Hi Everyone,

I am trying to get some opinions/advice from people that might have been in the same situation as me or that might know about this.

I am currently on STEM OPT extension (with new I-20) which expires in mid 2019
I also am on TPS which expires in June 2018

My f1 visa has already expired and I am currently working by using my EAD card through the OPT

I have not travelled to Nepal and I am trying to travel in the summer this year.

The questions I have are:
1) do I need to file for a travel document (advance parole)?
2) do I need to ask my school to update my I-20?
3) do I need to obtain another visa to get in? what are the risks involved with that on opt?
4) if I don't obtain a visa and try to get in with with the travel document are there going to be problems? Will the opt status still be unaffected?

What is the best way for me to do things? If you could please help me with your honest suggestions/opinions I would really appreciate it guys,

Thank you so much!
gentlesoul

Please help!

Is there anyone that could give me some ideas on this?
I saw that this post got a few views but no responses. could someone please help?

I really don't want to get in trouble with the immigration and would like to do things the right way

Thank you so much!

Talk to an immigration lawyer rather than finding answer in sajha.

As far as I can answer, since you are in OPT, you need advance parole (travel doc.) based on your TPS as your F1 visa is already expired. OPT means you are in F1. And as you will and should only travel with advance parole document, you are all good to return to the USA. Even if you are out of status, with advance parole and TPS, you can easily return to the USA.

I could not answer any other question you have. Sorry.

Thank you so much tito-satya for your opinion. I really appreciate it!

I would still love to hear some more ideas from others.

The questions I have are:
1) do I need to file for a travel document (advance parole)? If you decide to use TPS for travel then you would need the AP. It took almost 5 month for my approval, consider this an apply on time. Since you are traveling in summer, not sure what will happen to TPS in June 2018, so depending on that only AP should be applied.
2) do I need to ask my school to update my I-20?- Yes, if you decide not to use TPS but your student visa for travel then, you would have to also notify school about travel. In the past, it has been recommended not to travel in OPT. But I have had friends who did it and came back. All depends on your background.

3) do I need to obtain another visa to get in? what are the risks involved with that on opt? - Yes, if you are traveling in Student visa since your F1 visa has already expired. Yes their is some risk of denial of VISA with OPT, as you would have to go to US embassy in Nepal. Not sure on your background ( if you had worked illegally or have any record such as DUI) that could result in denial of VISA. Also, you would have to have proper documents to show the work you are doing in TPS.
4) if I don't obtain a visa and try to get in with with the travel document are there going to be problems? Will the opt status still be unaffected? - I was in the same boat as you (had TPS and OPT) decided to travel with advance parole from TPS. There was little integoration while entering United States but remember there are worst situation then yours where people had not paperwork.

Thanks,

Hi Poch12,
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. That was very helpful.

So, it sounds like I should apply for the travel document now and maybe in about 4-5 months if it gets approved I should use that to travel for the summer. And just show the travel document when returning rather than going to the embassy and trying to get the visa stamped.
Assuming that AP will get approved before june 2018 because it seems like that is when TPS expires.

Is that the simplest thing to do? Also if I am just going to use the travel document for trying to come back in, do I even need to notify my school about anything?

sincerely,
gentlesoul

You do not have to notify school about anything when using advance parole for travel. One thing to note is the advance parole will have a expired date of June 2018 when you receive it, ( you have to come back before June) if you are planning to go after June then Advance parole would not work. May be other people would know better with the situation when TPS expired for the first time in Dec 2016.

Poch12,

Okay, that makes sense about not having to notify school. However, TPS expiring on June 2018 is a little concerning because from what I have been reading it seems like it easily takes about 3-4 months to get the travel document approved.

So, maybe the best thing to do is just wait to see if TPS gets renewed. This is such a hard decision.

Thanks again for your responses!

Gentleguy,
You are in tricky situation. Let me breakdown scenarios for you.
Scenario 1: You are currently in F1 status (OPT period of F1 visa).If you go to Nepal during this period, you need to get a new F1 visa to enter US since your F1 visa has already expired. If your new visa (of course F1) is approved, you can come to US and continue your Optional Practical training until Mid 2019. Since this "Practical Training" is optional, the consular may not grant you a visa and you will not be able to continue your job.
Scenario 2: You can get advance parole document (I-131) and travel with that document (your status changes from F1 to TPS) and return to US without going through visa interview. It looks like that you have not applied for TPS yet, so it might be already April when you receive your Advance Parole. If Trump administration cancels TPS for Nepal, you may be able to work only until December 2018 (compare that with Mid 2019 using F1).
If I were you, I will not go to Nepal in this tricky situation unless it were a Family emergency. Good luck for pursuing with your green card.

suncity,

I know this is such a complicated mess.
I do have the TPS already, I just have not applied for the travel document.

The real question is if someone travels back to the US on the travel document (advance parole) will their opt status be affected somehow? because I already have an EAD card for the opt extension that lasts for Mid 2019.

Thank you for your suggestion.

As others have clearly mentioned, once you use your TPS AP you forfeit your F1 status and go to TPS category. THIS MEANS YOUR OPT WONT BE VALID. OPT CAN ONLY BE VALID WHEN IN F1. NOT TPS.

I confirmed with an immigration Attorney today that if somebody that is on opt with expired f1 visa comes in with a Travel document from tps, then they essentially void their opt status in the eyes of immigration department.

The attorney also suggested that I don't travel on TPS because with the new hardline stance on immigration, they could cancel it at anytime.

maybe somebody else will find this helpful but I won't be traveling for a bit until I can secure a different status.