Miami Immigration Court: Hearings, Relief, and Appeals

The Miami Immigration Court is a federal administrative court run by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) inside the U.S. Department of Justice, and its judges decide whether people in removal proceedings can stay in the United States or must leave. It operates separately from the Department of Homeland Security, whose components — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — bring the removal cases the court then hears.¹

The court sits at One Riverview Square, 333 South Miami Avenue, Suite 700, Miami, Florida 33130. Public hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. The filing window closes earlier, at 4:00 p.m. General inquiries go to (305) 789-4221.¹

Everyone entering passes through a metal detector and bag screening. Phones, laptops, and tablets are allowed in the building but must be off inside the courtroom. Only attorneys of record may use devices during hearings, silently and for case work, and the judge can shut down any device that disrupts proceedings.² The building is served by public transit, with paid parking nearby.

The Hearings You Will Attend

Cases move through more than one hearing, and knowing which is which shapes how you prepare.

Master Calendar Hearing

Your first appearance is a scheduling conference. The judge reads the charges in your Notice to Appear (NTA) and asks you to admit or deny each factual allegation and each charge of removability. If you intend to apply for any form of relief, the judge sets your case for an individual hearing and gives you deadlines to file the application and supporting evidence.³

Individual (Merits) Hearing

This is where your case is decided. You and the government present evidence, you can testify, and you can bring witnesses. The judge then issues a decision, orally or in writing, on removability and on any relief you requested.³ A judge will not usually grant a continuance because you were not ready.

Bond Hearing

If ICE is detaining you, you can ask the judge for a bond hearing to be released while your case moves forward. Federal law sets the minimum bond at $1,500.⁴ The judge weighs flight risk and danger to the community. People with aggravated felony convictions and others subject to mandatory detention are not eligible.

Relief You Can Ask the Judge For

Being found removable is not the end of the case. Several forms of relief allow you to remain if you meet the requirements.

Asylum

Asylum is for people who have been persecuted, or reasonably fear future persecution, on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. You must file within one year of your most recent arrival in the United States.⁵

Missing that deadline is not automatically fatal. You can still file if you show “changed circumstances” affecting your eligibility — new conditions in your home country, for example — or “extraordinary circumstances” that kept you from filing on time, such as a serious medical condition or ineffective assistance by a prior attorney. Even then, you must file within a reasonable time after the qualifying event.⁵

Cancellation of Removal

Cancellation lets certain people avoid deportation and become lawful permanent residents. The rules differ by status:

Lawful permanent residents must have held their green card for at least five years, lived continuously in the United States for at least seven years after being admitted in any status, and have no aggravated felony conviction.
Non-permanent residents need at least ten years of continuous physical presence, good moral character throughout that period, no disqualifying criminal convictions, and proof that removal would cause “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, or child.

Judges apply these requirements strictly.⁶ The hardship standard is one of the toughest in immigration law; ordinary hardship, even significant hardship, does not meet it.

Voluntary Departure

Voluntary departure lets you leave the country on your own instead of receiving a removal order. That matters because a removal order carries a bar on reentry, typically five or ten years, while voluntary departure avoids that penalty. Timing changes the requirements:

Requested at or before the master calendar hearing, you must concede removability, waive all appeals, withdraw any other applications, and have no aggravated felony. The judge can grant up to 30 days to depart.
Requested at the end of proceedings, you must show at least one year of physical presence before the NTA was served, five years of good moral character, no aggravated felony, and clear evidence you have the means and the intent to leave. A bond of at least $500 must be posted with the ICE Field Office Director within five business days of the order.⁷

Your Right to a Lawyer

You have the right to be represented by an attorney in removal proceedings, but the government will not pay for one.⁸ Unlike criminal court, no public defender is appointed if you cannot afford one.

If you cannot afford a private attorney, EOIR publishes a List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers — organizations and attorneys committed to at least 50 hours per year of free legal services at each immigration court. The list is updated quarterly and is available at the court and on the EOIR website.⁹ Reaching out early matters, because pro bono slots fill.

Preparing for Your Court Date

Most of the work that decides a case happens before you enter the courtroom. Confirm the date, time, and courtroom on your Notice of Hearing. Bring your NTA, or at least your Alien Registration Number (A-number), which appears on every DHS and EOIR document you receive. Bring an unexpired government-issued photo ID: a driver’s license, permanent resident card, or foreign passport.

Evidence and Exhibits

If you are representing yourself, you assemble your own exhibits. Number them and bring enough copies for the judge and the ICE attorney, who comes from the local Chief Counsel’s office within ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.¹⁰ The judge may order both sides to file a pre-hearing statement listing exhibits and reasons for offering them. Filing deadlines are set by the individual judge at the master calendar hearing. Miss a deadline and you lose the chance to submit that evidence.¹¹

Interpreters

If you do not speak English well enough to follow the proceedings, the court provides an interpreter at no cost. Request one at least 30 days before your hearing. The court uses staff, contract, and telephone interpreters depending on the language, and interpreters are available at both master calendar and individual hearings.¹²

Filing Documents and Checking Case Status

Attorneys and accredited representatives must file electronically through the EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS).¹³ Self-represented respondents may use ECAS but are not required to. Paper filings go to the court’s filing window between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.¹¹

Every filing, electronic or paper, must include a certificate of service showing you sent a copy to the opposing party, meaning the ICE Chief Counsel’s office. Missing proof of service is one of the most common reasons filings are rejected.

To check case status, call the automated hotline at 1-800-898-7180, available around the clock in English and Spanish, or use the online Automated Case Information System (ACIS). Both require your A-number and return hearing dates, decisions, and appeal deadlines.¹⁴ ACIS shows basic case information only and may not reflect bond hearing details; call the court directly for those.¹⁵

Keep Your Address Current

This is the requirement people miss most often, and the consequences are severe. You must file Form EOIR-33/IC with the court within five business days of any change to your address or contact information.¹⁶ If the court mails a hearing notice to an old address and you miss the hearing, the judge can still order you removed in absentia. The government need only show the notice went to the last address you provided.

If you have moved to another part of the country and need your case transferred, you or your attorney must file a motion to change venue. The judge grants the transfer only for good cause and after the other party has had a chance to respond. The motion must give your new street address, city, state, and ZIP code.¹⁷

If You Miss a Hearing

Failing to appear without prior authorization can lead to an in absentia removal order. The government must show, with clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence, that you received proper written notice and that you are removable.¹⁸ A pending asylum application can also be dismissed as a result.¹⁹

An in absentia order can be reopened, but only once and only on narrow grounds:

Exceptional circumstances that kept you from attending, such as serious illness, the death of a close family member, or being a victim of domestic violence. File within 180 days of the order.
Lack of proper notice. No deadline.
Federal or state custody through no fault of your own. No deadline.

The motion needs a cover page labeled “Motion to Reopen an In Absentia Order,” an updated Form EOIR-33/IC, and may require a filing fee or a fee waiver request.²⁰

Appealing the Judge’s Decision

If the judge rules against you, you can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) by filing Form EOIR-26. Deadlines are tight and depend on the case:

Most removal cases: 10 calendar days from the date of the oral decision or the mailing of a written decision.
Asylum cases not denied on certain procedural grounds: 30 calendar days.

If the deadline lands on a weekend or federal holiday, it moves to the next business day. Any issue you do not raise in the Notice of Appeal is treated as waived.²¹ Ten days passes quickly, and people lose appeal rights every week by filing late. Start the Notice of Appeal the day the decision comes down.

A fee waiver may be available if you cannot afford the filing fee. Submit Form EOIR-26A with your appeal, and the judge decides whether you have shown inability to pay.²²

1
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Miami Immigration Court
2
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Policy Manual 1.6 – Electronic Devices
3
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Learn About the Immigration Court
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1226 – Apprehension and Detention of Aliens
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1158 – Asylum
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229b – Cancellation of Removal
7
eCFR. 8 CFR 1240.26 – Voluntary Departure
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1362 – Right to Counsel
9
Executive Office for Immigration Review. List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers
10
ICE. Office of the Principal Legal Advisor
11
eCFR. 8 CFR Part 1003 Subpart C – Immigration Court Rules of Procedure
12
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Policy Manual 3.10 – Interpreters
13
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS)
14
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Customer Service Initiatives
15
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Automated Case Information
16
EOIR Respondent Access. Change of Address Form EOIR-33/IC
17
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.20 – Change of Venue
18
GovInfo. 8 USC 1229a – Removal Proceedings
19
eCFR. 8 CFR 1208.10 – Failure to Appear at a Scheduled Hearing
20
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Policy Manual – Motions to Reopen In Absentia Orders
21
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.38 – Appeals
22
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Policy Manual 3.5 – Appeal Deadlines