If you cannot afford the filing fee for an immigration court motion or a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) appeal, an EOIR-26A fee waiver lets you ask a judge or Board member to let your case move forward without paying. You file the form at the same time as the appeal or motion, swear to your financial situation under penalty of perjury, and the adjudicator decides whether paying the fee would be a genuine hardship. Since February 1, 2026, the fees in play are $1,030 or $1,065, so the waiver matters far more than it did when fees sat at $110.
Which Fees the Waiver Applies To
Form EOIR-26A only waives fees inside the EOIR system, meaning the immigration courts and the BIA. It does not touch fees for USCIS applications or anything else handled by the Department of Homeland Security, such as green card or work permit filings. Those need a separate fee waiver process through DHS.
Effective February 1, 2026, the fees the EOIR-26A can waive are:1Executive Office for Immigration Review. Types of Appeals, Motions, and Required Fees
- Appeal of an immigration judge’s decision to the BIA (Form EOIR-26): $1,030
- Appeal of a DHS officer’s decision to the BIA (Form EOIR-29): $1,030
- Motion to reopen or reconsider a BIA decision: $1,030
- Motion to reopen or reconsider an immigration judge’s decision: $1,065
The waiver authority itself comes from 8 C.F.R. § 1003.8 for BIA filings and 8 C.F.R. § 1003.24 for immigration court filings.2eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.8
Filings That Do Not Require a Fee
Before you fill out anything, check whether your filing carries a fee at all. Under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.24(b)(2), several motions before an immigration judge are fee-exempt:3eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.24 – Fees Pertaining to Matters Within the Jurisdiction of an Immigration Judge
- Motions filed while proceedings are still pending before the court
- Motions that ask only for a stay of removal, deportation, or exclusion
- Motions to reopen an in absentia removal order under INA § 240(b)(5)(C)(ii)
- Joint motions agreed to by all parties
- Any motion filed by DHS
The in absentia exception is worth noticing. People who were ordered removed while absent are often the same people who would otherwise need a fee waiver, and they don’t have to file one.
The Standard: Inability to Pay
The regulation asks a single question: are you “unable to pay the fee.” There is no fixed income cutoff and no percentage of the federal poverty guidelines that automatically qualifies or disqualifies you. The decision is discretionary, and the adjudicator weighs your income against your unavoidable expenses.2eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.8
Household income well below the federal poverty guidelines strengthens the request. But someone earning slightly above the poverty line who carries heavy medical debt or supports dependents can still show inability to pay $1,030. What matters is whether the numbers, taken together, leave any room for the filing fee. A judge who can see that paying would mean missing rent or going without medication has what they need to grant the waiver.
Filling Out Form EOIR-26A
The form is short but strict. It must be completed in English, either typed or clearly printed, and you must answer every question. Blank fields or “N/A” entries can get the form rejected; if the true answer is zero, write “$0.00.”4Executive Office for Immigration Review. Form EOIR-26A – Fee Waiver Request
At the top, you give your full legal name and your Alien Registration Number (A-Number). The financial section then asks for your average monthly income from every source: employment, self-employment, rental income, interest, public assistance, and anything else coming in. It also asks about your monthly expenses.
Item 4 is a free-text field where you explain in your own words why you cannot afford the fee. Use it. If your numbers alone don’t tell the full story, this is where you describe a recent job loss, a medical emergency, or the fact that you are detained and have no way to earn income.
The bottom of the form is a sworn declaration under 28 U.S.C. § 1746.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1746 – Unsworn Declarations Under Penalty of Perjury You sign it yourself. Your attorney or accredited representative cannot sign for you. This is where represented respondents most often trip up: the lawyer prepares the form, but the signature line belongs to the person whose finances are being disclosed.4Executive Office for Immigration Review. Form EOIR-26A – Fee Waiver Request
Supporting Documents
The form is itself a sworn statement, but attaching evidence makes denial much less likely. Recent pay stubs, tax returns, benefit verification letters, bank statements, and bills showing regular expenses all help. Put your name and A-Number on every page of any attachment.
If you have no formal income, Item 4 becomes your main evidence. A short written declaration describing how you meet your basic needs, whether through a shelter, family support, or charitable assistance, fills the gap that missing pay stubs would otherwise leave.
Mistakes That Get Fee Waivers Denied
Most denials trace back to a small set of avoidable errors:
- Reporting all zeros with no explanation. A column of zeros without context reads as incomplete rather than genuinely destitute. If you really have no income, say how you survive.
- Inconsistency with earlier statements in the case. If your prior filings described your finances differently, the adjudicator will notice.
- Missing your signature. A form signed only by counsel is rejected.
- No supporting documents. Nothing in the regulation strictly requires attachments, but a bare form is easier to deny.
- Blank fields or “N/A” instead of “$0.00.”
Because the declaration is under penalty of perjury, misstating your finances can hurt your credibility in the underlying immigration case, not just cost you the waiver.
How and Where to File
The fee waiver must be filed together with the appeal or motion it relates to. A standalone EOIR-26A with no substantive filing attached will not be accepted, and an appeal submitted without either the fee or a completed waiver request may be rejected or dismissed.6Executive Office for Immigration Review. Form EOIR-26 Instructions
BIA filings go to the Board of Immigration Appeals Clerk’s Office in Falls Church, Virginia. Motion filings go to the local immigration court handling the case. For immigration court filings, the fee is actually paid to DHS rather than the court, so the waiver request asks the judge to waive that DHS fee requirement.3eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.24 – Fees Pertaining to Matters Within the Jurisdiction of an Immigration Judge
DHS, attorneys, and accredited representatives must file electronically through the EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) in eligible cases. Unrepresented respondents can file electronically if they’ve registered for the Respondent Access Portal.6Executive Office for Immigration Review. Form EOIR-26 Instructions
You also have to serve a copy of the whole filing, including the fee waiver request, on the opposing party. For respondents, that means the DHS Assistant Chief Counsel for ICE. When both sides file through ECAS the system handles service, but you still complete the proof-of-service section on the appeal form.
After You File
An immigration judge or a BIA member reviews the form and issues a written decision. If the waiver is granted, the appeal or motion proceeds as though the fee had been paid. Nothing more is required on the fee.
If the waiver is denied, you get a rejection notice and the filing comes back. You then have 15 days to re-file with either the full fee or a stronger waiver request. The applicable filing deadline is paused during this 15-day cure period, so a denial does not eat into your time to appeal.7Executive Office for Immigration Review. Board Practice Manual – Filing Fees The same 15-day cure period applies to rejected filings before immigration judges.8Executive Office for Immigration Review. Immigration Court Practice Manual – Filing Fees
That tolling is worth understanding concretely. Say your appeal deadline is 30 days from the judge’s decision and you file the EOIR-26A on day 25. If the BIA denies the waiver on day 35, the deadline doesn’t expire while the Board processes the request; you get the 15-day window to cure. Do nothing in that window, and the appeal or motion is treated as never properly filed.