... in response to Early Paole Question, posted by RRH on Mar 19, 2002My wife and son filed their requests for advanced parole with the Manhattan INS office, at the same time as their AOS applications. The advanced parole was granted in about 90 days. With the application, we included a letter explaining that my wife and son wished to visit their family in Ukraine. INS scheduled an interview at the INS office at a certain date and time. We had a problem with my son's request when the examining officer demanded to see him. We had been advised by the the national INS "help desk" that his presence (he was 8 at the time), would not be necessary. I explained this to the officer, and was tersely informed that "that was not the policy of this (Manhattan) district". At this point, my wife and I had been waiting in the Federal Building for 6 hours while INS staff searched for our son's apparently misplaced application. After a brief argument, the officer relented, and approved his parole. No problems later in the summer travelling to, or returning from, Ukraine. My wife and son were in Ukraine for 8 weeks, I joined them for the first three, but needed to return to the US to resume a job search. I sure did miss them during those lonely weeks!
Dan
