Motions to reconsider
A motion to reconsider asks the immigration judge or the Board to look again at a decision because it contains an error of law or fact on the record that already exists. It is due within 30 days of the decision under INA 240(c)(6), you get one, it carries a government fee, and it does not stop your removal while it is pending. It is the right vehicle less often than people assume, and choosing it wrongly can cost the vehicle you actually needed.
Current as of September 2026. We re-check this page every quarter and after any rule change.
Every vehicle after a removal order answers a different question. The appeal asks a higher tribunal to review the decision. The motion to reopen says there is something new. The motion to reconsider says the same decision-maker got it wrong on what was already in front of them, and asks them to say so. This page covers the motion to reconsider; the comparison of all of them is at after a removal order.
30 days, and you get one
Under INA 240(c)(6), a motion to reconsider must be filed within 30 days of the date of entry of the final administrative order of removal, and only one may be filed. The immigration court and the Board apply a receipt rule: the motion is filed when it is received, not when it is sent. There is no exception to the 30 days in the statute comparable to the changed-country-conditions exception for motions to reopen.
What it argues
A motion to reconsider identifies an error of law or fact in the decision and supports the argument with authority. It works on the existing record. It does not add evidence, and a motion that attaches new documents and asks the judge to reconsider in light of them is a motion to reopen wearing the wrong label, with the wrong deadline.
The errors that fit the vehicle look like these:
- The wrong legal standard. The judge or the Board applied a test the statute or the case law does not support, or overlooked a controlling decision.
- A finding the record does not support. The decision says a document was never filed when the record shows it was, or attributes testimony to you that you did not give.
- An argument that was made and not addressed. The brief raised an issue and the decision does not deal with it.
- An intervening change in the law that bears directly on the decision, argued on the record as it stands.
Before the Board, the motion is measured against the Board's own standard of review under 8 C.F.R. 1003.1(d)(3): the Board reviews the judge's findings of fact, including credibility, for clear error, and questions of law, discretion and judgment de novo. A motion to reconsider a Board decision therefore argues that the Board misapplied that standard, or misread the law, or overlooked something in the record it was reviewing. It does not ask the Board to re-weigh the facts.
The fee
Under 8 C.F.R. 1103.7(b), the government filing fee is $1,065 for a motion before an immigration judge and $1,030 for a motion before the Board, rising to $1,095 and $1,060 for motions filed on or after October 1, 2026 under 91 FR 54211. These are government fees paid to the Department of Justice through the EOIR Payment Portal, which since February 23, 2026 no longer accepts checks or money orders. They are not our legal fees. A fee waiver may be requested on a showing of inability to pay. The current schedule is on the EOIR fee page.
No automatic stay
Under 8 C.F.R. 1003.23(b)(1)(v), the filing of a motion to reopen or a motion to reconsider does not stay execution of the decision, except in in absentia cases. The removal order remains in force and can be executed while the motion is pending. A stay may be requested from the immigration judge or the Board, which may grant one in discretion, and where removal is a real prospect the stay request is filed with the motion. The map of which vehicles carry a stay is at stays of removal.
Two ways to lose the motion without a decision
Leaving the country. Under 8 C.F.R. 1003.23(b)(1), a departure from the United States after filing a motion to reopen or reconsider "shall constitute a withdrawal of such motion."
Filing during a voluntary departure period. Under 8 C.F.R. 1240.26(e)(1), filing a motion to reopen or reconsider while a grant of voluntary departure is running automatically terminates the grant, and the alternate order of removal takes effect. A person who was granted voluntary departure has to choose between departing on time and filing the motion, and the choice cannot be unmade.
Reconsider, reopen or appeal
The three vehicles are not interchangeable, and the deadlines do not wait for each other. The table is the starting point.
| Vehicle | It argues | Deadline | Filed with | Stays removal? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motion to reconsider | The decision was wrong on the existing record | 30 days; one motion | The judge or the Board that decided | No; a stay may be requested |
| Motion to reopen | There are new facts or new evidence | 90 days; one motion, counted across both tribunals | The judge or the Board that decided | No; a stay may be requested |
| Appeal to the BIA | The judge got the law or the facts wrong | 30 calendar days from the judge's decision | The Board | Yes, automatically |
| Petition for review | The Board's decision is legally wrong | 30 days from the Board's decision | The court of appeals | No; a motion under Nken |
After an immigration judge's decision
The appeal is almost always the better vehicle. It goes to a different decision-maker, it reviews law and discretion fresh under 8 C.F.R. 1003.1(d)(3), and under 8 C.F.R. 1003.6(a) a timely appeal generally stays removal while it is pending. A motion to reconsider goes back to the judge who made the decision and carries no stay. It makes sense where the error is narrow and obvious and the judge is likely to fix it quickly. It is not a substitute for the appeal, and its 30 days run at the same time as the 30 days to appeal. See the BIA appeal.
After a Board decision
The choice is between a motion to reconsider to the Board and a petition for review in the court of appeals, and the two clocks run together. Under Stone v. INS, 514 U.S. 386 (1995), the 30-day deadline for the petition is not tolled by a motion to reopen; the safe course with any motion is to file the petition on its own clock. Under Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, 598 U.S. 411 (2023), you do not have to move to reconsider in order to preserve an error the Board itself made. A motion to reconsider at that stage is used where the Board's error is clear on its face and correction by the Board is faster and cheaper than review by the court, and usually with the petition filed in parallel to protect the deadline.
When the facts are new
If the argument depends on anything not in the record, it is a motion to reopen, due within 90 days, and after Matter of M-M-L-J-, 29 I&N Dec. 843 (BIA 2026), it is the one motion to reopen you get across both tribunals. Filing a motion to reconsider does not use up the motion to reopen, and the reverse is also true; they are separate allowances with separate deadlines. Where a case has both a legal error and new evidence, both motions may be filed, each within its own time.
What a motion to reconsider looks like
It is short. It quotes the passage of the decision that is wrong, cites the page of the record or the authority that shows it is wrong, states the correct rule, and explains why the error changes the result. A motion that re-argues the whole case is read as disagreement rather than error, and disagreement is what the appeal and the petition for review are for.
Read next: motions to reopen, the BIA appeal, the petition for review, or stays of removal.
Common questions
What is the difference between a motion to reconsider and a motion to reopen?
A motion to reconsider argues that the decision was wrong on the record the judge or the Board already had: a legal error, or a factual finding the existing evidence does not support. A motion to reopen presents new facts or new evidence that were not available at the time. Reconsider is due within 30 days under INA 240(c)(6); reopen is due within 90 days under INA 240(c)(7). You get one of each.
Does a motion to reconsider stop my deportation?
No. Under 8 C.F.R. 1003.23(b)(1)(v), filing a motion to reopen or reconsider does not stay execution of the decision, except in in absentia cases. A stay may be requested from the judge or the Board and granted in discretion. The vehicles that carry an automatic stay are a timely appeal to the Board and a motion to rescind an in absentia order.
Do I have to file a motion to reconsider before going to the court of appeals?
Not to preserve an error the Board itself made. In Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, 598 U.S. 411 (2023), the Supreme Court held that the exhaustion requirement in INA 242(d)(1) is not jurisdictional and does not require a motion to reconsider to exhaust an error the Board made in its own decision. The petition for review is due within 30 days of the Board's decision regardless, and filing a motion with the agency does not extend that deadline.
What does a motion to reconsider cost?
The government filing fee is $1,065 for a motion before an immigration judge and $1,030 for a motion before the Board, rising to $1,095 and $1,060 for motions filed on or after October 1, 2026. Those are paid to the Department of Justice through the EOIR Payment Portal and are not our legal fees. A fee waiver may be requested on a showing of inability to pay.
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