There is never a day, since post-election 2016, that “immigration” is not mentioned in the daily news. Whether fear is created by uncertainty in the upcoming Trump administration or outright desperation resulting from the absence of an immigration reform law, a significant number whose status had expired have voluntarily departed for their homelands.
An immigrant from the San Francisco Bay Area sent me a letter regarding his friend who has been undocumented and who wants to leave the US:
Dear Atty. Lou:
A person was unfortunate in failing to obtain legal status through an employment petition is now tired of his staying here in the U.S. as an undocumented alien; so he has strongly decided to go home for good. He entered the U.S. as a visitor sometime in year 2000 and is now holding a valid passport in his name.
My questions are:
(1) What are the things he needs to do before or during his exit?
(2) Aside from his valid/unexpired Philippine passport in his name and a one-way plane ticket, are there any other documents he needs to prepare and have at hand to avoid hassle upon exit?
(3) Will he encounter problems/interrogations on his exit if he uses his current valid passport with no visa page?
Those who want to travel back to the Philippines after having made a firm decision to return home after several years of fruitless waiting for an opportunity to legalize, may do so with a valid unexpired Philippine passport. In some circumstances, an undocumented person may be issued a Philippine travel document by a Philippine Consulate General’s Office nearest his place of residence. This happens in cases of emergencies or when the individual is being removed from the country by the Department of Homeland Security. If there is still time to get a Philippine passport, it will still be appropriate to request for one and use it for traveling.
Generally, there is no need to inform the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services about the intended trip back to the homeland. The only time the USCIS should be notified is if the individual is availing of a voluntary departure relief in immigration court and has plans of returning to the US at a future time. Otherwise, there is no need to go through USCIS. Just go straight to the airport with the passport and one-way airline ticket.
The more serious concern is whether there will be trouble that may be encountered at the airport with the federal agents. My most common response to this is that there should be no problem because USCIS wants you to leave anyway as you have been in unlawful status and the federal agents will not stop you from doing so. However, there are times that a departing individual will be stopped from traveling at the airport. This happens when the individual is the subject of a pending investigation for a probable criminal offense, is a fugitive from justice or has a validly issued warrant of arrest.
For those who decide to depart but still have future plans of one day returning to the US, it is best to explore their options and not close all the doors to their possible return. Who knows, it may be different after four years.
(Atty. Lourdes S. Tancinco is a San Francisco CA based immigration attorney and may be reached at law@tancinco.com, tancinco.weareph.com/old , facebook/tancincolaw, or at 1 888 930 0808 or at 1 415 397 0808)
