BIA Filing Fees: Amounts, Deadlines, and Waivers

Filing an appeal or motion with the Board of Immigration Appeals costs $1,030 as of early 2026, up from the $110 fee that had been in place for years. Payment must be made electronically through the EOIR Payment Portal, checks and money orders are no longer accepted, and the fee or a fee waiver request has to arrive within the same short window as the appeal itself. Miss any of those pieces and the immigration judge’s decision can become final.

What You Owe by Filing Type

The amounts below reflect the schedule the Executive Office for Immigration Review has posted for filings made in 2026:

Appeal of an immigration judge’s decision (Form EOIR-26): $1,030¹
Appeal of a DHS officer’s decision (Form EOIR-29): $1,030¹
Motion to reopen or reconsider before the BIA: $1,030¹
Motion to reopen or reconsider before an immigration court: $1,065¹
Bond appeal (Form EOIR-26): no fee²

These amounts were adjusted under an inflation-related fee update effective in early 2026. If you are filing a motion to reopen at the immigration court level rather than before the BIA itself, the amount is slightly higher at $1,065.

Deadlines the Fee Has to Meet

Paying the right amount does not save a late filing. The fee or fee waiver request must be submitted within the same window as the appeal or motion.

For most immigration judge decisions, you have 10 calendar days from the date of the decision to file your Notice of Appeal (Form EOIR-26) with the fee or a waiver request. Where the immigration judge decided an asylum application and did not deny it on certain procedural grounds, the deadline extends to 30 calendar days.³ If neither the fee nor a fee waiver request is filed on time, the appeal is not considered properly filed and the immigration judge’s decision becomes final as though no appeal was ever taken.

Motions to reopen before the immigration court generally must be filed within 90 days of a final removal order, with exceptions for changed country conditions, in absentia orders, and jointly filed motions.⁴ A filing that arrives one day late with a perfect payment still fails.

How to Pay

Since February 23, 2026, EOIR no longer accepts checks or money orders. All fees must be paid electronically through the EOIR Payment Portal.² The portal accepts debit cards, credit cards, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and ACH transfers from a U.S. checking or savings account.⁵

After payment, the portal generates a receipt with a Payment Tracking ID. That receipt must be included with your filing, whether you submit through the EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) or by mail. Save the Payment Tracking ID; it is the only way to retrieve a replacement receipt later.⁵

Attorneys and accredited representatives are required to file through ECAS.⁶ Pro se filers not using ECAS should mail the appeal form and payment receipt to:

Board of Immigration Appeals
Office of the Chief Clerk
5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2000
Falls Church, VA 22041⁷

Your filing must include your Alien Registration Number (A-Number).⁸ The receipt, the appeal form, and the A-Number all need to match. Mismatches are one of the easiest ways to get a filing bounced back.

Fee Waivers

If you cannot afford the fee, the BIA has discretion to waive it. You request a waiver by filing Form EOIR-26A (Fee Waiver Request) together with your Notice of Appeal or motion, within the same deadline that applies to the underlying filing.⁹

The form requires a declaration signed under penalty of perjury explaining why you cannot pay. There is no fixed income cutoff; the BIA evaluates each request individually. The strongest waiver requests give a clear financial picture: monthly income, employment status, recurring expenses like rent and food, any assets, and circumstances that limit your ability to earn, such as detention, disability, or lack of work authorization.

A vague statement that you are “unable to pay” without specifics is likely to be rejected. If you are detained and have no income, say so explicitly. If you have dependents, list them and explain the burden.

What Happens If the Fee or Waiver Fails

Getting the fee piece wrong does not always end your case, but the margin for recovery is narrow.

No receipt attached: a filing without the EOIR Payment Portal receipt is rejected outright.¹⁰
Wrong amount: a payment that does not match the exact fee posted on the EOIR website at the time of filing is rejected.¹⁰
Uncollectible payment: if the electronic payment fails to process, the appeal or motion is dismissed or denied as improperly filed.¹⁰
Denied fee waiver: if the EOIR-26A does not show inability to pay, the BIA rejects the filing and gives you 15 days to re-file with either the full fee or a stronger waiver. Your original filing deadline is paused during that 15-day window.⁹

The 15-day cure period is the one real safety net, and it applies only to denied fee waivers. A failed payment or a missing receipt gets no automatic second chance, and the immigration judge’s order can become final immediately.

If a filing is rejected after you already paid through the portal, the payment is not returned with the rejected documents. You can re-file your corrected appeal or motion using the original payment receipt.⁵

1
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Types of Appeals, Motions, and Required Fees
2
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Forms and Fees
3
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.38 – Filing an Appeal
4
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.23 – Motions Before the Immigration Court
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Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Payment Portal Frequently Asked Questions
6
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Courts and Appeals System – Online Filing
7
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Contact the Board of Immigration Appeals
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. A-Number/Alien Registration Number/Alien Number
9
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.8 – Fees Before the Board
10
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Policy Manual – 2.4 Filing Fees