I just booked a very last minute trip to Mexico from NYC.

I am on an L2, and my wife holds the L1. I would normally travel with my wife, but this time I am heading out on my own.

What documents other than my passport and visa do I need to reenter the US correctly.

Do I need a copy of my wife's I-129, or my last I-94, or something else, or nothing?

I was on a derivative for a while and never needed anything. Always handy to have a photocopy of the approval doc - I-797 just in case.

<snip previous advice - I mis-read that this was your L1. I have no knowledge of using an L2, so please dis-regard my previous advice>

What does your visa say on it? My L1 says 'Must present I-797C at POE' (or words to that effect).

When we came back from my holiday in the UK last year without my hubby (my kids and I were on an L2), we just showed our passports with our visas in but i had a copy of the petition just in case.

If you hae an EAD make sure you bring that with you

Why? Whatever would you need an EAD for if you're on an L2?

To work hungryhorace. If you are on an L2 you can;t work without an EAD. My wife is on L2 and on re-enrty was asked if she had a job. WHen she said she did they asked to see her EAD, which she produced.


http://britishexpats.com/forum/us-im...ut-ead-796456/

I entered via ORD on an L2 as a solo traveller in Feb of this year. It didn't occur to me (naively or not) to have anything with me except my passport. No issues at all with the officers at POE.

There is absolutely _no_ requirement to present an EAD at the POE if being admitted on an L-2.

Well my wife has one and was asked to present it. Not sure how much more there is to say about it - it happened!

Being asked is not the same as being a requirement to be admitted though.

I'm sure it did. But just know you were under absolutely no obligation to present one for entry. Nor should it have been expected that you would have carried it with you at the POE.

True, but the length of time that it will take you to be admitted is, as a purely practical matter, largely a function of what kind of mood the CBP officer that you are standing in front of happens to be in. If you don't have a document that he wants to see and if he decides that he thinks that there is anything remotely suspicious about you then you could well find yourself waiting in secondary for anything up to a few hours before finally being seen by someone else who will then most likely send you on your way immediately.

This is exactly my experience. I came in through Seatac with all the correct papers. The border agent tried to send me back to the UK, because my papers had been issued in Connecticut.

I stood my ground and asked to talk to his boss but it wasn't much fun.