days but less than 1 year leads to the 3-year bar; 1 year or more leads to the 10-year bar. Time under age 18 does not count. Time while a bona fide asylum application is pending generally does not count either, unless you worked without authorization. Other exceptions exist: the ILRC advisory lists a pending adjustment application, among others, and notes that people in deferred action do not accrue unlawful presence while they hold it. Some DACA recipients may therefore have too little unlawful presence to trigger any bar. Do this from documents, not memory: your I-94, every extension, approval notices, and your 18th birthday. A return is not assured either, because the officer at the port of entry makes a separate parole decision. Next step: have a lawyer write out your count before you buy a ticket.
I left after August 13, 2026, or I must travel. What are my options?
If the bar applies, there are two main routes. The first is a waiver on Form I-601, with a general fee of $1,050. It requires extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or parent; hardship to your children alone does not qualify, and a court cannot review the decision. Certain categories, listed on the form page, may request a fee waiver. Form I-601A, $795, is a separate provisional waiver for people going abroad for a visa interview. The second route is waiting out the bar. Under current USCIS policy and Matter of Duarte-Gonzalez, the 3 or 10 years run from departure even if you are back in the United States, so long as that policy stays in place. Next step: if an emergency forces travel, get a written risk assessment first. If you are already back, do not file Form I-485 until the bar has been analyzed.
I have a removal order or a court case. Does this affect me differently?
Yes, and the risks are larger. The 3-year bar reaches only someone who left before removal proceedings began, but the 10-year bar applies whether you leave before, during or after them. The respondent lost for a separate reason: her second motion came more than 16 years after her final order. The general limit is one motion to reopen within 90 days. Do not leave while a case is open: under 8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(4)(ii), departure by a person in removal proceedings is treated as abandoning an adjustment application. With a final order, USCIS's DACA FAQs, as the ILRC advisory describes them, warn that someone who leaves would be considered removed. Next step: find your status with our court hearing guide; if you were ordered removed for missing court, read the in absentia order guide. Then see our family immigration page before you rely on any trip in a filing.