Facing Removal Proceedings? Know What Comes Next.

Getting a notice from immigration court can leave you wondering what happens when you are in removal proceedings. In short, an immigration judge decides whether a person can stay in the United States, and the case moves through a set series of steps.

Each step has its own rules and deadlines. This guide walks through them in plain language so you know what to expect.

What Are Removal Proceedings?

Removal proceedings are a case in which the government asks an immigration judge to order a person to leave the United States. They are not criminal trials, but the results can change your family, your job and where you live.

Three groups usually take part. The government’s attorney presents the government’s case. The immigration judge listens and decides. The person in the case, called the respondent, answers the charges.

You have important rights in this process. The law gives you a reasonable opportunity to examine the evidence against you, present evidence of your own, and cross-examine the government’s witnesses, but these rights do not let you examine national security information the government may offer in opposition to your admission to the United States or to an application for discretionary relief (8 U.S.C. § 1229a). You may also be represented by an attorney or another qualified representative (8 CFR § 1240.3).

How Do Removal Proceedings Begin?

Removal proceedings begin when the government gives you a written notice to appear, often called an NTA. This document starts the case in immigration court.

The notice must be given in person. If personal delivery isn’t practical, it can be mailed to you or to your lawyer. The notice to appear must state the nature of the proceedings, the legal authority under which they are conducted, the acts alleged to violate the law, and the charges and statutory provisions alleged to have been violated, along with other required items such as the time and place of the proceedings (8 U.S.C. § 1229).

Read the NTA closely. Check your name, your address, the charges, and the hearing date and place. Write down any errors you see.

Your address matters more than you might think. You must immediately provide the Attorney General with a written record of an address and telephone number at which you can be contacted, and you must immediately provide a written record of any change to that address or telephone number (8 U.S.C. § 1229). After any change, you have five days to file Form EOIR-33 with the court (8 CFR § 1003.15).

The first hearing cannot be set sooner than 10 days after the notice is served. You can ask for an earlier date in writing. The waiting period gives you time to secure a lawyer.

What Happens at the Master Calendar Hearing?

The master calendar hearing is the first court date. The judge checks the basics, reads the charges, and asks how you plead.

The judge must confirm that you received a copy of your appeal rights. The judge must explain that you will have a reasonable opportunity to examine and object to the evidence against you, but you will not be entitled to examine national security information the government may offer in opposition to your admission to the United States or to an application for discretionary relief, and must place you under oath. The judge then reads the factual allegations and charges in plain language (8 CFR § 1240.10).

Next comes the plea. You must say whether you admit or deny the factual allegations, and whether you are removable under the charges (8 CFR § 1240.10). If you admit both, and no issues of law or fact remain, the judge may treat removability as established. The judge will not accept an admission of removability from an unrepresented respondent who is incompetent or under the age of 18 and is not accompanied by an attorney or legal representative, a near relative, legal guardian, or friend. Take this step seriously.

If the government adds new charges, the judge must read them to you and explain them. If you have no lawyer, the judge may give you a reasonable delay to respond.

What Happens at the Individual Hearing?

The individual hearing is where the judge hears evidence and decides whether you are removable.

The judge decides based only on the evidence produced at the hearing, except that where a medical officer, civil surgeon, or board of medical officers certifies under section 1222(b) that the alien has a disease, illness, or addiction that would make the alien inadmissible, the decision is based solely upon that certification (8 U.S.C. § 1229a). You can offer documents, testimony and witnesses. The government’s attorney can cross-examine them, and the judge can ask questions.

The judge weighs credibility. The judge may consider demeanor, candor, the plausibility of your account, and whether your written and oral statements match (8 U.S.C. § 1229a). Review your account carefully before you testify.

If you apply for relief, you must submit the required information and documents. When the judge asks for corroborating evidence, you must provide it unless you show you cannot reasonably obtain it (8 U.S.C. § 1229a).

Some relief has its own timing rules. For certain cancellation of removal claims, the continuous physical presence period can end when the notice to appear is served (8 U.S.C. § 1229b).

The judge’s decision can be oral or written. It must include a finding on removability, the reasons for the ruling, and the judge’s order (8 CFR § 1240.12). The order may direct removal, end the case, or set another outcome.

What Does a Removal Order Mean?

A removal order means the judge has ordered you removed from the United States.

The judge must identify the country, or countries, where removal may first be made (8 CFR § 1240.12). The judge must also tell you about your right to appeal. If the judge decides you are removable and orders you removed, the judge must explain the consequences of failing to leave, including civil and criminal penalties (8 U.S.C. § 1229a).

Voluntary departure is different. The judge may let you leave on your own, at your own expense, instead of ordering removal. For voluntary departure granted at the conclusion of removal proceedings, 8 U.S.C. § 1229c requires the immigration judge to find, among other things, that you have been physically present in the United States for at least one year immediately preceding the date the notice to appear was served, that you are, and have been, a person of good moral character for at least 5 years immediately preceding your application for voluntary departure, and that you are not deportable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii) or § 1227(a)(4). To receive voluntary departure, you must establish by clear and convincing evidence that you have the means to depart the United States and intend to do so (8 U.S.C. § 1229c). A person granted voluntary departure at the conclusion of proceedings must post a voluntary departure bond (8 U.S.C. § 1229c).

The date of the order starts the clock on your appeal deadline, which is covered below.

Your Options After a Removal Order

You can appeal a removal order to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). File a Notice of Appeal, Form EOIR-26, within 10 calendar days of the decision (8 CFR § 1003.38).

In asylum cases where the judge did not deny the application under 208(a)(2)(A), (B), or (C) of the Act, the deadline is 30 calendar days (8 CFR § 1003.38). The clock starts on the date of an oral decision, or the date a written decision is mailed or sent electronically. If the last day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day (8 CFR § 1003.38).

Raise every issue you want reviewed in that notice. Any issue left out is treated as waived (8 CFR § 1003.38).

An appeal also affects whether the order can be carried out. Listed exceptions apply (8 CFR § 1003.6).

Each step builds on the one before. Miss the appeal window, and the appeal may be lost.

Common Mistakes That Can Limit Your Options

Several mistakes can hurt a case, and many can be avoided.

Missing a hearing is serious. If you do not attend a hearing, the judge shall order you removed in absentia if the government establishes, by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence, that written notice of the hearing was provided to you and that you are removable. The government must also establish, by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence, that written notice of the hearing and its consequences was provided to you or your counsel of record, but if you failed to provide your address as required, no written notice is required for the judge to go ahead without you (8 CFR § 1003.26).

Skipping an address update can cause the same problem.

Statements carry weight. The judge compares your written and oral statements, whenever they were made, for consistency (8 U.S.C. § 1229a). Sign forms only after you understand what they say.

Waiting too long is another trap. The appeal clock is short, and the first hearing can come quickly after the notice is served.

Frequently Asked Questions