February 5, 2026
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the Immigration Courts, have issued an interim final rule (expected to be published on February 6) that radically restructures the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), highest administrative appellate body for immigration cases.
Under the new rule, summary dismissal becomes the default: for most future appeals, the BIA will automatically dismiss unless a majority of permanent Board members vote within 10 days to accept the case en banc. If no vote occurs, the appeal is dismissed within 15 days, and the IJ’s decision is adopted as the final agency decision for judicial review.
Other major changes include:
- The appeal deadline is reduced from 30 days to 10 days, with limited asylum-related exceptions.
- Briefing is compressed into a single 20-day simultaneous briefing period for the rare accepted cases, with no reply briefs and extensions only for exceptional circumstances.
- IJ transcript review is eliminated.
The rule appears to apply prospectively only and does not affect currently pending appeals.
DOJ justifies the changes by citing that only 123 of 55,065 appeals were sustained on the merits between October 2023 and September 2025—a statistic critics say ignores remands and other due process considerations.
Public comments are invited and will be due 30 days after publication, to be submitted via Regulations.gov (Docket No. EOIR-26-AB37 / RIN 1125-AB37).
This represents a major and unprecedented shift in the immigration appellate system and is likely to face significant legal challenges. This dramatic change is expected to inundate the federal circuit courts with appeals, as automatic summary dismissals and compressed procedures push more cases into judicial review. Practitioners and stakeholders should monitor developments closely.
If you have questions about how this rule may affect your case or future filings, please contact our office for guidance at michael@wildeslaw.com.
*This is a developing story and may not be updated.