How strict is the 30-day deadline for a petition for review?

Thirty days, no exceptions

8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1) requires the petition for review to be filed not later than 30 days after the date of the final order of removal. That means 30 calendar days from the BIA's decision — not from when the person learned of it, not from when the mail arrived, not from when a lawyer was found.

There is no motion for extension. There is no good-cause exception. Courts have dismissed petitions filed one day late from people with strong claims, because the statute leaves nothing to discretion. Whether the deadline is technically "jurisdictional" or a mandatory claims-processing rule after recent Supreme Court decisions changes little in practice: the government invokes it, and the court enforces it.

When the clock starts

The order becomes final — and the clock starts — on the date of the BIA's decision dismissing the appeal (or, if no appeal was taken, when the appeal window lapses). The date printed on the BIA decision controls, not the postmark and not the date of receipt. Decisions sometimes arrive at old addresses or sit in a detention facility's mailroom for a week; the clock runs anyway.

Each order gets its own clock

This is the point people miss most often:

• The removal order itself: 30 days from the BIA's dismissal of the appeal.
• The denial of a motion to reopen: a separate 30 days from that denial.
• The denial of a motion to reconsider: a separate 30 days from that denial.
• A reinstatement order or administrative removal order: 30 days from that DHS decision.

Filing a motion to reopen does not pause the deadline to petition the underlying order. If both the order and a later denial need review, that means two petitions, which the court will typically consolidate.

The practical discipline

The only safe practice is to treat the decision date as day zero and file well inside the window — ideally within the first two weeks. The petition itself is a short document; filing it costs little and preserves everything. Waiting to decide whether to fight until day 25 leaves no room for a mailing delay, a detention transfer, or a family's search for counsel. The 30-day rule is where more federal review is lost than anywhere else in this entire area of law.