Immigration Court Motion to Reopen: Grounds, Deadlines, and Filing

A motion to reopen in immigration court asks the Immigration Judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to withdraw a final removal order and reconsider the case in light of new information. The filing fee is $1,065 with an Immigration Judge or $1,030 with the BIA, and you generally have 90 days from the final administrative order to file.¹ It is not an appeal and not a chance to re-argue what you already lost. You need genuinely new evidence, a change in circumstances, or a serious defect in how the case was handled.

Grounds That Qualify

The law recognizes only a handful of bases for reopening. Weak or recycled arguments get denied fast. Which ground applies determines what evidence you need and whether the normal deadline even runs against you.

Newly Discovered Evidence

The evidence must be material, must not have been available at the original hearing, and could not reasonably have been found earlier. A document you forgot to bring does not qualify. A sealed government record later released might. You have to state the new facts you would prove at a reopened hearing and back them up with affidavits or other proof, and the judge will not grant the motion unless that new evidence could realistically change the outcome.²

Changed Circumstances or New Eligibility for Relief

Something has changed since the final order that opens up relief you did not have before. Marrying a U.S. citizen after the case ended can create eligibility for adjustment of status. For asylum seekers, deteriorating conditions in the home country — a new crackdown, armed conflict, or targeted persecution — can qualify as changed country conditions, which carries its own deadline rules covered below.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Disagreeing with your lawyer’s strategy is not enough. The attorney must have done something objectively deficient: missed a filing deadline, failed to submit critical evidence, or given advice that caused you to waive relief you were entitled to.

Immigration courts follow Matter of Lozada, which requires three steps before the motion will even be considered. You must submit a sworn affidavit describing the facts, including what you and the attorney had agreed the attorney would do. You must notify the former attorney of the allegations, give them a chance to respond, and include any response with the motion. And you must file a disciplinary complaint with the appropriate bar authority, or explain why you have not. Skipping any of these is one of the fastest routes to denial.

In Absentia Removal Orders

If you were ordered removed because you missed the hearing, you can move to reopen on one of two grounds: your failure to appear was caused by exceptional circumstances, or you never received proper notice of the hearing.²

Exceptional circumstances means something serious and outside your control. The statute names serious illness of you or a close family member, and the death of a spouse, child, or parent. Battery or extreme cruelty also qualifies. The law explicitly excludes “less compelling circumstances,” so traffic, oversleeping, or confusion about the date will not work.²

Deadlines and the One-Motion Limit

The default is 90 days from the final administrative order of removal. Miss it and the court rejects the motion without reaching the substance. That is the single most common way people lose the right to reopen.²

Several situations extend or eliminate that window:

In absentia orders based on exceptional circumstances: 180 days from the removal order, not 90.²
In absentia orders based on lack of notice or being in custody: no deadline at all.³
Changed country conditions for asylum or withholding of removal: no deadline, provided the new evidence is material and was not available at the prior hearing.²
Joint motions with DHS: when the government attorney agrees, neither the time limit nor the numerical limit applies.⁴

You are also generally allowed only one motion to reopen. The time and numerical limits both drop away for changed-country-conditions motions and joint motions with DHS. For other grounds, a denial ends your ability to file again at that level. An immigration judge can reopen a case on their own initiative at any time without being bound by these limits, but persuading a judge to do so without a formal motion is uncommon.⁵

The Departure Bar

If you have already left the United States, whether voluntarily or by deportation, you generally cannot file a motion to reopen. The regulation states that a motion to reopen “shall not be made by or on behalf of a person who is the subject of exclusion, deportation, or removal proceedings subsequent to his or her departure from the United States.” If you file a motion and then leave while it is pending, the departure is treated as a withdrawal of the motion.⁶

Timing of departure matters. Leaving the country before the motion is filed and decided can permanently eliminate the option. Some federal circuits have recognized narrow exceptions, but the rulings are not uniform and should not be relied on without advice from an attorney familiar with the law in your circuit.

What Goes in the Motion Package

There is no fill-in-the-blank government form for a motion to reopen. You draft a formal legal brief, which is one reason many people hire an attorney for this step. The Immigration Court Practice Manual sets out the requirements, and missing any of them can produce a rejection before the court considers the substance.⁴

Cover page labeled “MOTION TO REOPEN.”
A written brief laying out the facts, the legal basis for reopening, and the new facts you intend to prove.
Supporting evidence: affidavits, official records, country condition reports, or other documentation. For ineffective-assistance claims, this includes the Lozada affidavit, correspondence with the former attorney, and proof of the bar complaint. Foreign-language documents need certified English translations.
The underlying application for relief you would pursue if the case were reopened, with supporting documents. For example, Form I-589 for asylum or Form I-485 for adjustment of status.⁴
Form EOIR-28 if you are represented.
Form EOIR-33/IC change-of-address form.
Filing fee receipt or a fee waiver request.
Certificate of Service showing you delivered the full package to the DHS Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA).

The fee is paid in advance through the EOIR Payment Portal, and the receipt is submitted with the motion. If you cannot afford it, you can request a waiver by filing Form EOIR-26A with a sworn declaration of your financial situation.¹⁷

Service on DHS goes to the local OPLA office. Hand delivery, U.S. Postal Service, and commercial courier are all acceptable. The Certificate of Service documents when and how you sent it.

Where to File

File with whichever body issued the last decision in your case. If an Immigration Judge issued the final order, file with that specific immigration court. If the BIA issued the last decision, file with the BIA. Filing with the wrong body wastes time you may not have.

Attorneys and accredited representatives are required to file electronically through the EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS). The filing date is the date of electronic submission, not when the court processes it. Unrepresented filers may still be able to file by mail or in person and should check the court’s current procedures.⁸

Does Filing Stop Deportation?

Not on its own. DHS can physically remove you while your motion sits on a judge’s desk, which is why many filers simultaneously submit a separate request for a stay of removal asking the court to pause deportation while the motion is pending.

The exception is in absentia motions. If you are moving to rescind an order entered because you missed a hearing, removal is automatically stayed while the immigration judge considers the motion. That applies whether the motion is based on exceptional circumstances, lack of notice, or custody.²

What Happens After You File

The DHS attorney gets a window to respond. They can oppose the motion, decline to oppose it, or agree to join it. A joint motion is the strongest posture: it eliminates the deadline and numerical restrictions and substantially improves the odds of being granted.

The Immigration Judge or BIA then reviews the motion, the evidence, and any government response before issuing a written decision. There is no guaranteed timeline. Some motions are decided in weeks, others take many months. If granted, the removal order is vacated and the case is scheduled for a new hearing where you can present the new evidence or apply for the relief you identified. If denied, the removal order stays in place.

A denial from an Immigration Judge can be appealed to the BIA. A denial from the BIA can be challenged by filing a petition for review with the federal circuit court that has jurisdiction over the immigration court where the case was originally heard. Those petitions carry their own strict deadlines, generally 30 days from the BIA’s decision, so acting quickly matters.