Start with the paper

The kind of order decides where the motion goes.

A removal order can come from a hearing you missed, a hearing you attended, the Board, or a voluntary departure that ran out. Each one has its own forum, its own clock, and its own rule about whether removal is paused while a motion is pending.

01 · In absentia

Ordered removed at a hearing you missed

A judge may order removal without you present if the government proves written notice and removability. The remedy is a motion to reopen filed with the court that entered the order; the Board does not hear direct appeals of in absentia orders.

See the three grounds

02 · After a hearing

Ordered removed after you appeared

If no appeal was filed, the order became final when appeal was waived or the 30-day appeal period ended. A motion to reopen or reconsider then goes to the immigration court, and generally neither one stops removal on its own.

Compare the deadlines

03 · Board decision

The Board dismissed your appeal

The Board's decision is the final order. A motion to reopen or reconsider goes to the Board, and a petition for review must reach the federal court of appeals within 30 days. Filing either one generally does not pause removal.

Appeals and federal court

04 · Voluntary departure

You did not leave in time

When the departure period ends, the alternate removal order takes effect, and a voluntary failure to leave brings civil penalties and a 10-year bar on several kinds of relief. A motion to reopen or reconsider filed before the period ends terminates voluntary departure but avoids those penalties.

Use the private guide

05 · Closed or unclear

Not sure an order exists

Administrative closure is not an order: a closed case comes back through a motion to recalendar, and DHS has been filing those in older cases. A hearing notice sent afterward can lead to an order you never knew about, so confirm the status before assuming either way.

How to confirm the record

06 · A different path

Reinstated or expedited orders

An old order reinstated after a return without inspection is, by statute, not subject to reopening, and expedited removal orders come from DHS officers, not a judge. Those cases turn on fear screenings, federal court review, and narrow paths such as U visas.

Read about reinstatement

Three facts on the paper decide the first move: the date of the decision, the court or Board that issued it, and whether you were present. Together they set the forum, the deadline, and whether removal is paused while a motion is pending.

In absentia orders

Missing court has two remedies, and they run on different clocks.

The statute allows an in absentia order to be rescinded through a motion to reopen for three reasons. The deadline depends entirely on which reason fits the facts, and the law allows only one such motion, so the ground has to be right the first time.

180 days · INA § 240(b)(5)(C)(i)

Exceptional circumstances

Examples the statute gives: your own serious illness; the serious illness or death of a spouse, child, or parent; or battery or extreme cruelty to you, your child, or your parent. The list is not closed, but any circumstance must be comparably serious and beyond your control.
What usually does not count: traffic, a minor illness, a mix-up about the date, or work. The statute expressly excludes less compelling circumstances.
A prior lawyer's serious error can count as an exceptional circumstance when it is documented the way the Board requires, and the 180 days still apply unless the deadline can be equitably tolled.
Records made at the time: hospital and medical records, a death certificate, police reports or a protective order, and proof that you tried to reach the court. Statements without records rarely carry these motions.
Arriving late is judged on how late you were and why, and needs proof of when you actually reached the courtroom.

Any time · INA § 240(b)(5)(C)(ii)

No proper notice, or in custody

No notice of the hearing you missed: the notice went to an old address even though you had reported your new one as required, was never delivered, or was never sent. The question is notice of that hearing, not only what the original Notice to Appear said.
The address you gave is key: notice mailed to the most recent address you gave the government is generally enough, and since a September 2026 Board decision that includes an address given before the Notice to Appear was issued.
How it was mailed matters: certified mail carries a strong presumption that it arrived; regular mail carries a weaker one that sworn statements and other evidence can overcome.
Custody: being held in a jail, a prison, or immigration detention on the hearing date, through no fault of your own, is its own ground with no deadline.
No EOIR filing fee applies to a motion on these grounds, and removal is paused automatically once it is filed.

A defective Notice to Appear is no longer enough on its own. If you received a proper notice of the hearing you missed, a missing date on the original charging document will not rescind the order. What still works is proof that notice of that hearing was not sent to, or never arrived at, the last address you gave the immigration court (or, if you never gave the court one, the last address you gave the government), or that you were in custody through no fault of your own.

Side by side

Reopen, reconsider, and appeal answer different questions.

Choosing the wrong filing can use up the only motion you are allowed or let a clock run out that cannot be restarted. The differences that usually decide it are the date, what has to be shown, and whether removal is paused while the filing is pending.

	Reopen · in absentia order	Reopen · general	Reconsider	Appeal to the BIA
Deadline	180 days from the order for exceptional circumstances; any time for lack of notice or custody.	90 days from the final order, with narrow exceptions.	30 days from the decision.	The Board must receive the appeal within 30 calendar days of the judge's decision; mailing it by then is not enough.
What it argues	Why you were absent: exceptional circumstances, no proper notice, or custody through no fault of your own.	New facts that are material and could not have been presented before, backed by evidence and usually the application for relief.	An error of law or fact in the decision, or a change in law that affects it.	The judge's findings or legal conclusions were wrong, identified specifically in the notice of appeal.
New evidence	Yes: proof of the reason and of the address or custody history.	Yes. That is the purpose of the motion.	No. It works from the existing record.	No. The Board does not find facts; new evidence needs a motion to remand.
Where it is filed	The immigration court that entered the order. There is no direct appeal to the Board.	Whoever decided last: the immigration court, or the Board if it decided an appeal.	The court or the Board that issued the decision.	The Board of Immigration Appeals, on Form EOIR-26.
How many	One.	Generally one.	Generally one.	One appeal from the judge's decision.
Automatic stay of removal	Yes, from filing until the judge rules. It does not continue through an appeal of a denial.	No, except a VAWA motion by a survivor who shows qualified-alien status, which pauses removal through any appeal. Otherwise a stay must be requested and granted.	No. A stay must be requested and granted.	Yes, during the appeal period and while a timely appeal is pending, unless appeal was waived.

General comparison only. Deadlines run from the date of the order, not the date you learned of it; filing a motion does not pause the 30-day appeal clock; survivors of domestic violence have a special rule; and orders from deportation or exclusion proceedings begun before April 1997 follow different rules.

Exceptions

The deadlines are strict. A few exceptions are real.

Most late motions are denied. A small number of exceptions allow a motion outside the usual time or number limits, each with its own proof, and they are worth checking before anyone concludes that a case is over.

01 · Country conditions

Asylum, withholding, or torture protection

If conditions in your country have materially changed since the hearing, a motion to reopen to seek protection has no time or number limit. The evidence must be new and previously unavailable, a change in your personal life alone is generally not enough, and removal is not paused unless a stay is granted.

Asylum and protection

02 · Joint motion

When the government agrees

A motion to reopen agreed to and filed jointly with DHS is not limited in time or number and carries no filing fee. The government agrees selectively, usually when relief is concrete, such as an approved family petition, so the request has to show exactly that.

See the family question

03 · Equitable tolling

When something kept you from filing

Federal courts, including the Third Circuit, allow the 90- and 180-day limits to be tolled when a person was prevented from filing by circumstances such as fraud or a lawyer's serious error and pursued the case with diligence. In the Third Circuit, diligence is required over the whole period, both before and after the problem was, or should have been, discovered.

Check your dates

04 · A prior lawyer

Ineffective assistance of counsel

A lawyer's serious mistake can support reopening, but the Board requires the claim to be documented under Matter of Lozada: your sworn account, notice to the lawyer with a chance to respond, and a disciplinary complaint or an explanation of why none was filed, plus a showing that the error prejudiced your case.

Read what the claim needs

05 · Survivors of abuse

Spouses, children, and parents who have survived abuse (VAWA)

Survivors seeking VAWA relief, including VAWA cancellation of removal, may move to reopen past the usual deadline within one year of the final order, a year that can be waived for extraordinary circumstances or extreme hardship to a child, if they are in the United States and file the application with the motion. For a survivor who shows qualified-alien status, filing also pauses removal through any appeal.

Humanitarian relief

06 · The court's own power

Reopening on the court's own motion

An immigration judge or the Board may reopen a case on its own at any time, but the power is discretionary and reserved for exceptional situations, and a 2026 Board decision reversed a judge's grant that the record did not support. It is a request, not a right.

How the record is built

Exceptions are argued, not assumed. A late motion has to name the exception it relies on, document it, and account for the whole delay, including how and when the problem was discovered. A motion that only asks for fairness is usually denied.

Stays of removal

A pending motion does not always stop a removal.

Two motions pause removal automatically: a motion to reopen an in absentia order, until the judge rules, and a VAWA motion to reopen by a survivor who shows qualified-alien status, through any appeal. Every other motion needs a stay requested from and granted by the immigration judge, the Board, or ICE. A stay is a temporary pause of the order, not relief from it.

Before you call ICE, visit an office, or travel, talk to a lawyer. A final order can be carried out without another hearing, and people with orders have been detained at check-ins, at airports, and on release from jail. If you already report to ICE, keep the appointment and get advice before it.

Request an urgent order review

Automatic stay. Filing a motion to reopen an in absentia order pauses removal until the immigration judge decides it. The pause ends with a denial, so an appeal needs its own stay request.
Stay from the judge or the Board. For other motions, a written stay request is filed with the motion or while it is pending. An emergency request is reserved for someone in DHS custody whose removal is imminent.
ICE stay, Form I-246. ICE may grant a discretionary stay, but filing the request does not delay removal or excuse a report date, and a denial cannot be appealed. It usually accompanies a motion rather than replacing one.
Federal court. A petition for review in the court of appeals does not stop removal on its own; the court must grant a separate stay motion under a demanding standard.
Leaving and returning. Departing under an order generally counts as removal and bars return for years unless permission to reapply (Form I-212) is granted first. The Third Circuit has held that departure does not automatically withdraw a motion the statute allows, but leaving carries out the order and makes the motion harder to pursue. Returning without permission can lead to reinstatement of the old order, which cannot be reopened.
Detention after a final order. An immigration judge generally cannot set bond once an order is final; release depends on ICE custody review and, in prolonged cases, federal habeas corpus. If someone was just detained, start at the emergency page.

From the order to the hearing

A motion is only as strong as the record behind it.

Statements in a motion are not evidence. The work is finding what the court and the government have on file, proving what happened, filing once in the right place, and requesting a stay where the case needs one.

01
Confirm the order and its date
Call EOIR's automated case line at 1-800-898-7180 or use the online case status portal with your A-number, and write down the decision date, the court, and the judge. Online status is a starting point; the written order and notices control.
02
Pull the file
Where the file is incomplete, we request the record of proceedings from EOIR and, when needed, the immigration file from USCIS and ICE through the Freedom of Information Act, then read every hearing notice, mailing record, and address the government has. When a deadline is close, we work from the court record and your documents rather than wait.
03
Rebuild the address history and the reason
Leases, utility bills, mail, and change-of-address filings with the court and USCIS show where you lived and what you told the government. Medical, death, police, and custody records show why you were absent, and sworn declarations from you and others fill the gaps.
04
Choose the ground and the forum
Only one in absentia motion is allowed, and the ground also decides the deadline and whether a filing fee applies. We decide which ground the evidence supports, whether the court or the Board has jurisdiction, and whether an application for relief must be filed with the motion.
05
File, serve, and protect against removal
The motion is filed with a current address form and served on ICE's Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, which generally has 10 days after the immigration court receives it to respond, or 20 days from service when the motion is filed with the Board. Where removal is not paused automatically, the stay request goes in with it.
06
If the motion is granted
The removal order no longer stands and the case returns to the court's calendar. The charges and any application for relief still have to be decided at new hearings, every one of which must be attended, and the work becomes removal defense. A grant reopens the case; it does not win it.
07
If the motion is denied
A judge's denial can be appealed to the Board within 30 days, but the automatic stay for an in absentia motion ends with the denial, so a stay request goes with the appeal. A later petition for review in the court of appeals has its own 30-day clock.

Private two-minute guide

Which clock is running on your order?

Answer three general questions. The guide suggests where a first review should start; it does not calculate a deadline, choose a ground, or send your answers to the firm.

Your selections stay in this browser and disappear when the page is refreshed.

1. What kind of order is it?

2. When was the order entered?

3. What is the main reason to reopen?

Call instead

Official starting points

Confirm the order with the court's own records.

Case status, filing rules, fees, and Board precedent change. Confirm the current rule for your court and your ground before relying on any summary, including this one.

Common questions

Questions about reopening a removal order.

General answers help you prepare. They cannot tell you which deadline applies to a particular order or whether a motion will be granted.

I missed my immigration court hearing. What should I do first?

Find out whether an order was entered and on what date: call EOIR's automated line at 1-800-898-7180 or use the online case status portal with your A-number. If it happened today, contact the court the same day and write down exactly what happened. Then gather every notice and proof of where you lived, and get advice before contacting ICE.

How long do I have to reopen an in absentia order?

It depends on the reason. For exceptional circumstances, such as a serious illness or the death of a spouse, child, or parent, the motion must be filed within 180 days of the order. If you did not receive proper notice, or were in federal or state custody through no fault of your own, it can be filed at any time. Either way, only one such motion is allowed.

Can I be deported while my motion is pending?

A motion to reopen an in absentia order stops removal automatically from filing until the immigration judge rules. Other motions, whether to reopen after a hearing, to reconsider, or before the Board, generally do not; a stay must be requested and granted. The exception is a VAWA motion to reopen by a survivor who shows qualified-alien status, which pauses removal through any appeal. If the judge denies an in absentia motion, the automatic stay ends and any appeal needs its own stay request.

My Notice to Appear had no hearing date. Does that cancel my order?

Not by itself. In Campos-Chaves v. Garland (2024), the Supreme Court held that a person who received a proper notice of the hearing he missed cannot have the in absentia order rescinded just because the original Notice to Appear was defective. What still matters is whether notice of the hearing you missed actually reached the address you gave.

What is the difference between reopening, reconsidering, and appealing?

A motion to reopen presents new, previously unavailable facts and is generally due within 90 days. A motion to reconsider argues that the decision got the law or the facts wrong on the existing record and is generally due within 30 days. An appeal to the Board, due 30 days after a judge's decision, argues errors in the record and pauses removal while it is pending. Filing a motion does not pause the appeal deadline.

What does a motion based on my prior lawyer's mistake need?

Under Matter of Lozada, the Board expects a sworn statement describing what the lawyer was hired to do and what went wrong, proof that the lawyer was told of the allegations and given a chance to respond, and a statement of whether a complaint was filed with the proper disciplinary authority and, if not, why not. You also generally must show a reasonable probability that the outcome would have been different, and, if the motion is late, that you acted diligently the whole time, before and after you learned of the error. A notario or consultant who was not a lawyer raises different questions.

I married a U.S. citizen after my order. Can my case be reopened?

Possibly. New eligibility can support a motion to reopen, but the motion must be timely or fit an exception, and the application for relief usually has to be filed with it. The immigration court generally cannot grant a green card while the order stands, but USCIS may still decide the application of someone who entered on parole as an arriving alien, even with an unexecuted order. An in absentia order can also bar adjustment for 10 years if you were warned orally of that consequence, unless it is rescinded. When a family petition is already approved, a joint motion with the government is sometimes possible.

Can I leave the United States and come back the right way?

Leaving under a removal order generally counts as carrying it out and usually bars return for years unless permission to reapply (Form I-212) is granted first. Coming back without permission can lead to reinstatement of the old order, which cannot be reopened. Leaving while a motion is pending also carries out the order; the Third Circuit does not treat departure as withdrawing a motion the statute allows, but pursuing it from abroad is harder. Get advice before any trip, including domestic travel that involves an identity check.

What does it cost to file?

Government fees depend on the motion and have changed several times since 2025, with another adjustment effective October 1, 2026, so the amount is confirmed on the day of filing. A motion to reopen an in absentia order for lack of notice or custody, a joint motion, and a motion asking only for a stay carry no EOIR fee, and a fee waiver can be requested by sworn declaration. Our legal fee is quoted as a flat fee after we read the order, and payment plans are available.

What happens if the motion is granted?

The removal order no longer stands, and the case returns to the immigration court's calendar. You still have to win the case: the charges and any application for relief are decided at new hearings, and every one must be attended with your address kept current. If the government asks the judge to dismiss the reopened case, do not agree on the record without advice.

Motions to reopen at a glance

Who we represent: People with removal orders and their families, detained or not, in Allentown and across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
Languages: English and Spanish.
In absentia orders: 180 days for exceptional circumstances; any time for lack of notice or custody; one motion; automatic stay while the judge decides.
Other motions: 90 days to reopen and 30 days to reconsider from the final order, generally one of each, with narrow exceptions.
Where filed: The immigration court that last decided the case, or the Board of Immigration Appeals if it decided an appeal.
Key authority: INA § 240(b)(5)(C) and (c)(6)–(7); 8 C.F.R. §§ 1003.2 and 1003.23.
Office: 609 W. Hamilton Street, No. 102, Allentown, PA 18101 · (484) 763-4984

Information reviewed against official sources, including the Immigration and Nationality Act, EOIR regulations, and the Immigration Court and Board Practice Manuals, on September 25, 2026. General information, not legal advice; it does not calculate a deadline for a particular order, predict whether a motion will be granted, or create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines, fees, and Board precedent change, sometimes within weeks.

Reviewed and updated September 25, 2026

A motion to reopen turns on two facts: the date and the reason.