in effect
This is an interim final rule issued by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, effective March 9, 2026, that restructures how the Board of Immigration Appeals reviews decisions made by Immigration Judges. It overhauls the appellate process primarily to reduce a backlog that had grown to over 200,000 pending cases by the end of fiscal year 2025.
The most significant change is that the Board will no longer automatically review every appeal on its merits; instead, all appeals will be summarily dismissed by default within 15 days of filing unless a majority of permanent Board members vote to accept the case for full review. The deadline to file an appeal with the Board is shortened from 30 days to 10 days, with an exception for certain asylum cases. When the Board does accept a case for full review, new briefing schedules and timelines apply to keep those cases moving faster. Two categories of appeals are exempt from the new default-dismissal rule: bond appeals for detained individuals (since no further court review is available to them) and certain immigrant visa petition appeals. When a case is summarily dismissed, the Immigration Judge’s original decision becomes the final agency decision that a federal court would review.
Non-citizens in removal, deportation, or asylum proceedings who lose before an Immigration Judge now have a much shorter window to appeal (10 days instead of 30) and face a high likelihood their appeal will be dismissed without a merits review by the Board. Immigration attorneys and legal representatives must prepare and file appeals significantly faster and should expect that federal court — not the Board — will be the primary venue for challenging an Immigration Judge’s decision. The Board itself and the government are affected operationally, as the Board shifts from reviewing all incoming appeals to a selective, en banc vote-to-accept model intended to free up resources for the existing case backlog.