When must a party petition for review of a final removal order?

Under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1), the review petition must be filed no later than thirty days after the date of the final removal order. Riley v. Bondi holds that this is a nonjurisdictional claim-processing rule and that the later withholding-only decision in that case was not the final removal order. Neither counsel’s later receipt nor a withholding-only ruling automatically supplies a new event.

Responsible actor. The person seeking judicial review of a qualifying final removal order.

Preserve the original removal order, its statutory route and the complete finality record.

Separate later withholding-only decisions, motions and actual new orders from the original event.

Verify proper circuit, actual calendar, accepted filing, statutory service and any actual relief.

Removal-order review uses thirty days from the qualifying final removal order, with separate statutory venue and review limitations. Riley rejects treating every later withholding-only decision as a new final removal order. This guide supplies no automatic date or paid calculation. Establish the original order’s finality, any later legally operative order, circuit, filing conditions and actual relief before adopting a petition date.

1. Preserve the original removal order, its statutory route and the complete finality record.
2. Separate later withholding-only decisions, motions and actual new orders from the original event.
3. Verify proper circuit, actual calendar, accepted filing, statutory service and any actual relief.
4. Exclude the established final-order day and count thirty calendar days under the applicable FRAP 26 computation, subject to its final-day rules. Section 1252(b)(1) uses the final order’s date rather than an automatic later receipt date. A motion to reopen or reconsider is not itself a new final removal order or an automatic toll of the original review period.
5. FRAP 26’s appellate final-day and clerk-inaccessibility rules require the actual circuit and relevant holiday facts. Check federal and declared holidays and the circuit clerk’s principal-office state. A removal proceeding does not establish a challenged district court’s location. Any special statute, controlling order or claim of relief requires separate review.
6. File the petition with the court of appeals for the statutorily proper circuit under § 1252(b)(2) and FRAP 15, using the actual authorized channel. Section 1252(b)(3) separately addresses service on the Attorney General and immigration official. Ordinary paper petitions require timely clerk receipt under FRAP 25; brief-mailing treatment is not a general petition mailbox rule. Preserve filing, required service and any qualified inmate-deposit evidence.

Exclude the established final-order day and count thirty calendar days under the applicable FRAP 26 computation, subject to its final-day rules. Section 1252(b)(1) uses the final order’s date rather than an automatic later receipt date. A motion to reopen or reconsider is not itself a new final removal order or an automatic toll of the original review period.

FRAP 26’s appellate final-day and clerk-inaccessibility rules require the actual circuit and relevant holiday facts. Check federal and declared holidays and the circuit clerk’s principal-office state. A removal proceeding does not establish a challenged district court’s location. Any special statute, controlling order or claim of relief requires separate review.

Removal-order review uses thirty days from the qualifying final removal order, with separate statutory venue and review limitations. Riley rejects treating every later withholding-only decision as a new final removal order. This guide supplies no automatic date or paid calculation. Establish the original order’s finality, any later legally operative order, circuit, filing conditions and actual relief before adopting a petition date.

Assume a qualifying removal order became final on March 2, 2026. Thirty independently enumerated raw days begin March 3. The assumption does not decide statutory reviewability or actual filing. Establish the proper circuit, calendar and completed filing before adopting a final date.

Assume the qualifying final order is dated March 12, 2026. The thirtieth raw day is Saturday, April 11. Apply the actual circuit’s FRAP 26 final-day and accessibility facts. This raw Saturday does not certify an adjusted petition deadline.

A final removal order is followed months later by a BIA withholding-only decision. Riley rejects treating the later withholding-only order as the final removal order in its stated circumstances. Do not calculate a fresh thirty days from the later decision without a legally qualifying order.

Counsel files a reconsideration motion while the original judicial-review period runs. Filing the motion does not itself toll or restart that original period under Stone. Any later disposition and separate review require their own classification. Keep the original petition period and motion history separate.

Actual final removal order and statutory review route

Identify the qualifying order and its finality under the applicable statutory route. Section 1101(a)(47) addresses the removal-order definition and finality. Section 1252 contains distinct review limitations; this guide does not determine jurisdiction over every immigration claim.

Withholding-only decision after an earlier final order

Riley holds that the BIA withholding-only decision in that case was not the final removal order. Its holding does not permit using any later protection decision as an automatic new thirty-day event.

Reopening or reconsideration history

Stone establishes that a reconsideration motion does not itself toll the review period for the original order. Section 1252(b)(6) addresses consolidation of review. Obtain the actual disposition and any new legally operative order rather than assuming filing the motion restarts time.

Current classification and actual relief

Riley resolves the thirty-day requirement as nonjurisdictional. The Government’s choice not to press timeliness in Riley supported remand; it did not grant every petitioner extra time.

Actual statutory authority for an extension

FRAP 26(b)(2) limits extensions of agency-review time unless specifically authorized by law. Nonjurisdictional classification alone does not establish an automatic extension.

Circuit calendar and filing method

Establish the proper circuit, actual principal-office holiday and access facts, filing channel, timely receipt and required service. Apply FRAP 26 to computation and FRAP 25 to the actual filing method.

Statutory venue and service

Section 1252(b)(2) identifies the judicial circuit in which the immigration judge completed proceedings. Section 1252(b)(3) imposes its service requirements. Check the actual proceeding and applicable statutory route.

• Removal-order review uses thirty days from the qualifying final removal order, with separate statutory venue and review limitations. Riley rejects treating every later withholding-only decision as a new final removal order. This guide supplies no automatic date or paid calculation. Establish the original order’s finality, any later legally operative order, circuit, filing conditions and actual relief before adopting a petition date.
• This question concerns review of a qualifying final removal order under the thirty-day statute. It differs from the sixty-day Hobbs petition for another covered agency order. Review of a later withholding-only or reopening decision requires its own legal classification and cannot automatically restart the original removal-order period.

• Preserve the original removal order, its statutory route and the complete finality record.
• Separate later withholding-only decisions, motions and actual new orders from the original event.
• Verify proper circuit, actual calendar, accepted filing, statutory service and any actual relief.
• File the petition with the court of appeals for the statutorily proper circuit under § 1252(b)(2) and FRAP 15, using the actual authorized channel. Section 1252(b)(3) separately addresses service on the Attorney General and immigration official. Ordinary paper petitions require timely clerk receipt under FRAP 25; brief-mailing treatment is not a general petition mailbox rule. Preserve filing, required service and any qualified inmate-deposit evidence.
• File the petition with the court of appeals for the statutorily proper circuit under § 1252(b)(2) and FRAP 15, using the actual authorized channel. Section 1252(b)(3) separately addresses service on the Attorney General and immigration official. Ordinary paper petitions require timely clerk receipt under FRAP 25; brief-mailing treatment is not a general petition mailbox rule. Preserve filing, required service and any qualified inmate-deposit evidence.