Petitions for review in the Ninth Circuit

1. The 30-day deadline

The petition must be filed no later than 30 days after the final order of removal (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(1)). For most people that is the date of the Board's decision.

• In Riley v. Bondi (2025), the Supreme Court held the 30-day limit is a claims-processing rule rather than a limit on the court's jurisdiction. It is still enforced when the government raises it, so plan on 30 days.
• A motion asking the Board to reconsider or reopen does not stop the clock (Stone v. INS). If you want both, you file the petition and the motion, and a later petition about the motion is consolidated with the first (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(6)).

2. Which court

The petition goes to the court of appeals for the circuit in which the immigration judge completed the proceedings (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(2)). The Ninth Circuit covers California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Where you live now does not change it.

3. Stopping removal while the case is pending

Serving the petition does not stay removal unless the court orders it (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(3)(B)). In the Ninth Circuit, filing a motion for a stay of removal with the petition results in a temporary stay that lasts until the court rules on the motion, under General Order 6.4(c)(1) (Leiva-Perez v. Holder). The court then decides the motion using the four factors from Nken v. Holder: the likelihood of success, irreparable harm, harm to the other side, and the public interest.

For anyone at risk of removal, the stay motion is as urgent as the petition. Filing it the same day is the usual practice.

4. What the court can review

• The record, and only the record. The court decides the petition on the administrative record the removal order rests on (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(4)(A)). New evidence goes to the Board in a motion to reopen, not to the court.
• Facts get deference. Findings of fact are conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(4)(B)).
• Legal questions get a fresh look, including whether established facts meet a legal standard. In Wilkinson v. Garland (2024), the Supreme Court held that applying a legal standard such as "exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" to settled facts is a reviewable question of law, even in cancellation of removal cases.
• Arguments must usually be made to the Board first. The statute requires exhausting the remedies available as of right (8 U.S.C. 1252(d)(1)). Santos-Zacaria v. Garland (2023) held this rule is not jurisdictional, but an argument never put to the Board is often lost anyway. A thin Board brief narrows what the Ninth Circuit can do.

5. The brief

The petitioner's opening brief is due 40 days after the administrative record is available, and a reply may be filed within 14 days after the government's brief, with extensions only on a motion showing good cause (8 U.S.C. 1252(b)(3)(C)). The court sets the actual schedule in each case. If no brief is filed in time, the petition is dismissed unless that would be a manifest injustice.

Written and reviewed by Jeffrey O'Brien, Founding Attorney, O'Brien Immigration, PC (State Bar profile). Legal content last reviewed 10/21/2026. Every rule on this page links to the regulation, statute or court decision it comes from. This page is general information, not legal advice for your case, and reading it does not make us your lawyers.