U.S. Department
of Justice
3.7 - Electronic Filing Pilot Program
(a) Generally
The Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) conducted a voluntary electronic filing pilot program which allowed parties in enrolled cases to file and serve case documents by email. On March 2, 2026, the Executive Office for Immigration Review published an interim final rule in the Federal Register mandating the use of OCAHO’s electronic filing application by all attorneys and authorized representatives appearing before OCAHO. See Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer Electronic Filing, 91 Fed. Reg. 9,989 (Mar. 2, 2026) (to be codified at 28 C.F.R. pt. 68). Accordingly, cases filed or pending after March 2, 2026, are generally not eligible to enroll in the email filing pilot program unless provided otherwise by the presiding Administrative Law Judge or the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer.
(b) Eligibility to Participate
An opportunity to participate in the pilot program was offered in all OCAHO cases filed after May 30, 2014, until March 2, 2026, when OCAHO’s permanent electronic filing regulation was published in the Federal Register. Enrollment in the pilot program was limited to those cases in which all parties to the case agreed to participate and certified that they and/or their representatives had access to the necessary technology and agreed to follow the procedures and instructions for the pilot program.
(c) Instructions for Electronic Filing Under the Email Filing Pilot Program
(1) Filing Documents by Email - All case-related documents must be submitted to OCAHO by sending an email to the designated OCAHO email address. Only those documents attached to an email directed to the appropriate email address and emailed simultaneously to the opposing party will be considered filed. The filing must also contain a certificate of service. The email notifying the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the incoming case-related documents will serve as a cover letter. The case-related documents to be filed must be attached to that incoming email. Those case-related documents constitute the “filing.” Unless the ALJ directs otherwise, each email and its filings must be limited to one specific case.
(2) Format of Electronically-Filed Documents - Prior to transmission, all case-related documents to be filed must be converted to PDF. The PDFs should be created using up-to-date software to ensure that OCAHO and the opposing party will be able to open and read them properly. Parties should contact OCAHO for instructions regarding any proposed filing that is in a format other than PDF.
(3) Size of Documents - No email, including attachments, may exceed 10 megabytes (MB). If a case-related document is too large to be attached to one email, it must be separated into multiple, clearly labeled, consecutively paginated attachments and sent in separate emails. There is no limit on the number of attachments as long as the email size does not exceed the 10 MB limit. Parties are permitted to send multiple emails. When multiple emails comprise a single submission, clearly indicate the order and total number in the “Subject” line of the email (for example, “In re: John Doe Prehearing Statement 1 of 3”). Case-related documents exceeding 50 pages in length, including exhibits to pleadings and briefs, must also be submitted to OCAHO in hard copy format in addition to the electronic transmission. However, a party is not required to serve a hard copy of such documents on the opposing party.
(4) Signatures - Case-related documents submitted by email must include a signature. The signature must be a hand-written signature on the document that has been scanned or an electronic or digital signature. The electronic or digital signature will have the same effect as an original hand-written signature.
(5) Effective Dates of Service and Filing - Service is complete when the email containing the case-related document is sent. A case-related document will be considered timely filed if OCAHO receives the email containing the case-related document before midnight Eastern Time on the day the case-related document must be filed. A timestamp on the “sent” line of the email will be used to verify when the document was sent, taking into account any difference in the party’s time zone.
(6) Certificate of Service - A certificate of service must be included in all case-related documents filed electronically.
(7) Confirmation of Receipt - Parties may request confirmation that the ALJ has received case-related documents filed by email. To request confirmation, the filing party may either enable the “read receipt” tracking option on his or her email application when sending his or her email containing the case-related document, request that OCAHO staff reply to that email confirming its receipt, or call OCAHO staff to confirm receipt.
(8) Subpoenas - Parties may not file and serve third-party subpoenas electronically.
(9) Service or Filing of Physical Copy When Necessary - At his or her discretion on a case-by-case basis, the ALJ may require parties enrolled in the pilot program to file and/or serve a physical copy of case-related documents in addition to the electronic copy (for example, if OCAHO or a party is experiencing technical difficulties and is unable to email or access a document).
(10) Encryption - Orders containing sensitive personally identifiable information will be encrypted by OCAHO. When an order is encrypted, the cover email will contain a link to the instructions on how to open encrypted emails.