A motion to reopen based on changed country conditions lets you ask an immigration court to revisit your removal order, at any time after it becomes final, when new dangers have emerged in the country you would be sent to. Federal law waives the usual 90-day deadline and the one-motion limit for this narrow situation, but only if you are seeking asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture, and only if you can show the changes are material, arose after your last hearing, and put you personally at risk.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229a – Removal Proceedings2eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.23 – Reopening or Reconsideration Before the Immigration Court – Section: Exceptions to Filing Deadlines The filing fee is $1,065, and a motion that is incomplete or missing required attachments will be denied before a judge ever weighs the country evidence.
Who This Exception Covers
The exception is not a general reset button on your case. It applies to three specific forms of relief: asylum under INA section 208, withholding of removal under INA section 241(b)(3), and protection under the Convention Against Torture. If your original case sought something else, the changed-conditions exception will not let you around the 90-day deadline.
Within those three categories, there is no time limit and no cap on the number of motions you can file, so long as each one rests on new material evidence about the country you would be removed to. The regulation adds a further requirement that the evidence “was not available and could not have been discovered or presented at the previous proceeding.”2eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.23 – Reopening or Reconsideration Before the Immigration Court – Section: Exceptions to Filing Deadlines Evidence that existed at the time of your hearing, even if you did not present it, generally will not qualify.
What “Changed” and “Material” Really Mean
Two things have to be true about the changes you point to. First, they must have occurred after your last hearing. A regime change, a new law criminalizing your religion, escalating violence against your ethnic group, or the rise of a militia targeting people with your political background can all qualify. General civil unrest or a worsening economy usually does not.
Second, the changes must be material to your case, meaning significant enough that they would likely alter the outcome. A new human rights report, on its own, is not enough. You have to connect the developments in the country to something about you personally: your ethnicity, religion, political opinion, membership in a particular social group, or another characteristic that makes you a target. The Board of Immigration Appeals looks for a clear line between the national event and the danger you personally face.
On top of showing changed conditions, the motion has to demonstrate prima facie eligibility for the underlying relief. In practical terms: if a judge assumed everything in your motion were true, would you likely qualify for asylum or withholding at a new hearing? This is not a full trial, but it is more than speculation, and a judge who does not see a plausible path to relief will not reopen the case.
Building the Evidence Package
The strength of the motion lives in its evidence. Documents generally fall into two layers, and you need both.
The first layer is country-condition evidence. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices carry weight because they are the U.S. government’s own assessment. Reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees add corroboration. News coverage from recognized international outlets can pin specific incidents to specific dates, which matters when you are trying to prove the change happened after your hearing. Expert declarations from country specialists or human rights practitioners can explain why a national shift specifically endangers people in your situation.
The second layer ties you to the group now at risk. Political party membership cards, evidence of religious affiliation, medical records from past persecution, documentation of your ethnic identity, and sworn statements from family members who have been threatened or harmed since your removal order all serve this purpose. Without this layer, even the most alarming country reports will not carry the motion, because the judge has no basis to conclude that the danger reaches you.
Translations
Any document in a language other than English must come with a certified English translation. The translator has to sign a certification stating the translation is true and accurate to the best of their abilities.3eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.33 – Translation of Documents The translator does not have to be a certified professional, but the certification itself is not optional. Immigration judges will not consider untranslated evidence, so a missing translation effectively deletes that document from your case.
The Forms and the Written Motion
The motion itself is a written legal brief, but it cannot stand alone. Regulations require that a motion to reopen filed to submit a relief application be accompanied by the completed application and all supporting documents.4eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.2 – Reopening or Reconsideration Before the Board of Immigration Appeals For an asylum-based motion, that means a completed Form I-589 (Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal) has to be inside the package. Failing to attach it is one of the most common reasons motions get denied without any real look at the country evidence.
Two other forms come up often:
- Form EOIR-33 (Change of Address). If you have moved since your last hearing, file this with the immigration court. The court sends all official correspondence to the address on file and will not update your contact information based on other filings.5EOIR. Change of Address Form (EOIR-33/IC)
- Form EOIR-26A (Fee Waiver Request). If you cannot afford the $1,065 fee, this form asks for detailed financial information to show that paying would cause extreme hardship. File it with the motion, not separately.6EOIR. Form EOIR-26A – Fee Waiver Request
The written motion itself should open with the procedural history of your case, then set out the facts showing changed country conditions, and close with a legal argument explaining how those facts satisfy the standard for reopening. Put your A-Number on every document. Double-check that the date of your final removal order is stated accurately, because the timeline of the country changes relative to that date is central to the analysis.
Where to File, the Fee, and Proof of Service
File with whichever body last had jurisdiction over your case. If the Board of Immigration Appeals issued the final decision, the motion goes to the BIA. If you never appealed, or the BIA remanded back to the immigration judge, file with the immigration court that last handled your proceedings.
Since February 2022, the EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) has been the mandatory electronic filing platform for attorneys and accredited representatives at the immigration courts and the BIA.7EOIR. EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) – Online Filing If you are filing on your own, check the specific court’s current rules on whether paper filing is still accepted.
The filing fee before an immigration judge is $1,065.8EOIR. Types of Appeals, Motions, and Required Fees Older sources still list much lower amounts, so verify before you write the check or file the waiver request.
A copy of the entire motion package has to be served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Chief Counsel. Every motion filed with the immigration court or the BIA must include a proof of service page documenting the date and method of delivery to DHS.9EOIR. EOIR Policy Manual – 2.2 Service A missing or incomplete proof of service is one of the fastest ways to get a motion kicked back on procedural grounds before anyone reads the substance.
File a Stay of Removal at the Same Time
Filing the motion to reopen does not stop your deportation. The government can still execute the removal order while the motion sits with a judge.10eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.6 – Stay of Deportation This catches many people, because the instinct is to assume an open motion pauses everything. It does not.
To hold off removal while the motion is pending, file a separate Motion for a Stay of Removal with the same court or board handling the motion to reopen. Explain why removal before a decision would cause irreparable harm, especially given the country dangers you are asking the court to consider. File the stay request at the same time as the motion to reopen. Waiting means you can be removed before the court ever sees the stay request.
One narrow exception: filing a motion to reopen an in absentia removal order automatically stays removal while the judge considers that motion.11eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.23 – Reopening or Reconsideration Before the Immigration Court – Section: Order Entered In Absentia The automatic stay attaches only to the in absentia rescission motion itself, not to a separate changed-conditions motion filed alongside it.
A Note on In Absentia Orders
If you were ordered removed because you missed a hearing, different rules also apply. You can file a motion to rescind the in absentia order within 180 days if your absence was caused by exceptional circumstances such as serious illness or a death in the family, or at any time if you never received proper notice of the hearing.11eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.23 – Reopening or Reconsideration Before the Immigration Court – Section: Order Entered In Absentia These rules run parallel to the changed-conditions exception, with different standards and deadlines. Both routes can sometimes be pursued in the same case, and sorting out which fits your facts is one of the stronger reasons to bring in an immigration attorney.
After the Decision
A grant sets aside the prior removal order and puts your case back on the court’s active calendar for a new hearing. This is not a decision on the merits of your asylum claim; it just means the court has agreed the country changes justify a fresh look. Given current backlogs, the gap between a grant and an actual hearing can be long.
A denial leaves the original removal order in place and enforceable. If an immigration judge denied the motion, you can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. If the BIA denies it, you can file a petition for review with the federal circuit court of appeals that covers your area. Federal review is narrow and focuses on legal error or abuse of discretion, not a fresh weighing of the evidence. Deadlines are strict, and removal can proceed as soon as the denial issues unless a stay is in place.