Hi all -

My fiance & I are searching for honeymoon locations within US territories - the limitation being that he is not a citizen yet, we have applied for his green card, but if we don't get his travel authorization in time, we will need to stay within the US. Do you know if he will be able to travel to the US Virgin Islands? Would he need any special type of documentation? Thanks for your help!

Don't do it!

I have a long story to tell about getting back into the US from Aruba.

Get him a 'travel parole' from the INS or don't leave the country, without the proper documentation he won't get back into the US.

It's not worth the hassle or the lawyer fees - he's not a resident of the US the the rules that apply to you (drivers license and birth certificate) don't apply to him.

I know that when you travel he will be married to a US citizen but I wouldn't take the risk. Get your paperwork in order and take a delayed honeymoon.

BTW - Congratulations on your upcoming wedding

No offense intended, but there is a big difference between the USVI and Aruba, the later being of another sovereignty. Your fiance will technically still be in the U.S. if you travel to the USVI, but you should check with the state department regarding the kind of acceptable travel documents. When you land in St. Thomas, you'll be fine, but when you leave, they'll ask for a passport for "re-entry". You better figure out everything ahead of time, or how about just going to the Florida Keys if you're just looking for somewhere warm.

Tuxedo,

None taken, but her fiance's issue isn't traveling to the USVI it's re-entry to the US and since he's not a citizen he needs his passport - he also needs a valid visa or travel parole issued by the INS.

It doesn't matter that he's in a US territory - he's not a citizen of the US so the rules don't apply, as a Brit living here in the US if I traveled to the USVI I would still need my Green Card and a passport to re-enter the US.

Florida Keys - sounds safer - any recommendations?

Thanks for the advice. Right now we are just looking to see where he can go without having a problem returning, and I wasn't really sure if he could go to any of the islands. We've already been to the Keys, so if he doesn't get his travel documentation, and as it seems he will have a problem with the USVI, we will probably go to Hawaii.

I agree with Alya. I wouldn't do it.
Americans need to prove they have the right to re-enter the "mainland" when they're in St. Thomas.
I'd think that if your fiance is working on getting his green card he may run into some problems trying to come back.
I looked on the State Dept website and couldn't find anything specific to the U.S. territories for people working on changing their status. That's a red flag to me. I found only this highlighted in RED.
Due to recent changes to U.S. immigration law, travel outside of the United States may have severe consequences for aliens who are in the process of adjusting their status, extending their nonimmigrant stay, or changing their nonimmigrant status. Upon return, these aliens may be found inadmissible, their applications may be denied, or both. It is important that the alien obtain the proper documentation before leaving the U.S.
I would tell you to call the State Dept but frankly I wouldn't even trust anyone telling me anything over the phone because if they give your fiance the wrong info, the St. Thomas airport officials will not care and he'll be the one totally screwed.
Good luck and congrats on your wedding!

Angela,

Hawaii is no different from the USVI, he will still need documentation from the INS

http://uscis.gov/graphics/fieldoffic...lu/aboutus.htm

from the website above:

"Certain immigrants and intending immigrants already in the United States may need to obtain a travel document to travel outside the United States. Use Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, to apply for a Re-entry Permit, Advance Parole or a Refugee Travel Document, described below. Call 1 (800) 870-3676 to have forms mailed to you. You may also click here to download forms or request that they be mailed to you.
Advance Parole:
For certain non-citizens already in the United States wishing and /or needing to travel abroad prior to the final adjudication of a particular immigration petition, advanced permission is needed to ensure that they will be permitted to return to the United States. This permission may be granted at the discretion of the District Director. This permission should be sought by, but not limited to, asylees, parolees, people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and certain intending immigrants with an Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) application filed and pending with USCIS and some others already in the U.S."

It's long winded but having dealt with the INS I would suggest your fiance contacts his laywer before he leaves the mainland.

BTW, the problem we had in Aruba was due to the fact that our Travel Paroles were out of date (by 2 days) the immigration officer gave us permission to enter the US but we had to provide the documents to the immigration office in Logan Airport within 2 weeks and this jeopardized our Permanent Resident appplication.

When we got back our new TP's were sitting on the table in the huge pile of mail that always welcomes you home - if we'd have realised we'd have extended our stay on Aruba and had them mailed to us.

3 weeks I never want to re-live but without the outdated TP's we'd have been stranded on Aruba and would not have been allowed to re-enter the US.

Florida sounds good to me

Alya -

Concerning Hawaii, my understanding is that is is no different than traveling to any other state, or crossing any state border in that case. I can see the problem with the USVI, but Hawaii is a state so why would that be a problem? I know people who have traveled there in similar circumstances as our with no problem. Can you specify what you meant by that?

AngelaS, you're correct about Hawaii. It's not the same as the USVI. You guys can go there without a problem.
By the way, the reason I'm saying don't trust what anyone tells you over the phone is because yours truly learned that the hard way during my citizenship application process.

There you go:
http://www.usvi.net/us-ins/html/2travel_back_....html

Boy, am I negative today

same as Caribtraveler I learnt the hard way and 4 years of dealing with the INS has made me very sceptical.

Does your fiance have a US driving licence? If so he should be fine - but don't take my word for it.

Have you spoken to a lawyer to complete the paperwork to enable you to expand your honeymoon travel plans?

Yes a U.S. driver's license for Hawaii is fine. I did the trip before my days and did not take my green card.

So Alya, if you don't mind me getting all into your business
were your INS dealings just for the green card or are you applying for citizenship?
I certainly had my drama with them. They completely screwed up (5 years of it!) and I ended up calling my local congressman, wrote to the INS director of the office dealing with my application, her assistant, their boss the INS commissioner in DC and their big big boss then-attorney general John Ashcroft. Polite letters but clearly pissed off applicant. Within a month, I got a letter to go back to the office and within 3 months I was a citizen.
My husband and I are still wondering which of the things we did made it happen so quickly. We have a fairly good idea.

carib,

no, we were simply getting permanent resident (Green Cards) it took over a year from my DH getting an offer to move to the US and it was an inter-company transfer which is supposed to be the easiest way to emigrate to the US - we came on an L1 visa, we moved November 2001, our UK family members were negative about us moving at that time but we don't regret the move at all.

Citizen? Where are you from? I'm not ready to become a citizen yet although you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming back to the UK , perhaps when I have American grandchildren I'll feel different.

We didn't get our PR until 2004 so we have some time before we can apply anyway.

5 years? sounds to me like they lost your paperwork, we applied for PR as a family but due to the delays our son started the paperwork as a 12 yr old (they don't need to be fingerprinted) by the time we finished he was 15 and needed to be fingerprinted - he got his card 11 months after us.

In fact our youngest DD who wasn't part of the original paperwork (she wanted to stay in the UK) and decided to join us in the US in 2003 got her PR before our son.

I spent so much time frustrated with the INS that it colours my view - honestly! I am normally upbeat and cheerful just don't mention the INS

Alya: I share your feelings regarding the INS. They didn't lose my paperwork. They mistakenly closed my case. I had NO idea. I wrote to them several times to get a status. No reply. I called their 800 number. The employee who answered the phone BOLDLY LIED to me and said my case was still being reviewed. How did I find out she lied? I called back a few months later and got an employee who actually cared about doing her job right. She said that at this 800 number they did not have access to applicants' files so there's no way she could give me a status. When I told her I had gone through the fingerprinting process a couple of years back, she said that something was definitely wrong because the interview is done fairly quickly after fingerprinting. So she transferred to a supervisor who could get access to my file. The guy said my case was closed because I never showed up for the interview. Well I never got the letter for the interview. I was SO FURIOUS. Anyway, my only option was to go stand in line (for hours of course) at the INS office in "lovely" Newark, NJ, and request that my case be reopened. I got of course the employee with attitude there. She said "well they rarely agree to reopen cases". I wanted to reach over and smack her I was so angry. The only thing that stopped me was the image of never getting the citizenship, losing my green card, being carded off to Guantanamo Bay and never seeing my husband and son again!! LOL!!
Anyway, lesson learned that I'll gladly pass on to anyone. ALWAYS go in person to deal with them. Yes, that means wasting an entire day there but phoning and writing do NOT work, even though they say you can do that.

I'll admit that I was not as persistent as I could have been with the INS during those years because those years were hard and busy. All these things happened back to back: My stepfather got cancer and died. My parents at the time lived in South Africa so I did a lot of back and forth travel. Got engaged/married. Bought a 2-family home so my mom could live with us. She got cancer (lots of medical visits/care involved). I work in TV news and worked in the political unit during the horrible election year that never ended (Bush vs Gore). My mom died. Got pregnant. 9/11 happened. Had a baby. It wasn't till the dust settled that I really started thinking about my citizenship application process and realized that something was truly wrong.

Where am I from? I like to say that I'm a child of the world.
Seriously, both my parents are Haitian but they worked all their adult lives in Africa. I was born and raised in Zaire (now called the Congo). My mother remarried a Belgian so I had that nationality for a while. Spent lots of summers in Europe. Went to university in Chicago.
I, like you, never thought I would want to become a U.S. citizen. I actually planned to go back to Africa for good (and I LOVED my E.U. passport!). I did move to South Africa in '93 for a year. Although I LOVED it, I surprised myself by truly missing the U.S., so I came back.
I changed my mind on the citizenship because I realized I was going to live in the U.S. for the rest of my working life and I really wanted to vote during elections (especially since the government was taking so much money out of my paycheck!). And at the end of the day, with all its faults, it is a great country to live in.
So, there you go. Now you know my whole life! And aren't I a child of the world??

<Hawaii is no different from the USVI, he will still need documentation from the INS>

I can't believe someone doesn't know Hawaii is one of 50 states. USVI are NOT