This toolkit was designed to assist asylum-seeking families in immigration court proceedings with pro se notices of appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). When someone is denied relief in immigration court, they can appeal their case to the BIA, but they must submit the Notice of Appeal within 30 days of the immigration judge’s decision. They can request additional briefing in the Notice of Appeal, and the BIA will send them a briefing schedule at a later date. This toolkit is focused only on the Notice of Appeal and aims to help people meet the initial 30-day deadline.
The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) prepared the below instructions, script, templates, and samples for our organization’s internal use in 2018-2019, and we are sharing them in the hopes they will be useful to other advocates. Template 6 formed the basis for an ultimately successful appeal, and for Template 7, the appeal is still pending.
These documents are not intended for formal publication, are not meant to be exhaustive, and are not a substitute for independent legal advice in any case. You can download the full toolkit as a zip file or download the separate components, below.
- 0 – ASAP Pro Se Notice of Appeal Instructions (Word) (Read this first!)
- 1 – ASAP Notice of Appeal Call Script (Word)
- 2 – ASAP Limited Scope Legal Assistance Retainer English (Word)
- 3 – ASAP Limited Scope Legal Assistance Retainer Spanish (Word)
- 4 – ASAP Template Pro Se Notice of Appeal Cover Letter (Word)
- 5 – ASAP Certificate of Interpretation Template (Word)
- 6 – ASAP Redacted Sample Notice of Appeal (E-26 only) (PDF)
- 7 – ASAP Redacted Sample Notice of Appeal (PDF)
