How removal proceedings work
Removal proceedings under INA 240 are a trial, conducted by an immigration judge, in which the government has to prove a charge and you have the right to contest it and to apply for relief. This page walks the whole process in order, from the day the Notice to Appear is served to the day the order becomes final, and links to the page for each step.
Current as of September 2026. We re-check this page every quarter and after any rule change.
Every removal case has the same shape. The government files a charging document. There are one or more short scheduling hearings. There is a trial. There is a decision. Then there is an appeal, or not. Where the cases differ is in what happens inside each of those steps, and the choices made early decide what is possible late.
Step one: the Notice to Appear
The case begins when the Department of Homeland Security files a Notice to Appear, Form I-862, with the immigration court. Under 8 C.F.R. 1003.14(a), that filing is what gives the court jurisdiction. The notice must state seven things under INA 239(a)(1): the nature of the proceedings, the legal authority, the acts you are alleged to have committed, the charges and the statutory provisions, your right to counsel and the time to find one, your obligation to keep the court informed of your address, and the time and place of the hearing.
The first hearing may not be scheduled earlier than 10 days after service, under INA 239(b)(1), unless you ask for an earlier date in writing. If the address on the notice is wrong or you move, Form EOIR-33 is due within five days under 8 C.F.R. 1003.15(d), because under 8 C.F.R. 1003.26 a hearing notice sent to the last address you gave is notice to you whether or not you saw it.
A notice that omits the time and place of the hearing is defective in a way that matters, though not in the way most people hope. It does not deprive the court of jurisdiction. It does mean the notice did not stop the clock for cancellation of removal, and it may support rescinding an order entered in your absence. The objection has to be raised before pleadings close.
Step two: the master calendar hearing
The first hearing, and often several after it, is a master calendar hearing. It is short. The judge confirms your identity and address, asks whether you have a lawyer, takes your pleadings to the allegations and the charge under 8 C.F.R. 1240.10(c), asks which country you would be removed to, and asks what relief you intend to apply for. Then the judge sets deadlines and a date for the next hearing.
Two decisions at this stage shape the whole case. The first is what to admit. For a person who was admitted to the United States, DHS must prove deportability by clear and convincing evidence under INA 240(c)(3)(A). An admission at the master calendar relieves the government of that burden. The second is what relief to identify, because the judge will set a deadline for the application, and an application not filed by the deadline can be deemed abandoned.
Continuances are granted only for good cause under 8 C.F.R. 1003.29. Under Matter of A-K-R-, 29 I&N Dec. 839 (BIA 2026), decided in August 2026, the only fixed protection for the time to find a lawyer is the 10-day rule; there is no entitlement to a continuance beyond it.
Step three: motions and applications
Between the master calendar and the individual hearing, the case gets built. That means motions that could end or pause it without any grant of relief, and applications for every form of relief you qualify for, filed in the alternative.
The motions come first because they are cheaper and because they preserve issues: a motion to terminate where the charge cannot be sustained or the notice was defective, a motion to suppress where the government's evidence was obtained through an egregious constitutional violation, a motion for administrative closure where a petition pending with USCIS would resolve the case, and a request that the government dismiss its own case as a matter of prosecutorial discretion.
The applications follow. Which ones are open to you depends on your status, your time in the country, your family, your criminal record and what you fear on return. The relief page lists all of them side by side.
Filing deadlines in immigration court
In a non-detained case, filings for a master calendar hearing are generally due 15 days before it and filings for an individual hearing at least 30 days before it, with responses within 10 days, unless the judge sets a different date. In a detained case the judge sets the deadlines, often in days. The court applies a receipt rule: a document is filed when the court has it, not when you sent it. Practitioners must file electronically through ECAS. See the deadlines page.
Step four: the individual hearing
The individual hearing is the trial. You testify under oath, through a court interpreter if you need one. The government's attorney cross-examines you. Your witnesses testify. The exhibits you filed by the deadline are in the record. The judge may ask questions at any time. At the end, or in a written decision later, the judge rules on removability and on each application.
The record made at this hearing is close to the last word. In Urias-Orellana v. Bondi, decided March 4, 2026, the Supreme Court held unanimously that the federal courts of appeals review the agency's factual determinations for substantial evidence and may reverse only if the record compels the opposite conclusion. Evidence that is not in the record in front of the immigration judge is generally gone.
Step five: the decision, and what comes after
If the judge grants relief, the case ends with that grant. If the judge orders removal, or denies the application, the order becomes final unless you appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals within 30 calendar days. A timely appeal generally stays removal while it is pending under 8 C.F.R. 1003.6(a). After the Board decides, a petition for review in the federal court of appeals is due within 30 days under INA 242(b)(1), and it does not stay removal on its own.
If you missed a hearing and were ordered removed in absentia, the route is a motion to rescind rather than an appeal, and filing it stays removal automatically. If the facts change after a final order, a motion to reopen is due within 90 days and you generally get one, counted across both the judge and the Board.
The courts we appear in most
Removal proceedings are a federal system and we appear wherever the case is. Our attorneys are most often in the New York, Newark and Miami immigration courts, and each has its own page with addresses, hours and the practical notes for the day.
New York
26 Federal Plaza, 290 Broadway and 201 Varick Street.
Read →Newark
970 Broad Street.
Read →Miami
333 South Miami Avenue, and Krome.
Read →Two situations that skip the process
Not everyone gets a hearing before a judge. A person stopped at the border, or in some circumstances inside the country, can be placed in expedited removal under INA 235(b)(1), where an officer issues the order and the only way to a judge is through a fear screening. And a person who was removed before and came back faces reinstatement of the prior order under INA 241(a)(5), with no new hearing and no relief other than protection from persecution or torture. Both are covered on their own pages, because the rules are different and the time to act is short.
Read next: which stage you are at, every form of relief, the deadlines, or a free case review.
Common questions
Is deportation the same as removal?
In current law, yes. Since 1997 the statute uses one word, removal, for what used to be two separate proceedings, deportation for people inside the country and exclusion for people at the border. Removal proceedings under INA 240 cover both. People still say deportation, and so do we, but the legal term on every document you receive will be removal.
Do I get a lawyer appointed?
No. INA 240(b)(4)(A) gives you the right to be represented by counsel of your choice at no expense to the government, which means you have the right to hire a lawyer but the court does not appoint one. The immigration court provides a list of free and low-cost legal service providers. In cases where a removal order was issued in 2026, fewer than one in four people had a lawyer.
How long does a removal case take?
There is no reliable general answer and we do not publish one. As of June 2026 the immigration courts had roughly 3.2 million pending cases. A non-detained case in New York or Miami can take years to reach an individual hearing; a detained case can be over in weeks. Your own hearing notice, and the EOIR case information line, are the only sources for your dates.
Can I work while my case is pending?
Being in removal proceedings does not itself give you work authorization. Some applications for relief do: a pending asylum application after the waiting period, a pending adjustment application, and some others. Which ones apply to you depends on what you have filed, and it is one of the first things we go through.
Tell us where your case is. We will tell you what is still possible.
You get a free case review with an attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will tell you what stage you are at, which forms of relief are open to you, what your deadlines are, and whether we can help. If we cannot, we will say so.