Immigration Appeals Are Effectively Eliminated under a new interim final rule issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), set to take effect on March 9, 2026.
The rule drastically overhauls the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) process, making summary dismissal the default outcome for most appeals unless a majority of BIA members vote to review the case on the merits. This means that the standard practice going forward will be for the BIA to simply dismiss the appeal without even reviewing it. Immigration appeals will now only be reviewed if the Board votes en blanc to hear the case. The BIA is no longer required to review an Immigration Judge’s decision under any circumstances, effectively making the Immigration Judge’s ruling the final agency decision in nearly all cases.
Officials at the DOJ that because the BIA rarely sustains appeals on the merits—citing that only 123 out of 55,065 appeals were sustained between 2023 and 2025, fewer than .3% of appeals.
Key Changes to the BIA Appeal Process
- 10-Day Filing Deadline: For most cases, the deadline to file a Notice of Appeal has been reduced from 30 calendar days to 10 calendar days after the Immigration Judge’s decision is issued or mailed. This compressed timeline requires immediate action and early legal consultation.
- Automatic Summary Dismissal: Appeals will now be dismissed by default unless a majority of current BIA Board members vote en banc to accept the case for full merits review. This shifts the BIA from a mandatory review body to a discretionary one, meaning most appeals will be dismissed quickly—often without a written decision—within 15 days of filing.
- No Automatic Merits Review: Unlike the previous system where filing a notice of appeal triggered a full review, the new rules require affirmative approval for the BIA to consider a case on its merits. This creates a gatekeeping model, similar to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Simultaneous Briefing: For the small number of cases accepted for review, both parties must file briefs at the same time within 20 days, eliminating the traditional opportunity for a petitioner to respond to the government’s arguments.
Limited Exception to the new 10 Day Filing Deadline
Limited Exception for Asylum Cases: The 30-day appeal window remains in effect only for asylum decisions that were decided on the merits, and not based on statutory bars (e.g., one-year filing deadline, safe-third-country agreements). Cases denied on these grounds fall under the 10-day rule.
| Prior to March 2026 | After March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Appeals will be reviewed on the merits. | Appeals are summarily dismissed unless the Board votes en blanc to take it |
| A Respondent has 30 days to file an appeal after a removal order | A respondent has 10 days to file an appeal after a removal order (accept for some asylum cases) |
| Appeals may take several years depending on the complexity of the case. | Appeals will be finished within a few weeks. |
| The Board issues a written decision explaining why they are granting or denying the appeal. | The board will not issue a written decision explaining why they are dismissing an appeal. |
| Appeals give respondents the opportunity to challenge the decision in their case if the Judge makes a mistake, misapplies the law, or their constitutional rights are violated. | Appeals will have no impact on Immigration Judge decisions that may have been made in error, misapplied the law, or violated the constitutional rights of the respondent. |
| Asylum applicants could appeal their case without having to pay any filing fee. | Asylum applicants must pay a $1,010 filing fee in order to appeal the decision in their case. |
The new rules taking effect essentially eliminate the appeals process. It is outrageous but it isn’t nearly as bad as the Bilateral and Multilateral Asylum Cooperative Agreements.
See the Interim Rule for the changes to Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals below: