How to Become an Immigration Judge

Immigration Judges are appointed by the Attorney General of the United States to preside over immigration hearings. Loosely speaking, Immigration Judges decide whether a alien may remain in the United States or must leave the country.

Immigration court hearings involve complex immigration law issues and a wide range of relief from removability, and Immigration Judges decide cases involving asylum protection, detention and bond, adjustment to lawful immigration status, and the loss of lawful immigration status.

There are roughly 70 locations nationwide where Immigration Judges hear cases. Some positions are located in conventional courthouse locations, while others are located in detention facilities or in an office complex that conducts hearings through video teleconferencing. Immigration Judges hear cases both in person and through a virtual medium.

EOIR does not advertise for all locations at all times. Advertisements are based on actual vacancies. Also, when multiple locations are advertised at the same time, applicants can choose more than one location in which they are interested.

EOIR welcomes candidates from diverse backgrounds, both professional and personal, and strives to create a diverse and inclusive judge corps. Qualified individuals from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Given the nature of the position, candidates with immigration law and/or adjudicatory experience are preferred, but EOIR also appreciates that some of its finest judges come from other backgrounds and welcomes the applications of all highly skilled and motivated professionals.

Position requirements will appear in each advertisement, but the core requirements can generally be summarized as follows:

• An LL.B., J.D., or LL.M. degree
• Active bar membership
• Seven years of post-bar admission legal experience

Additionally, EOIR looks for candidates with good temperament, appropriate demeanor, good courtroom management skills, and skill at conducting proceedings in a courteous, fair and impartial manner.

• Where are positions posted?
  • EOIR posts vacancy announcements for Immigration judge positions on USAJOBS.
  • EOIR also maintains an Immigration Judge Recruitment page that contains information on EOIR’s adjudicator hiring initiatives.
  • You may also sign up for EOIR’s Adjudicator Positions Hiring listserve, through which the agency will send announcements regarding Immigration Judge job postings.
• What is the application process?
  • The application process involves many steps, and the time it takes to complete varies. For most advertisements, the process takes 3-4 months from the time the advertisement closes to the time an offer is extended.
  • The steps are as follows:
  • Once the application period closes, all applications will be screened for completeness and minimum requirements.
  • Those applications that pass the screening will be reviewed, and the strongest candidates will be scheduled for a first round interview.
  • The strongest candidates from the first round interview will be scheduled for a second round interview. The second interview is scheduled very close in time to the first.
  • The strongest candidates after the second interview will be called and extended a tentative job offer. EOIR only notifies individuals who are selected and does not make non-selection phone calls. However, the referral list will stay open an extended period of time, so your application may be considered again if there is an unexpected vacancy at a location to which you applied.
  • The number of selectees varies depending on the expected number of vacancies at each location.
  • After receipt of the tentative offer, IJ candidates will be subjected to a preliminary background check, which will include references, bar complaint history, employment history, tax history, credit history, and criminal history. Finalist candidates are required to provide fingerprints and take a drug test.
  • Once the background check is completed, finalist candidates are presented to the Deputy Attorney General and then the Attorney General. If selected by the Attorney General, the candidate will be given a tentative offer and a start date will be worked out. The tentative offer becomes permanent once all background checks are completed and the selectee enters on duty.
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Follow the instructions completely and carefully, and avoid the common pitfalls.

• Filing late. Do not wait until the last minute to file your application. Too many candidates submit their application close to the filing deadline and fail to anticipate Murphy’s Laws (such as slow upload speeds or connection errors).
• Submitting an incomplete application. Some high-quality candidates never reach the interview stage because they did not provide a necessary document, like a writing sample. Be certain to file every item required as specified in the advertisement. An incomplete application will not be considered.
• Failing to show minimum qualifications. Each advertisement requires candidates to respond to some short answer questions, called “Quality Ranking Factors” or QRFs, under the section titled “How You Will Be Evaluated.” You must address each of the QRF questions, even if you do not feel you have a strong answer. For example, you may not feel like you have experience conducting administrative hearings or adjudicating administrative cases – if that is the case, you should discuss some experience you do have that is relevant, a time in your career where you had to be a decider, or something similar.
• Guessing instead of asking. Every vacancy announcement has a contact for further information. If anything in the advertisement is unclear, do not guess but ask the point of contact.