Motions to Reopen or Reconsider in Immigration Proceedings

After a final order in immigration proceedings, two motions can put the case back in front of the decision-maker. A motion to reopen presents new facts, supported by evidence that was not available before, and is generally due within 90 days of the final order. A motion to reconsider argues that the decision itself got the law or the facts wrong on the record as it stood, and is generally due within 30 days. Both are subject to numerical limits, and both have exceptions that matter enormously to the people who need them.

Two motions doing two different jobs

The statutory framework sits in 8 U.S.C. § 1229a, and the procedural rules are in 8 C.F.R. Part 1003, which governs practice before the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals within the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Note: Motions before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are a separate system with their own form and their own short deadline, described in 8 C.F.R. Part 103. A denial by USCIS is not reopened by filing something with an immigration court.

Deadlines, counting, and numerical limits

The clocks run from the date the final administrative order was entered — not from the day it was received, and not from the day a lawyer was retained. Ninety days for reopening and thirty for reconsideration are short windows in a system where mail is slow and representation is often arranged late.

Numerical limits apply as well. As a general rule a party gets one motion to reopen and one motion to reconsider, which means the first attempt has to be the real one. Filing a thin motion to preserve a deadline can consume the only opportunity available.

Watch out: A motion is not an appeal. If the deadline for appealing to the Board has not yet passed, an appeal is usually the stronger route, and our guide to appealing an immigration judge's decision explains that path. Choosing a motion because the appeal window closed is a different situation from choosing it on the merits.

The exceptions that override the deadlines

• In absentia orders for lack of notice. Where a respondent did not receive the hearing notice, or was in custody and unable to appear, a motion to reopen the in absentia order is available without the ordinary time limit.
• In absentia orders for exceptional circumstances. Where something extraordinary prevented attendance, the statute allows a longer window than the general rule — 180 days — measured from the order.
• Changed country conditions. A motion to reopen to apply for asylum or withholding based on conditions that changed in the country of nationality is not subject to the time or number limits, and the change must be shown with evidence that was unavailable earlier.
• Certain protections for abused spouses and children. A distinct and longer filing window applies to motions based on those grounds.
• Agreement of the parties. Motions filed jointly, or where the government does not oppose, are treated differently from contested ones under the regulations.

Lack-of-notice cases are the most common of these, and they are usually address cases in disguise. A respondent who moved without filing the court's change-of-address form is in a far weaker position than one who filed it and can prove the notice went elsewhere — the reason our guide to address-change duties treats the court filing as separate from every other update.

Two further points are genuinely unsettled as of mid-2026. The scope of an adjudicator's authority to reopen a case on its own motion has been the subject of regulatory change and litigation. So has the so-called departure bar, the regulation limiting motions by someone who has already left the United States; several federal courts of appeals have declined to apply it to statutory motions, and the answer can depend on the circuit. Anyone in either position needs current, jurisdiction-specific advice rather than a general rule.

What a persuasive motion actually contains

1. The procedural history. A short, accurate account of what was decided, when, and by whom.
2. The legal basis. A clear statement of which motion is being filed and under which provision, including any exception relied on.
3. The new facts, or the error. For reopening, what changed and why it was not available before. For reconsideration, the precise mistake, with authority.
4. The evidence. Affidavits, declarations, country conditions material, or records, each indexed and referenced in the argument.
5. The relief sought. What the adjudicator is being asked to do, including any application that would be filed if the case reopened.
6. A separate stay request. Where removal is imminent, a request to stay removal must ordinarily be made, because most motions do not stop it automatically.

That last point deserves emphasis. Filing a motion does not, in the ordinary case, pause enforcement. The in absentia motion is the notable statutory exception, where filing operates to stay removal pending a decision. Everyone else should assume the machinery keeps moving.

Practical step: File where the case last was. If an immigration judge issued the last decision, the motion goes to that court; if the Board decided the appeal, it goes to the Board. Filing in the wrong place burns time that a 30-day or 90-day window cannot spare.

When a motion is not the right tool

Not every bad outcome is a motion problem. Where the government has discretion about whether to pursue a case at all, the request may be for an exercise of that discretion instead — the subject of our explainer on deferred action and prosecutorial discretion. Where the error is one that a higher court reviews, a petition for review in a federal court of appeals may be the real remedy, with its own strict deadline.

The structure will feel familiar to anyone who has worked through a civil appeal, where the record, the standard of review, and the timing govern everything — a comparison our guide to appealing a civil judgment draws out. Immigration motions are less forgiving on timing than most civil practice, which is why people in this position generally need immigration legal counsel engaged in days rather than weeks.

Common questions

Can I file both motions at the same time?

They can be filed together, and sometimes that is the right approach when the decision contains both a legal error and a factual development. Keep the arguments separate inside the filing, because they are governed by different rules and different deadlines. The risk is dilution: a combined motion that blurs new evidence into a disagreement about the law tends to satisfy neither standard, and both opportunities may be spent at once.

My previous lawyer missed a deadline. Does that reopen my case?

Ineffective assistance of counsel has been recognized as a basis for reopening in immigration proceedings, but it carries procedural requirements that are strictly applied, including notifying the former representative and giving them an opportunity to respond. Skipping those steps is a frequent reason such motions fail. Gather the file, the engagement paperwork, and the correspondence early, because reconstructing them later is difficult.

What counts as changed country conditions?

A material change in the country of nationality itself — a new government, a campaign of persecution against a group, a collapse in protection — rather than a change in the applicant's personal circumstances or a shift in United States policy. The change must have occurred after the earlier hearing and must be shown with evidence that could not have been presented then. Country reports, credible news reporting, and expert declarations are the usual proof.

Does filing a motion protect me from being removed next week?

Usually not. Except for the in absentia situation the statute addresses, a motion does not automatically stay removal, and enforcement can continue while it is pending. A separate stay request must be filed and decided. Anyone with a scheduled report date or an imminent removal should treat the stay request as the urgent piece and the motion as the substantive one behind it.

First steps after a final order

1. Date the order. Find the exact date the final order was entered, and count both windows from it.
2. Get the record. Obtain the decision, the hearing notices, and the file from any prior representative.
3. Identify the theory. Decide whether the case turns on new facts, on legal error, or on an exception to the deadlines.
4. Assemble the evidence. Declarations and documents must be ready when the motion is filed, not promised for later.
5. File in the right forum. Send it to the body that issued the last decision, and keep proof of filing.
6. Ask for a stay. Where removal is possible in the near term, file the stay request alongside the motion.