Board of Immigration Appeals

Board of Immigration Appeals

At Pozo Goldstein, LLP our Miami immigration attorneys handle immigration and federal appeals. Attorney Steven Goldstein, a former United States Immigration Prosecutor has appeared personally before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami to argue immigration cases.

The Board of Immigration Appeals, located in Falls Church, Virginia, hears all appeals of from the Miami Immigration Court and the Miami United States Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding family-based I-130 petitions.

The Board of Immigration Appeals is part of the United States Department of Justice. The Judges are appointed by the Attorney General of the United States. Once an appeal is filed on a document known as a “Notice of Appeal”, the Board issues transcripts of the entire removal proceedings to each party and sets briefing dates when the legal briefs are due. In some cases, the Board will grant 21 day extensions to file a brief if requested by either party in a timely basis.

The Board usually does not require oral arguments, although there is a provision for it. An appeal case can be decided by a single judge or a panel of three judges at the Board. The Board must give deference to the Immigration Judge in each case and applies a “clearly erroneous” standard of review. This means that the Board cannot overturn the decision of the Immigration Judge unless it is so clearly wrong that it must be reversed or modified. The Board also does not generally consider new evidence that is not already in the record of proceedings when deciding on an appeal. The Board may, however, remand the case back to the Immigration Judge for additional fact-finding.

If the Board of Immigration Appeals agrees with our arguments, the Board will reverse the opinion of the Immigration Judge and grant the form of relief sought. If the Board agrees with the Immigration Judge and does not disturb the opinion, there are further appellate options. First, a Motion to Reconsider can be filed with the Board within 30 days of their decision. The Motion to Reconsider must state why the Board made a mistake of law and ask them to reconsider their decision based on this mistake of law.

Board of Immigration Appeals issues both unpublished and published decisions. Unpublished decisions are generally not binding on the immigration courts throughout the United States. Published decisions, however, are binding on each and every immigration court throughout the United States including the Miami Immigration Court.

If the Board dismisses the case, you have the option of further appealing the decision to the appropriate Fedreal Circuit Court of Appeal. In Miami, the Circuit Court of Appeal is the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit has jurisdiction to review certain Board of Immigration Appeal cases depending on a question of law. The Eleventh Circuit generally does not have jurisdiction to review discretionary decisions made by Immigration Judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals. When filing an appeal with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal, there are strict filing and time sensitive deadlines including, but not limited to, 30 days from the date of the Board decision to file the appeal. The Federal Circuit Court may require oral arguments from the parties in certain cases. If the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal does not find in your favor, you may ask the Supreme Court of the United States to hear your case.