Advanced Parole(Travel Document)
Adjustment of status applicants whose have used EAD card because their 6 year limit on H/L visa has expired or by working for any other employer other than sponsoring employer are no longer in their non-immigrant status. It allows them to travel abroad and return to the U.S. without a visa.
Advanced parole can be applied by filling I-131 Advance Parole(Travel Document). It can be filed either along with the adjustment of status application or after that. The current filing fee is $110 payable by check/money order and payable to your regional service center (e.g., USCIS-VSC). If the applicant didn't apply for Advanced Parole at the time filing AOS application, and he/she genuine emergency need to go temporarily out of US, and he/she can prove that, then he/she can go to nearest USCIS office and get it immediately(may be on the spot or within 2-3 days.)
Advanced Parole(Form I-512) for adjustment applicants will be issued valid for a period which coincides with the time normally required for completion of an adjustment application not to exceed one year. (It means that is valid for one year looking at the current status of adjustment of status processing.) It is usually valid for multiple entries. The approved Advanced Parole form is called I-512 and usually three copies of them are given. One copy for the applicant, one copy for the USCIS at the port of entry and one for the airline(so that they let you board the plane with out other valid visa.) First time you travel, you give the appropriate copies to airline and USCIS, and USCIS will stamp your copy. Subsequent times, you can just show your copy and travel.
Any adjustment of status applicant who leaves the U.S. without advanced parole is automatically con sired abandoning his/her application for adjustment of status. Such a person will generally not be allowed back in the U.S. The person would have to do consular processing while remaining out of US. This applies to going to any place outside US, even going to Canada(Even Canadian Niagara Falls) or Mexico or places like Bahamas. (This requirement does not apply to people who have applied to adjust to permanent resident status and are maintaining H/L status.)
Also see Employment Authorization Document(EAD) and EAD/AP vs. H1
On November 24, 2003, the Director of USCIS officially released the newly designed documents as follows: The production of a new, re-designed travel document which allows permanent residents, refugees and asylees to re-enter the United States following travel abroad, incorporates increased security features aimed at eliminating a counterfeiter's ability to duplicate them,using the latest state-of-the-art technology. The newly designed documents adds security features that frustrate the illegal production of these documents and improve production techniques and processes to shorten the processing times. Produced at the USCIS Nebraska Service Center, the new travel documents utilize the same patented personalization process as the current U.S. passport. This includes a digitized integrated photo, which has proven difficult for counterfeiters to duplicate. The redesigned document also features a number of covert or hidden features that require sophisticated forensic equipment to view. The new travel document is light green in color and resembles the size and shape of the U.S. passport. It replaces the existing refugee travel document and the re-entry permit for permanent residents. Refugee travel documents and re-entry permits currently in circulation will remain valid until the expiration dates printed on those documents. The use of new production equipment and techniques will increase the production rate by ten fold of the current production rate. This is a very good news for the Permanent Residents and Refugees who have been experiencing a delay of almost one year to obtain the travel documents. Read Experiences