The Justice Department published a final rule on August 21, 2026 raising every immigration court filing fee by roughly 3.4 percent, effective October 1. A notice of appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals will cost $1,060, and an application for cancellation of removal for non-permanent residents will run $1,690.
The increases are not discretionary. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1, Public Law 119-21), signed July 4, 2025, created a new tier of immigration-related fees for filings with the Executive Office for Immigration Review and directed the Attorney General to update those fees for inflation every year. The statutory formula ties the adjustment to the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers between July of one year and July of the next. For fiscal year 2027, that figure is 3.4 percent, drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics release of August 12, 2026.
What the new fees look like
Each total below combines the adjusted OBBBA fee with the pre-existing EOIR fee charged under section 286(m) of the Immigration and Nationality Act:
- Form EOIR-26, notice of appeal from an immigration judge decision: $950 + $110 = $1,060
- Form EOIR-29, appeal to the BIA from a DHS officer decision: $950 + $110 = $1,060
- Motion to reopen or reconsider an immigration judge decision: $950 + $145 = $1,095
- Motion to reopen or reconsider a BIA decision: $950 + $110 = $1,060
- Motion to reopen or reconsider based solely on a fee-free application for relief: $950
- Form EOIR-40, suspension of deportation: $630 + $100 = $730
- Form EOIR-42A, cancellation of removal for certain permanent residents: $630 + $100 = $730
- Form EOIR-42B, cancellation of removal and adjustment of status for certain non-permanent residents: $1,590 + $100 = $1,690
- Form EOIR-45, appeal in a practitioner disciplinary case: $1,395 + $675 = $2,070
The October 1 line is hard
The new amounts apply to any filing submitted to an immigration court or the Board on or after October 1, 2026, the first day of fiscal year 2027. EOIR states plainly that it will continue rejecting filings that do not arrive with the correct fee or a request for an applicable fee waiver. There is no grace period and no transition window, so a motion or appeal mailed in late September but docketed in October is exposed to rejection over a $30 shortfall.
The Department issued the rule as final without notice and comment, invoking the Administrative Procedure Act good cause exception on the theory that the adjustment is purely ministerial: the agency is applying a formula Congress wrote and has no discretion to do otherwise. For the same reason, the rule takes effect without the usual 30-day delay.
Two limits are worth noting. The rule does not touch fee exceptions or waivers, which remain available on the same terms as before. And it does not change fees for DHS forms filed in immigration proceedings, such as Form I-485 or Form I-589, which are governed separately by 8 CFR 103.7 and 8 CFR part 106 even when EOIR collects them. EOIR says it will post the updated amounts on its website and in the EOIR Payment Portal.
Why this matters beyond removal cases
Employment-based applicants do not usually think of immigration court as their forum, but the overlap is larger than it looks. Adjustment applicants whose I-485 is denied can end up renewing the application before an immigration judge. Researchers and specialty workers who fall out of status during a job loss, an RFE fight, or a lapsed extension can find themselves in proceedings while an EB-2 NIW or EB-1A petition is still pending. In those cases the appeal and motion fees above become a real line item, and one that resets upward every October under the OBBBA formula. Anyone weighing a motion to reopen or a BIA appeal this fall should look hard at whether the filing can be completed before September 30.
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Source: Federal Register - Executive Office for Immigration Review