HelloStampedCan I travel?
This is not a yes-or-no answer about your trip — no website can give you one, because admission is decided by an officer at the border on the day. It is the list of conditions that govern a trip like yours, and where each one comes from.
17 conditions, every one carrying its government source. No account, and your answers never leave your browser — this page sends nothing back to us.
About your trip
Every condition we track
Answer the two questions above and we will show which of these govern a trip like yours. Until then, here they all are — we would rather show you everything than guess.
All conditions
- Can end an application
Leaving the US with an I-485 pending, and without advance parole, is treated as abandoning it
Applies when: You have filed Form I-485, USCIS has not yet decided it, and you are not maintaining H-1, H-4, L-1 or L-2 status.
An adjustment-of-status application is generally considered abandoned when the applicant leaves the United States before it is decided, unless they were granted advance parole first. This is not a delay in the case — it ends it, and the filing fee is not returned. The same regulation carries a separate rule for applicants holding H-1, H-4, L-1 or L-2 status, which is the next card.
8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii) — eCFR · last checked 2026-08-12
- Check before you book
A separate rule covers I-485 applicants holding H-1, H-4, L-1 or L-2 status
Applies when: You have an I-485 pending and you hold H-1, H-4, L-1 or L-2 status.
Subparagraph (C) of the same regulation provides that travel is not deemed abandonment for an applicant who remains eligible for H-1 or L-1 status, is returning to resume employment with the same employer, and holds a valid H or L visa. Dependants in H-4 or L-2 are covered where the principal keeps their status. Each of those conditions has to hold — meeting some of them is not the exception.
8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii) — eCFR · last checked 2026-08-12
- Can end an application
A change of status request generally ends if you leave before it is decided
Applies when: You have filed to change status and have not had a decision.
A request to change from one nonimmigrant status to another is made from inside the United States. Departing while it is pending generally means USCIS stops adjudicating it, because the change it asks for can no longer happen.
USCIS — Form I-539 · last checked 2026-08-12
- Can end an application
An extension of stay is a request about time inside the US
Applies when: You have a pending request to stay longer in your current status.
An extension asks to remain longer in the status already held. Leaving the country while one is pending changes what is being asked for, and how USCIS treats it depends on the status and the timing — which is a question for the person filing it, before the ticket is booked.
USCIS — Extend your stay · last checked 2026-08-12
- Can end an application
Time spent out of status can turn a departure into a three- or ten-year bar
Applies when: You have ever been out of status, overstayed an I-94, or are not certain you have been in status the whole time.
Someone who accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence and then leaves the United States can be barred from returning for three years; more than a year of it, ten. The bar is triggered by the departure itself, so it is one of the few things on this page that a document at the airport cannot fix. Whether time counts as unlawful presence is genuinely technical — a pending application, a timely filing or a status that ran on an I-94 marked D/S all change the answer.
USCIS — Unlawful presence and inadmissibility · last checked 2026-08-12
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The visa in the passport and the status held inside the US are two different things
Applies when: You hold a nonimmigrant status and intend to re-enter the US.
A visa is the document used to ask for admission at the border. Status is what is held once admitted, and it is recorded on the I-94. A visa can expire while status continues perfectly lawfully — but a new admission generally needs an unexpired visa on the day of arrival, not the day of departure.
US Department of State — Visa expiration date · last checked 2026-08-12
- Check before you book
For F and J students, a short trip to Canada, Mexico or an adjacent island has its own rule
Applies when: You are in F or J status, your visa stamp has expired, and the trip is short and to a neighbouring country or island.
Readmission after an absence of thirty days or fewer solely in contiguous territory or an adjacent island is treated differently, on a valid unexpired I-94 and an unchanged status. It carries exclusions that matter — among them applying for a new visa during the trip, which ends the benefit whatever the outcome of that application. Adjacent islands are named for F and J; M students are contiguous territory only.
8 CFR 214.1(b) — eCFR · last checked 2026-08-12
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On other statuses, the short-trip rule covers Canada and Mexico — not the islands
Applies when: You are not in F or J status, your visa stamp has expired, and you are planning a short trip out of the country.
Automatic revalidation can permit a return on an expired visa after an absence of thirty days or fewer in contiguous territory. The adjacent-island extension is written for students and exchange visitors and does not reach H, L or the other work statuses. Applying for a new visa during the trip ends the benefit whatever the outcome, and so does a change of status.
22 CFR 41.112(d) — eCFR · last checked 2026-08-12
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An I-20 carries a travel endorsement, and endorsements expire
Applies when: You are in F-1 status and your I-20 is what proves it.
A designated school official signs the I-20 for travel. The signature has a validity period, and it is shorter for a student on post-completion OPT than for one still studying. The DSO is the only person who can renew it — worth sorting before the flight rather than from abroad, though electronic signatures and emailed I-20s mean a school can often send a fresh one while a student is away.
DHS Study in the States — Travel · last checked 2026-08-12
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Re-entry on OPT is documented differently from re-entry as a student
Applies when: You are on post-completion OPT or the STEM extension.
A student returning during post-completion OPT is generally expected to present the EAD card and evidence of the job it authorises, alongside the endorsed I-20. Being enrolled is no longer the thing being evidenced — being employed is.
DHS Study in the States — Travel · last checked 2026-08-12
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For a permanent resident, the length of the absence is itself a fact about residence
Applies when: You hold a green card and the trip is a long one.
An absence of six months or more can prompt questions about whether permanent residence was maintained, and an absence of a year or more generally requires a re-entry permit applied for before leaving. The permit is filed from inside the United States.
USCIS — International travel as a permanent resident · last checked 2026-08-12
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A conditional card that has expired is read together with the I-751 receipt notice
Applies when: You have a two-year green card and a pending I-751.
Filing to remove conditions produces a receipt notice that extends the validity of the two-year card for a stated period. Both documents are generally needed together — and airline staff checking documents before boarding are not immigration officers, which is where this most often goes wrong.
USCIS — Form I-751 · last checked 2026-08-12
- Check before you book
A US citizen re-enters on a US passport
Applies when: You are a US citizen returning from abroad.
Citizens are generally required to present a valid US passport book when arriving by air. The passport card is issued for land and sea crossings and is not accepted for international air travel, which is the detail most often discovered at a check-in desk. A green card, a naturalisation certificate or a driver's licence is not a substitute either.
US Department of State — US passports · last checked 2026-08-12
- Have this with you
H-1B admission is tied to a specific employer and a specific petition
Applies when: You are in H-1B status.
The approval notice names the employer. Recent evidence that the job described in the petition is still the job being done — pay statements, a current employment letter — is what connects the petition to the person presenting it.
USCIS — H-1B specialty occupations · last checked 2026-08-12
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H-4 status depends on somebody else's status continuing
Applies when: You are in H-4 status as a spouse or child.
A dependent's admission rests on the principal's petition and on the family relationship. Evidence of both — the principal's approval notice and the marriage or birth certificate — is what a dependent is generally expected to be able to show, whether or not they are travelling together.
USCIS — H-1B specialty occupations · last checked 2026-08-12
- Check before you book
A domestic flight is an identity check, not an immigration inspection
Applies when: You are flying between two places inside the United States.
TSA checks who somebody is before a domestic flight. From May 2025 a state ID must be REAL ID compliant to be accepted — and a foreign passport is on the list of acceptable alternatives, which is the part most often missed by people who do not have a compliant state licence.
TSA — Acceptable identification · last checked 2026-08-12
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Passport validity is checked against the intended stay, not the arrival date
Applies when: You are travelling on a passport that is not a US one.
Many travellers are required to hold a passport valid for six months beyond the period of intended stay, though nationals of a number of countries are exempt from that extra window. It is worth checking before booking, because it is not something that can be fixed at the airport.
CBP — Know before you go · last checked 2026-08-12
Admission to the United States is decided by a CBP officer at the port of entry, on the day. Nothing on this page is a decision about your trip or advice about your case. If your situation does not match a condition above cleanly, that is exactly the question to put to your DSO, your employer’s immigration team, or an attorney — before you book.