Who Can Issue a Notice to Appear in Immigration?

Authority to issue a Notice to Appear in immigration proceedings sits with more than 40 specific categories of officers across three Department of Homeland Security agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The regulation that grants this power, 8 CFR 239.1, names job titles rather than delegating broadly to the agencies themselves, and it also lets any immigration officer inspecting an arriving person at a port of entry issue one on the spot.¹

The Regulation That Grants the Authority

8 CFR 239.1 lists 46 categories of officers who can sign an NTA. Among them: district directors, chief patrol agents, field office directors, service center directors, supervisory asylum officers, special agents in charge, port directors, and supervisory deportation officers. The list runs longer, and it reaches well below the top of each agency’s hierarchy into field-level supervisory ranks.¹

The regulation also contains a catch-all. Any “duly authorized” DHS officer or employee who has been delegated the authority and completed the required immigration law enforcement training can issue a Notice to Appear. In practical terms, the power to start removal proceedings does not sit only with senior headquarters officials in Washington. It sits with supervisors and officers doing the day-to-day work of immigration enforcement in the field.¹

The Three DHS Agencies and When Each Issues One

The titles in 8 CFR 239.1 belong to officers working within CBP, ICE, and USCIS. Each agency encounters people in a different setting, and the agency that issued your NTA hints at the government’s theory of the case.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

CBP officers at airports, land crossings, and seaports issue NTAs to arriving people found inadmissible. Border Patrol agents, who work under CBP, issue them to people apprehended between ports of entry after crossing without authorization. Because CBP handles first contact at the border, its notices typically allege inadmissibility grounds such as entry without inspection or lack of a valid visa.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE handles interior enforcement. Its Enforcement and Removal Operations division issues NTAs after arrests that occur away from the border, whether following a workplace investigation, a targeted operation, or a transfer from local law enforcement. ICE notices more often allege deportability grounds, since the person may have been admitted lawfully and then violated the terms of their status or become removable through a criminal conviction.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

USCIS reviews applications for immigration benefits like green cards, asylum, and work permits, so it encounters people who filed paperwork with the government voluntarily. When USCIS denies an application and the denial leaves the person without lawful status, the agency can issue an NTA and place them into removal proceedings.

A February 2025 USCIS policy memorandum expanded this practice significantly. The agency stated it will “no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement,” including through NTA issuance. Under the current policy, USCIS issues NTAs in cases involving criminal arrests or convictions, fraud or misrepresentation in benefit applications, national security concerns, and situations where the applicant is not lawfully present after an adverse decision on the case.²

USCIS is also required by regulation to issue NTAs in some situations regardless of enforcement priorities: when it terminates conditional permanent resident status, when it terminates refugee status, and when it refers an asylum case to immigration court after a denial.²

What a Valid NTA Must Contain

Federal law spells out what the officer has to put on the form. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1), a Notice to Appear must include:³

A statement that the government is seeking to remove you from the United States.
The statutory basis for the proceedings, which is Section 240 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Numbered factual allegations: for example, that you are not a U.S. citizen, that you entered on a specific date, or that you overstayed a visa.
The specific charges of removability, meaning the immigration law provisions the government says you violated.
Notice that you may hire an attorney at your own expense, together with a list of free or low-cost legal service providers in your area.
A warning that you must immediately provide a current address and phone number and report any changes.
The time and place of your hearing before an immigration judge.
A warning that failing to appear can result in removal being ordered without you present.

The form itself, DHS Form I-862, also carries your name, current address, and an Alien Registration Number that identifies your case throughout the proceedings.⁴

Two Supreme Court decisions matter here. In Pereira v. Sessions (2018), the Court held that an NTA missing the specific time or place of the hearing is not a valid “notice to appear under section 1229(a)” for purposes of the stop-time rule that governs continuous presence.⁵ In Niz-Chavez v. Garland (2021), the Court ruled that the NTA must be a single document containing all the required information; the government cannot piece compliance together by sending the charges in one paper and the hearing date in another.⁶ Even so, NTAs served with the date and time blank remain common, and whether that defect helps a particular case depends on the relief being sought and how quickly the objection is raised. This is worth flagging to an attorney.

Service Is Not the Same as Filing

An officer authorized to issue an NTA can hand it to you, but that alone does not put you in front of a judge. Service and filing are two separate steps.

The statute requires personal service whenever practicable. If in-person service is not possible, DHS can serve the NTA by mail to you or your attorney, and service by mail is sufficient if the agency can show proof of attempted delivery to the last address you provided.⁷ The back of the form has a Certificate of Service section where the officer records how and when service happened and signs it.⁴

Your case does not actually exist in immigration court until DHS files the NTA with the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Justice Department branch that runs the immigration courts. Jurisdiction vests only when DHS files the charging document along with a certificate showing it was served on you.⁸ DHS sometimes waits months or even years between serving an NTA and filing it. During that gap, no hearings get scheduled and you cannot apply for most forms of relief. You can check whether your NTA has been filed through the EOIR automated case information system at portal.eoir.justice.gov or by calling 1-800-898-7180.⁹

What to Do Once You Have Been Served

Read the form carefully. Look at which agency issued it, what factual allegations are listed, which removability charges are cited, and whether a hearing date and time appear. Then handle three things quickly.

Keep your address current with the immigration court. The NTA itself warns you of this duty, and it lasts throughout your case. You must file a Change of Address Form (EOIR-33/IC) with the immigration court within five working days of any change, and within five working days of receiving an NTA that lists incorrect contact information for you.¹⁰ Updating your address with USCIS or ICE does not update it with the court. People learn this the hard way after moving, updating a pending USCIS application, and then missing a court hearing because the court still had the old address.

Do not miss your hearing. If you fail to appear, the immigration judge can order you removed in absentia, provided the government proves you are removable and that you received proper written notice of the hearing and the consequences of not appearing.¹¹ An in absentia order can be rescinded only through a motion to reopen, and the exceptional-circumstances standard is deliberately high; the statute says “less compelling circumstances” do not qualify.¹²

Figure out whether relief is available. Being served with an NTA does not automatically mean deportation. Depending on your circumstances, options may include asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture; cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents or non-permanent residents who meet the residency, good moral character, and hardship requirements; adjustment of status if you have an approved family or employment visa petition; or voluntary departure, which carries fewer long-term consequences than a formal removal order.¹³ Which options fit depends on your immigration history, criminal record, family ties, length of time in the country, and the specific charges on the NTA. The list of free or low-cost legal service providers included with your NTA is a starting point for finding help.

1
eCFR. 8 CFR 239.1 – Notice to Appear
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS NTA Policy Memorandum
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229 – Initiation of Removal Proceedings
4
Department of Homeland Security. DHS Form I-862 – Notice to Appear
5
Supreme Court of the United States. Pereira v. Sessions, 585 US 198 (2018)
6
Supreme Court of the United States. Niz-Chavez v. Garland, 593 US 155 (2021)
7
GovInfo. 8 USC 1229 – Initiation of Removal Proceedings
8
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.14 – Jurisdiction and Commencement of Proceedings
9
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Check Case Status
10
EOIR Respondent Access. Change of Address Form (EOIR-33/IC)
11
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.26 – In Absentia Hearings
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229a – Removal Proceedings
13
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Explore Relief Options