Orlando Immigration Court: Address, Hearings, and Appeals

The Orlando Immigration Court is a federal administrative court at 500 N. Orange Avenue, Suite 1100, that decides whether non-citizens with cases originating in central, northern, and northwest Florida will be removed from the United States or allowed to stay. It operates under the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), part of the U.S. Department of Justice, and is entirely separate from the Department of Homeland Security agencies that bring cases against respondents.¹

Address, Hours, and Contact

The court is at 500 N. Orange Avenue, Suite 1100, Orlando, FL 32801. Public hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding federal holidays. The paper filing window closes earlier, at 4:00 p.m., so build that half hour into your plan if you are hand-delivering documents.¹

Call the court directly at 407-244-8900 for scheduling questions. To check your next hearing date on your own, EOIR runs an automated line at 1-800-898-7180 that works around the clock. You will need your alien registration number (A-number) to use it.²

Paid parking is available in the building’s garage and nearby lots, and the courthouse sits one block from the Lynx Central Station for those using public transit.

Getting Into the Building

Everyone entering the building goes through security screening and bag inspection. Bring a valid government-issued photo ID to clear the checkpoint.³ Lines can be long on Master Calendar mornings, and the judge still expects you in the courtroom at your scheduled hearing time regardless of how slow security moves.⁴ Weapons, sharp objects, and pepper spray are prohibited. Leave anything that might read as a weapon at home or in your car.

Once you are inside, check in with the judge’s Judicial Assistant to confirm your hearing time and courtroom. Dress respectfully. Turn phones off. No cameras or recording devices of any kind are allowed. Address the judge as “Your Honor” and speak only when asked.³

What the Court Decides

The Orlando court handles non-detained cases from central, northern, and northwest Florida, plus detained cases transferred from certain facilities in the region. Most matters are removal proceedings, which start when DHS files a Notice to Appear charging you with a ground of inadmissibility or deportability.⁵ Within those proceedings, respondents commonly apply for:

Asylum on Form I-589, for people who face persecution in their home country based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The application generally must be filed within one year of arrival.⁶
Withholding of removal, a related protection with a higher burden of proof and no one-year deadline.
Cancellation of removal for certain long-term permanent residents and non-permanent residents who meet specific residency and hardship requirements.
Voluntary departure, which lets you leave the country on your own within a set period of up to 120 days and avoids some of the long-term consequences of a removal order.⁷

Immigration judges here also rule on bond hearings for people in DHS custody and on motions to reopen or reconsider earlier decisions.

Master Calendar and Individual Hearings

Your first appearance is almost always a Master Calendar Hearing. Many cases are called in the same session, and each one is short. The judge confirms your identity, goes over the charges in the Notice to Appear, and asks whether you admit or deny them. You designate a country of removal and identify what relief you plan to apply for.⁴ If you need more time to find an attorney, this is the hearing where you request a continuance.

The Individual (Merits) Hearing is where your application for relief is actually decided. These are longer proceedings with evidence, witnesses, and often your own testimony. DHS counsel can cross-examine you and your witnesses. The judge then grants or denies the relief you requested.⁴

Virtual Hearings

Some Orlando hearings are conducted by Webex video. Each judge has a unique Webex link, listed on the EOIR site under “Find an Immigration Court and Access Internet-Based Hearings.” For telephone-only hearings, the dial-in is 1-415-527-5035 with the judge-specific access code.⁸ If you have no attorney, your hearings default to in-person unless the court tells you otherwise. Recording any part of a virtual hearing, in any form, is prohibited and can result in penalties.

Keep Your Address Current

You must notify the court of any change of address within five working days by filing Form EOIR-33.⁹ The same five-day deadline applies if the address on your original Notice to Appear was wrong.¹⁰ If a hearing notice goes to an old address because you never updated it, the judge can hold the hearing without you and order you removed in absentia.

Filing Documents and Paying Fees

The EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) is the required filing method for attorneys and accredited representatives, and has been mandatory for them since February 2022.¹¹ EOIR has also been rolling out a Respondent Access Portal that lets unrepresented individuals file documents, view case information, and check hearing schedules online.¹² Every filing must be served on DHS counsel, with a Certificate of Service showing you did so.¹³

Several applications carry fees that are adjusted annually. As of February 1, 2026:

Cancellation of removal for permanent residents (Form EOIR-42A): $710
Cancellation of removal for non-permanent residents (Form EOIR-42B): $1,640
Appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (Form EOIR-26): $1,030, with no fee for bond appeals

These reflect the fiscal year 2026 adjustment.¹⁴ If you cannot afford the fee, request a waiver using Form EOIR-26A. You will need to document monthly income and expenses to show hardship, and you personally, not your attorney, must sign the form under penalty of perjury.¹⁵ A filing submitted without the correct fee or an approved waiver will be rejected.

Missing a Hearing

Missing a hearing is one of the worst things that can happen in your case. If you fail to appear and the government proves that proper notice was sent to your last known address, the judge can order you removed in absentia, meaning you lose without ever arguing your case.⁵

The consequences reach past the order itself. If you were given oral notice in a language you understand about the hearing date and the consequences of not showing up, you become ineligible for cancellation of removal, voluntary departure, adjustment of status, and several other forms of relief for ten years.⁵ You are also barred from reentering the United States for five years if you leave or are removed after missing a hearing without reasonable cause.

Reopening an In Absentia Order

An in absentia removal order is not automatically permanent, but the grounds for reopening are narrow, and you are limited to one motion per case:

Exceptional circumstances, filed within 180 days of the order. You must show that something beyond your control caused you to miss the hearing, such as a serious illness or the death of an immediate family member. Everyday inconveniences do not qualify.
Lack of notice, with no deadline. You can file at any time if you never received proper written notice of the hearing.
Government custody, with no deadline. You can file at any time if you were in federal or state custody when the hearing occurred and the failure to appear was not your fault.

Filing a motion on any of these grounds temporarily halts your removal while the judge considers it.¹⁶

Appealing a Decision

If the judge denies your application or orders you removed, you can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The standard deadline is 30 calendar days from the date of the judge’s decision. A 2026 rule attempted to shorten that to 10 days for most cases, but a federal court blocked the change, so the 30-day window remains in place as of mid-2026. Confirm the current deadline with your attorney or the court, since this area is being actively litigated.¹⁷

To appeal, submit Form EOIR-26 (Notice of Appeal) with the $1,030 filing fee. Bond appeals have no fee.¹⁴ If you cannot afford it, file Form EOIR-26A at the same time. Submitting an appeal without a fee or a waiver request will get it rejected.¹⁵ Miss the appeal deadline and the judge’s decision becomes final, and DHS can execute the removal order.

Lawyers and Interpreters

You have the right to be represented in removal proceedings, but the government will not pay for a lawyer.¹⁸ This is one of the starkest differences between immigration court and criminal court. Private attorney fees for removal defense commonly range from $2,500 to $15,000 or more depending on complexity.

EOIR publishes a quarterly list of nonprofit organizations and attorneys who have committed to providing at least 50 hours per year of free legal services at each immigration court.¹⁹ Ask the court clerk for the Orlando list at your first hearing, or download it from the EOIR site. Demand far exceeds supply, so contact providers as early as possible.

If English is not your primary language, the court provides an interpreter at no cost.²⁰ Judges routinely check whether an interpreter is needed even when no one asks. EOIR uses staff interpreters, contracted interpreters, and telephonic services for less common languages. The court will not allow family members, friends, or anyone else involved in your case to interpret for you.

1
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Orlando Immigration Court
2
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Check Case Status
3
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Immigration Court Practice Manual
4
Executive Office for Immigration Review. 3.13 – Access to Court
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229a – Removal Proceedings
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Asylum
7
eCFR. Part 240 – Voluntary Departure, Suspension of Deportation and Special Rule Cancellation of Removal
8
Executive Office for Immigration Review. Find an Immigration Court and Access Internet-Based Hearings
9
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.15 – Contents of the Order to Show Cause and Notice to Appear and Notification of Change of Address
10
EOIR Respondent Access. Change of Address Form (EOIR-33/IC)
11
Department of Justice. ECAS – Attorneys and Accredited Representatives
12
Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR Courts and Appeals System (ECAS) – Online Filing
13
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.17 – Filing and Service
14
Federal Register. Inflation Adjustment for EOIR OBBBA Fees Fiscal Year 2026
15
Justice.gov. EOIR-26 Fee Waiver Request
16
eCFR. 8 CFR 1003.23 – Reopening or Reconsideration Before the Immigration Court
17
Federal Register. Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1362 – Right to Counsel
19
Executive Office for Immigration Review. List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers
20
Justice.gov. EOIR Language Access Plan