What to Do If You’re in Removal Proceedings Under Section 240

If you are in removal proceedings under Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the most important things to do right away are read your Notice to Appear carefully, hire an immigration attorney, keep your address current with the court, and show up to every scheduled hearing.¹ These are the civil hearings an immigration judge uses to decide whether you will be ordered to leave the United States. They are not criminal cases, but a removal order triggers years-long bars on returning, so the stakes are serious.² A government attorney from Immigration and Customs Enforcement will handle the other side of your case, and while you have the right to hire a lawyer, the government will not pay for one.³

Read the Notice to Appear Line by Line

Your case begins when the Department of Homeland Security files a Notice to Appear (Form I-862) with the immigration court.⁴ Two parts of that document deserve your close attention: the factual allegations (statements about who you are, when you entered the country, and your immigration history) and the charges of inadmissibility or deportability (the legal grounds the government is using against you).⁵ Some allegations will be straightforward, and some may be wrong. Each one is a building block in the government’s case, so mark anything you dispute and bring it to your attorney.

The NTA is also supposed to include your first hearing’s date, time, and location. Often, though, DHS issues an NTA without that information and lets the court mail it separately. Either way, you can verify your hearing through EOIR’s automated system by calling 1-800-898-7180 or checking online.⁶ Check it regularly. Dates change, and the system may not reflect a new one until the court sets it.

Hire an Immigration Attorney

An immigration lawyer who handles removal defense can read your NTA, identify which forms of relief may fit your situation, and represent you in court. Removal law is layered with eligibility cutoffs, filing deadlines, and discretionary standards that are hard to navigate without training. If you cannot afford a private attorney, each immigration court keeps a list of pro bono legal service providers, updated quarterly, made up of nonprofits and attorneys who have committed to at least 50 hours a year of free representation.⁷ The judge will also point you toward these resources at your first hearing.

Keep Your Address Current With the Court

Every official notice goes to the address the immigration court has on file. If that address is wrong, you will not get your hearing notices, and the judge can order you removed without you in the room. File Form EOIR-33 (Change of Address/Contact Information) with the immigration court within five business days of any move, and send a copy to the ICE attorney’s office assigned to your case.⁸ The court will only update your file when it receives this specific form. Writing your new address on a motion or some other filing does not count.

Gather Your Documents Early

Start pulling together everything related to your identity, immigration history, and ties to the United States. At a minimum: passport, visa, I-94 arrival/departure record, birth certificate, and marriage certificate. Then go wider: proof of how long you have lived here, employment records, tax returns, and anything showing family connections to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. If you end up applying for relief, the court will want concrete evidence, and assembling it now gives your attorney the runway to build a real case.

What Happens at the Master Calendar Hearing

Your first court appearance is the master calendar hearing, a short proceeding where the judge handles preliminary matters for a group of cases in one session.⁹ The judge will verify your name, address, and phone number, provide an interpreter if you need one, and walk through the allegations and charges on your NTA in plain language. You (or your attorney) will respond to each one by admitting, denying, or declining to answer.

After that, the judge will ask which forms of relief you plan to pursue, set deadlines for filing the applications, and explain your rights, including the rights to present evidence, cross-examine government witnesses, and appeal. The hearing ends with the judge scheduling your individual merits hearing.

If you do not yet have a lawyer, the judge will usually give you a continuance to find one. Take it. Facing a trained government prosecutor at a merits hearing without representation is a serious disadvantage.

What Happens at the Individual Merits Hearing

The merits hearing is where your case is actually decided. It resembles a trial. Your attorney will conduct direct examination of you and your witnesses, and the ICE attorney will cross-examine. The government will present its own evidence and witnesses, and your attorney will cross-examine them. Both sides make closing arguments, and the judge either rules from the bench or issues a written decision later.

Evidence deadlines are strict. If you are represented and not detained, all supporting documents, updated witness lists, and amendments to applications must reach the court at least 30 days before the hearing.¹⁰ Unrepresented people who are not detained face the same 30-day rule. For people in detention, the judge sets the deadline. Evidence offered only to rebut something the government presents is exempt, but everything else must be in on time.

Identify Which Forms of Relief You May Qualify For

Relief from removal is what lets you stay in the United States despite the government’s charges. Each option has its own eligibility rules, and no one qualifies for all of them. Your attorney’s most important job is figuring out which ones fit and building the strongest case for each. The most common:

Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and CAT Protection

If you fear persecution or torture in your home country, you may apply for asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture. Asylum offers the broadest benefits, including an eventual path to a green card. One deadline matters immediately: asylum applications generally must be filed within one year of your last arrival in the United States, though exceptions exist for changed or extraordinary circumstances that prevented timely filing.¹¹ Withholding of removal and CAT have no one-year deadline but offer fewer long-term benefits.

The initial filing fee for Form I-589 in immigration court is $100 as of February 2026, with no fee waiver. If the application stays pending a year or more, an annual asylum fee of $102 applies for each additional year.¹²

Cancellation of Removal

Cancellation comes in two versions with different requirements:

Lawful permanent residents must have held their green card for at least five years, lived continuously in the United States for at least seven years after being admitted in any status, and have no aggravated felony conviction.¹³
Non-permanent residents need at least 10 years of continuous physical presence, good moral character throughout that period, no disqualifying criminal convictions, and proof that removal would cause “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to a qualifying U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse, parent, or child.¹³

The hardship standard for non-permanent residents is deliberately demanding. Ordinary sadness or financial strain is not enough. You need evidence of hardship well beyond what any family experiences when a member is deported, such as a child’s serious medical condition that cannot be treated in the home country.

Adjustment of Status

If you have an approved immigrant visa petition and an immediately available visa, you may be able to apply for a green card directly through the immigration court. You generally must have been inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States, have an approved petition (such as an I-130 from a family member or I-140 from an employer), and be admissible for permanent residence.¹⁴ The 2026 filing fee for Form I-485 in immigration court is $2,980.¹²

Voluntary Departure

Voluntary departure lets you leave the country on your own terms instead of being formally removed, which avoids the same reentry bars a removal order carries. To qualify at the end of proceedings, you must have been physically present in the United States for at least one year before DHS served the NTA, have maintained good moral character for at least five years, not be deportable on certain serious criminal or security grounds, and prove by clear and convincing evidence that you have the means and intention to leave.¹⁵ The judge will set a departure deadline of no more than 60 days.

Miss that deadline and the consequences are harsh: a civil penalty between $1,000 and $5,000, plus a 10-year bar on cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, and several other forms of relief.¹⁶ Treat a voluntary departure deadline as non-negotiable.

If You Are Detained, Ask for a Bond Hearing

Many people in removal proceedings are held by ICE, sometimes for the entire case. If DHS sets a bond amount or denies bond, you can request a bond hearing before an immigration judge to ask for release or a lower amount.¹⁷ There is no filing fee. The statutory minimum bond is $1,500, and judges can go higher based on flight risk and danger to the community.

Not everyone is eligible. Immigration judges cannot hold bond hearings for arriving aliens (people apprehended at or near a port of entry during removal proceedings), people subject to mandatory detention on certain criminal or security grounds, and some other categories.¹⁷ If DHS released you on bond and you think the amount was too high, you can request a redetermination within seven days of your release.

Never Miss a Hearing

Cases fall apart here more than anywhere else. If you do not show up for a scheduled hearing after receiving proper written notice, the judge can order you removed in absentia, meaning without you present and without hearing your side.¹ The next time ICE encounters you, you can be taken into custody and deported without any further hearing. You also become ineligible for cancellation of removal and voluntary departure for 10 years.⁸

An in absentia order can be reopened, but only in narrow situations:

Exceptional circumstances. You must file a motion to reopen within 180 days of the removal order and show that something beyond your control, such as a serious illness, kept you from appearing. Everyday scheduling or transportation problems generally do not qualify.¹
Lack of proper notice. If you never received the required written notice, you can file a motion to reopen at any time, with no deadline.¹
Federal or state custody. If you were in jail or prison and missed the hearing through no fault of your own, you can also file at any time.

A motion under either of the first two grounds automatically pauses the removal order while the judge considers it. Better strategy: keep your address updated, check the automated case system, and confirm every hearing date with your attorney.

If You Lose, You Have 30 Days to Appeal

If the judge denies your case, you can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals by filing Form EOIR-26. The appeal must reach the BIA within 30 calendar days of the judge’s oral decision, or within 30 days of the mailing date of a written decision.¹⁸ In early 2026, the government issued a rule that would have cut this to 10 days for most cases, but a federal court vacated that provision before it took effect, so the 30-day deadline remains in place for now. Because this area is actively changing, confirm the current deadline with your attorney or the court before filing.

Filing an appeal provides an automatic stay of your removal order while the BIA considers the case, so ICE generally cannot deport you during the appeal.¹⁹ The stay begins during the 30-day appeal window (as long as you did not waive your right to appeal) and continues through the BIA’s decision. If the BIA also rules against you, you may be able to seek review in a federal circuit court, but that is a separate process with different deadlines.

Why Fighting the Case Now Matters: Reentry Bars

A final removal order does not just force you to leave the country. It creates a legal barrier that keeps you out for years, sometimes permanently. The length depends on the circumstances:

5 years if you were removed after arriving at a port of entry or through expedited removal.²⁰
10 years if you were removed through standard proceedings or left while a removal order was outstanding.²⁰
20 years for a second or subsequent removal.
A permanent bar for anyone convicted of an aggravated felony.

Reentering or attempting to reenter during a bar period is itself a federal crime. That is why fighting your case properly from the beginning, showing up for every hearing, and exploring every available form of relief matters so much. A removal order follows you for years after you leave.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229a – Removal Proceedings
2
U.S. Department of Justice / EOIR. IJ Benchbook – Evidence Guide
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1362 – Right to Counsel
4
U.S. Department of Justice. The Notice to Appear
5
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Notice to Appear – DHS Form I-862
6
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Check Case Status
7
Executive Office for Immigration Review. List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers
8
U.S. Department of Justice. Form EOIR-33 Change of Address/Contact Information Form
9
Executive Office for Immigration Review. 3.14 – Master Calendar Hearing
10
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Delivery and Receipt
11
eCFR. 8 CFR 208.4 – Filing the Application
12
Federal Register. Inflation Adjustment for EOIR OBBBA Fees Fiscal Year 2026
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229b – Cancellation of Removal
14
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Adjustment of Status
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229c – Voluntary Departure
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229c – Voluntary Departure
17
United States Department of Justice – Executive Office for Immigration Review. 8.3 – Bond Proceedings
18
U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. Notice of Appeal from a Decision of an Immigration Judge
19
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Automatic Stays
20
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens