The travel document usually arrives within 150 days (sometimes longer) after submitting your application. You can't leave the country until you have your approved travel document in hand, so you should expect to spend the 3–5 months after submitting your green card application in the United States.
ESTA is an automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Authorization via ESTA does not determine whether a traveler is admissible to the United States.
The travel document usually arrives within 150 days (sometimes longer) after submitting your application. You can't leave the country until you have your approved travel document in hand, so you should expect to spend the 3–5 months after submitting your green card application in the United States.
Use Form I-131 - Application for Travel Document.
You may ask us to expedite adjudication of your Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records, by calling the Contact Center at 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833) or by asking Emma. (You can access Emma by clicking on the Ask Emma icon on the top right of this page.)
USCIS P.O. Box 660167 Dallas, TX 75266 For U.S. Postal Service: If you are filing Form I-131 by itself, based on a pending or approved Form I-821, file your Form I-131 with the USCIS Dallas Lockbox facility.
Your actual refugee travel document should be issued within about 2 to 5 months from filing your Form I-131. You may request that the actual document be sent to your U.S. address, your attorneys address (if you choose to work with an attorney), or to a U.S. consulate or embassy abroad.
Application Volume: High demand for passports, especially during peak travel seasons or after major events (like the COVID-19 pandemic), can lead to backlogs. Processing Times: Standard processing can take several weeks, and expedited services, while faster, still require time for verification and production.
The processing of an ESTA can take up to 72 hours.