EOIR-33 Form: Five-Day Deadline, Filing Steps, and In Absentia Orders

The EOIR-33 form is how you tell an immigration court or the Board of Immigration Appeals that your address or phone number has changed, and you have five days from the date of the change to file it. No other method updates the court’s records. If the court has the wrong address, hearing notices and decisions still go there, and missing a hearing you never knew about can end with a removal order entered in your absence.

Which Version to File

There are two versions, and filing the wrong one leaves your real address unchanged in the system that matters.

Use EOIR-33/IC if your case is pending before an immigration court. File it with the clerk of that court.
Use EOIR-33/BIA if your case has been appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. File it with the BIA Clerk’s Office in Falls Church, Virginia.¹

If you have matters pending before both the immigration court and the BIA at the same time, file both versions. Each system keeps its own records, and updating one does not update the other.²

Attorneys and fully accredited representatives should not use the EOIR-33 to change their own contact information. That goes on Form EOIR-27 (BIA) or EOIR-28 (immigration court).²

The Five-Day Deadline

Federal law requires you to keep a current address on file at all times. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1)(F), you must immediately provide a written record of any change of address or phone number.³ The implementing regulation, 8 CFR § 1003.15, gives you five days from the change to file the updated form.⁴

The form instructions say “five working days.” The regulation just says “five days.” Aim for the shorter window. If you move on a Monday, do not wait until the following Monday just because the form language sounds more forgiving. A late filing has the same consequences as no filing.

The same five-day rule applies when you first receive a Notice to Appear that lists an incorrect address. File the EOIR-33 to correct the record even if you have not moved.⁵

How to Fill Out the Form

You can complete the EOIR-33/IC through the EOIR Respondent Access Portal or download a paper copy from the Department of Justice website. The form is short, but every future notice depends on what you write. A transposed zip code or an old phone number can derail a case.

Start with your Alien Registration Number, the nine-digit A-Number that tracks your case. It appears on your Notice to Appear, any Employment Authorization Document, a Permanent Resident Card, and virtually every piece of correspondence EOIR sends.

Identify the immigration court where your case is pending. If you are not sure which court has your case, EOIR’s operational status page includes a ZIP code search tool.⁶

Fill in your full legal name, previous address and phone, and new address and phone. If your mailing address differs from where you actually live, list both. Add an email address if you have one. Check every field before signing.

The form has two signature blocks, and both must be completed. The declaration is your signature under penalty of perjury that the information is true. The proof of service certifies that you will send a copy to the Department of Homeland Security. The court treats the form as incomplete without the proof of service.⁵

Filing for Family Members

Everyone with a case in immigration court needs their own EOIR-33, even if the whole family is moving to the same place. A husband and wife with separate proceedings file two. A family of four with four pending cases files four.⁵

For a child in proceedings, a parent or legal guardian can sign on the child’s behalf, as long as they clearly indicate their relationship on the form. This follows EOIR’s general rule that a parent or legal guardian may represent a child before the immigration court.⁷

How to Submit the Completed Form

Once the form is filled out and signed in both places, it needs to reach two separate destinations: the court and DHS.

Filing With the Court

You have three options.

Electronically, through the EOIR Respondent Access Portal for unrepresented respondents or the EOIR Case Portal for attorneys. Electronic filing is not open to everyone; EOIR is phasing in enrollment, and you have to receive a notification by mail before you can register.⁸
By mail, to the clerk of the immigration court where your case is docketed, or to the BIA Clerk’s Office for the BIA version. Use the mailing address from your most recent hearing notice or from EOIR’s court locator.
In person, delivered to the clerk’s window at the immigration court.

Serving DHS

You also have to send a copy to DHS. The proof of service section is your certification that you did. The right office is generally the ICE Office of the Chief Counsel that handles cases at your immigration court. If you do not know the correct DHS address, EOIR publishes an administrative control list matching each immigration court to its corresponding DHS office.⁹

Keep Proof You Filed

Immigration courts do not issue receipts. If a dispute comes up later about whether you filed your address change, the burden of proving it is on you.

File by mail using certified mail with return receipt, and keep both the receipt and the tracking record. If you file in person, ask the clerk to date-stamp a copy of the form for your records. If you file electronically, save or print the confirmation screen.

Keep a photocopy of every EOIR-33 you file, along with the proof of mailing or delivery, for as long as your case is open.

USCIS Is a Separate Update

The EOIR-33 updates the immigration court only. USCIS keeps its own address records. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1305, most noncitizens in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving.¹⁰

You do this by filing Form AR-11. The fastest method is through your USCIS online account, which updates their systems almost immediately. Paper AR-11 filings are accepted but USCIS discourages them because they do not automatically update case management systems.¹¹

Every move creates two obligations with two deadlines. EOIR-33 to the court within five days. AR-11 to USCIS within 10. Neither substitutes for the other.

What Happens If You Don’t File

The immigration court sends every hearing notice and decision to whatever address is in its records. If that address is stale, those documents still go there. Under federal law, notice sent to the most recent address you provided is legally sufficient whether you actually receive it or not.¹²

Miss a hearing you never heard about, and the immigration judge can order you removed in absentia. The government has to show by clear and convincing evidence that proper written notice was sent and that you are removable. Once that showing is made, the judge enters a final order of removal.¹²

If you received oral notice in your language about the time and place of your hearing and the consequences of missing it, the in absentia order also triggers a 10-year bar on most discretionary relief. During that decade you cannot apply for cancellation of removal, voluntary departure, or adjustment of status.¹² DHS may also take you into custody.⁵

Reopening a Case After an In Absentia Order

An in absentia removal order is not always the end. There are two paths to reopen, with different requirements.

Lack of proper notice. If you can show that you never received notice of the hearing in accordance with the statute, you can file a motion to reopen at any time. There is no deadline. This ground is strongest when you actually filed an EOIR-33 and the court’s records should have reflected your new address.¹²
Exceptional circumstances. If you did receive notice but missed the hearing for reasons like serious illness, a death in the family, or a natural disaster, you have 180 days from the removal order to file a motion to reopen.¹²

Filing either motion automatically stays removal while the immigration judge considers it. Include a current EOIR-33 with the motion so the court has your correct address going forward.¹³

A motion to reopen based on lack of notice is where a certified mail receipt earns its keep. If you can put a signed EOIR-33 and a mailing record in front of the judge showing the court should have had your correct address before the hearing, the motion becomes far more winnable. Without that paper trail, it becomes much harder.

1
Justice.gov. Form EOIR-33 Change of Address/Contact Information
2
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Change of Address Form (EOIR-33/BIA)
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229 – Initiation of Removal Proceedings
4
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.15 – Contents of the Order To Show Cause and Notice To Appear
5
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Change of Address Form (EOIR-33/IC)
6
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Immigration Court Operational Status
7
United States Department of Justice. Immigration Court Practice Manual
8
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Respondent Access Portal Frequently Asked Questions
9
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Immigration Court List – Administrative Control
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1305 – Notices of Change of Address
11
USCIS. Alien’s Change of Address Card
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229a – Removal Proceedings
13
Executive Office for Immigration Review. 5.9 – Motions to Reopen In Absentia Orders