Justice Department Seeks Comments on Two Immigration Forms
Published Date: 10/26/2026
Notice
Summary
The Department of Justice is updating two important forms used by permanent and nonpermanent residents who want to cancel their removal from the U.S. or adjust their status. They’re asking for public feedback on these changes until November 25, 2026. This update aims to make the forms clearer and easier to fill out, with no new fees involved.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Estimated per-case time and monetary burden
EOIR estimates each respondent spends 5 hours and 50 minutes completing EOIR-42A or EOIR-42B. The document reports an estimated practitioner-assistance cost calculation of $84.84 per hour × 5.83 hours = $494.62 per response, and lists filing fees shown in the table as $710 per response for EOIR-42A and $1,649 per response for EOIR-42B. EOIR provides total annual public cost estimates of $1,762,956 for EOIR-42A (1,457 responses) and $29,509,956 for EOIR-42B (13,787 responses), and total annual time burdens of 8,492 hours (EOIR-42A) and 80,380 hours (EOIR-42B).
Forms revised to remove irrelevant questions
The Executive Office for Immigration Review is revising Forms EOIR-42A and EOIR-42B to remove unnecessary information and improve clarity. Changes explicitly include generalizing Question 21 to account for various visa types, removing applicant fields in Part 7 that are irrelevant to adjudicator discretion, and modifying Part 9 to collect the applicant's signature and affirmation when the form is filed; the instructions and Advice to Applicants are being revised to mirror the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Electronic filing may avoid printing/postage costs
The notice states that printing and postage costs associated with filing these forms may be avoided because all forms may be submitted electronically. You may thus avoid the small per-response printing and mailing costs if you file electronically.
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