83 FR 29575 - EOIR Electronic Filing Pilot Program

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Executive Office for Immigration Review

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 122 (June 25, 2018)

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is creating a voluntary pilot program to test an expansion of electronic filing for cases filed with the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). This notice describes the procedures for participation in the pilot program.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 122 (Monday, June 25, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29575-29577]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-13578]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Executive Office for Immigration Review

[EOIR Docket No. 18-0202]
RIN 1125-AA81


EOIR Electronic Filing Pilot Program

AGENCY: Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice.

ACTION: Public notice.

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SUMMARY: The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is creating 
a voluntary pilot program to test an expansion of electronic filing for 
cases filed with the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration 
Appeals (BIA). This notice describes the procedures for participation 
in the pilot program.

DATES: The pilot program will be in effect from July 16, 2018 until 
July 31, 2019. Initially, expanded electronic filing will be available 
in six immigration courts, but will be expanded to all remaining courts 
and the BIA incrementally. Eligible attorneys and accredited 
representatives may choose to participate at any time during the pilot 
program and will be permitted to continue using electronic filing 
throughout the pendency of electronically filed cases.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nathan Berkeley, Acting Chief, 
Communications and Legislative Affairs Division, Office of Policy, 
Executive Office for Immigration Review, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 
2618, Falls Church, VA 22041, telephone (703) 305-0289 (not a toll-free 
call) or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    In 1998, Congress passed the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, 
which required federal agencies to provide the public with the ability 
to conduct business electronically with the federal government. See 
Public Law 105-277 (Oct. 21, 1998). Similarly, in 2002, Congress passed 
the E-Government Act of 2002, which promoted electronic government 
services and required agencies to use internet-based technology to 
increase the public's access to government information and services. 
See Public Law 107-347 (Dec. 17, 2002).
    As a result, EOIR began pursuing a long-term agency plan to create 
an electronic case access and filing system for the immigration courts 
and BIA. See 68 FR 71650 (Dec. 20, 2003) (``The Department is . . . 
designing an

[[Page 29576]]

electronic case access and filing system, to comply with the Government 
Paperwork Elimination Act, to achieve the Department's vision for 
improved immigration adjudication processing, and to meet the public 
expectations for electronic government.'').
    On April 1, 2013, EOIR completed the first portion of their 
electronic system by establishing eRegistry, a mandatory electronic 
registry for all attorneys and accredited representatives who practice 
before the immigration courts and the BIA. See 78 FR 19400 (April 1, 
2013). At the same time, EOIR began allowing attorneys and fully 
accredited representatives \1\ to electronically file the Notice of 
Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Representative (Form EOIR-27 and 
Form EOIR-28, for the BIA and immigration courts, respectively).
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    \1\ EOIR's Office of Legal Access Programs reviews non-
attorneys' applications to become fully accredited representatives 
who, upon approval, can represent aliens in immigration court 
proceedings and before DHS. For more information, please see https://www.justice.gov/eoir/recognition-and-accreditation-program. This 
pilot is not available to partially accredited representatives.
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    Next, on May 4, 2015, EOIR launched eInfo, which allows registered 
attorneys and accredited representatives to view their clients' case 
information.\2\ See News Release, The Executive Office for Immigration 
Review Announces I \3\, https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/pages/attachments/2015/09/17/e-info-news-release-05042015.pdf. 
Attorneys and accredited representatives can login to the eInfo 
application to view a list of cases for which they have an active 
Notice of Entry of Appearance (Form EOIR-27 and/or Form EOIR-28) and 
select one to view case-related information.
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    \2\ EOIR also consolidated eRegistry, eInfo, and eFiling into a 
single application suite, known as I\3\. For more information about 
I \3\, please visit https://www.justice.gov/eoir/internet-immigration-info.
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    Since January 2017, EOIR has been undertaking additional and more 
expansive initiatives to reduce its longstanding backlog of cases and 
working to ensure the more efficient handling of matters before the 
immigration court system. To that end, EOIR is moving towards 
implementing a long sought-after electronic system component that will 
allow parties to electronically file case-related documents with the 
immigration courts and the BIA.

II. Pilot Program

    EOIR is now planning to pilot an expansion of electronic filing 
within eInfo to allow certain parties to electronically file case-
related documents with the immigration courts and, eventually, the BIA. 
With the exception of entering a Notice of Entry of Appearance through 
I\3\, parties before the immigration courts and the BIA are currently 
required to submit paper filings to EOIR and to serve a copy on the 
other party in-person, by mail, or through DHS's eService portal.
    Expanded electronic filing will meet the long sought-after requests 
of the private bar to accept electronic filings. See, e.g., AILA 
Testimony on EOIR, AILA Doc. No. 10061664 (June 17, 2010). As the 
expanded electronic filing pilot is a major change to EOIR processes, 
the pilot will be limited to DHS personnel, and registered attorneys 
and accredited representatives eligible to practice before EOIR.
    The pilot will allow attorneys and accredited representatives to 
electronically file case-related documents directly through eInfo. 
Similarly, DHS representatives will be able to login to a parallel 
portal to electronically file case-related documents. The expanded 
electronic filing pilot will allow the parties to file documents at any 
time of day without having to mail the documents to the court or BIA, 
or to file them in-person at the court or BIA. Parties will receive an 
on-screen confirmation with a unique transaction ID, as well as an 
encrypted verification email, when their document is successfully 
uploaded. They will also receive an encrypted notification email when a 
new document has been filed in their case by the opposing party. 
Instructions to decrypt emails will be available on EOIR's website. 
This will provide the parties with near-immediate access to filings in 
their cases. Both pilot participants and non-participants will be able 
to view any documents contained in their case by accessing eInfo and 
requesting to download the electronic Record of Proceeding (eROP).
    To ensure that parties receive proper notice from the opposing 
party to their case, pilot parties will be required to continue to meet 
current service requirements \3\ for any documents that they are 
electronically filing with the court or BIA. Participation in the pilot 
neither relieves parties of the duty to provide a certificate of 
service with filings nor changes the time at which response documents 
are due. The timeline for responses begins at the time the system sends 
an email regarding a filing to the opposing party.
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    \3\ For information on service requirements, please see the 
Immigration Court Practice Manual and the Board of Immigration 
Appeals Practice Manual at www.justice.gov/eoir.
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    Case-related documents EOIR generates at the pilot locations, such 
as decisions, orders, or notices, will be served only electronically on 
participating parties. Both parties will receive an encrypted email 
from EOIR with the document attached. This will constitute valid 
service and proper notice by EOIR during the pilot. To effectuate such 
service, attorneys and accredited representatives will be required to 
maintain a valid email address in the eRegistry application.
    Throughout the pilot, EOIR will continue to refine and develop 
electronic filing. In the future, the agency envisions making 
electronic filing mandatory for all attorneys and accredited 
representatives appearing before EOIR and optional for pro se 
respondents. To ensure the most efficient and user-friendly system 
possible, EOIR hopes to receive feedback from participating parties, 
both internal and external. Participants will be able to provide input 
at any time through an email link within eInfo.

III. Eligibility To Participate

    Beginning in July 2018, EOIR is planning to roll out the expanded 
electronic filing to six initial pilot courts: San Diego and York in 
July; Denver and Atlanta in August; and Charlotte and Baltimore in 
September. Following an internal assessment of the pilot in those 
courts, EOIR anticipates expanding the pilot to additional courts every 
few weeks beginning in December 2018. EOIR will also be working towards 
implementing expanded electronic filing at the BIA during this time 
period. Information regarding future pilot expansion will be located on 
EOIR's website at https://www.justice.gov/eoir/internet-immigration-info.
    Participation in the pilot program is voluntary. An opportunity to 
participate in the pilot will be available throughout the duration of 
the pilot to all EOIR-registered attorneys and accredited 
representatives in good standing. Information on participating in the 
pilot will be provided on EOIR's website at https://www.justice.gov/eoir/internet-immigration-info. Only registered attorneys and 
accredited representatives will be permitted to participate in the 
pilot.

IV. Procedures for Participation

    To participate in the expanded electronic filing pilot, attorneys 
and accredited representatives must be registered with EOIR through 
eRegistry pursuant to 8 CFR 1292.1(f). The eRegistry process for 
attorneys and accredited representatives will not change. Similarly, to 
participate in the

[[Page 29577]]

pilot DHS personnel will also use eRegistry to register with EOIR.
    Once the eRegistry process is complete, attorneys and accredited 
representatives will have access to eInfo, located at https://www.justice.gov/eoir/internet-immigration-info, and DHS personnel will 
have access to the parallel DHS electronic filing portal. When an 
attorney or accredited representative first accesses eInfo, the option 
to participate in the expanded electronic filing pilot is presented. 
The attorney or accredited representative must agree to a set of terms 
and conditions for the pilot, which explain the requirements for 
participation in the pilot and are mandatory for pilot participants. 
Failure to follow the pilot requirements to which attorneys and 
representatives agree upon signing up and agreeing to the terms and 
conditions may lead to serious adverse consequences, such as filings 
being rejected or not receiving service of documents from EOIR. Any 
future changes to the terms and conditions will be presented to the 
attorney or accredited representative in eInfo and will require their 
voluntary acceptance for continued participation in the pilot.
    An attorney or accredited representative's acceptance of the 
pilot's terms and conditions is an agreement to participate in the 
pilot for all cases for which they have filed a Notice of Entry of 
Appearance and an eROP is available. Throughout the pilot at 
participating immigration courts, eROPs will be available for all cases 
in which one of the parties files an initiating document, such as a 
Form I-862, Notice to Appear; Form I-863, Notice of Referral to 
Immigration Judge; or a bond redetermination request. An eROP will also 
be available when an attorney or accredited representative files a 
Notice of Entry of Appearance and the court staff scan the existing 
paper record of proceedings into the pilot system. Representatives will 
be able to tell which cases have an eROP by the active upload button 
that will appear in the system.
    Attorneys and accredited representatives will be able to 
electronically file documents in eligible cases beyond the pilot end 
date until the conclusion of all administrative proceedings in those 
cases, including any remands from the federal courts. In any case where 
a motion for change of venue is granted from a pilot location to a non-
pilot location, or a clerical transfer occurs from a pilot location to 
a non-pilot location, the attorney or accredited representative will be 
required to follow the current non-electronic filing requirements at 
the non-pilot location.
    The attorney or accredited representative may leave the pilot at 
any time by selecting the ``opt out'' option in eInfo. By leaving the 
pilot, the attorney or accredited representative must revert to 
following all current procedures and requirements for non-electronic 
filing with the immigration courts and BIA for those cases that were 
part of the pilot. The eROP for those files already electronically 
filed will remain available for download, but electronic scanning or 
filing will be unavailable to that attorney during the pilot period 
unless the attorney opts back in to the pilot. The attorney or 
accredited representative may choose to join the pilot again by 
returning to eInfo and re-accepting the pilot terms and conditions 
during the pilot period.

V. Additional Information

    Registered attorneys and registered accredited representatives will 
be held responsible for all activity conducted under their accounts. 
Misuse of the electronic filing system may result in EOIR revoking an 
attorney or accredited representative's participation in the pilot, and 
in referral to EOIR's disciplinary counsel or anti-fraud officer, or 
other appropriate parties, as necessary.
    If an attorney or accredited representative has been disbarred or 
suspended from practice before the immigration courts or the BIA or is 
otherwise not authorized to practice law before EOIR, EOIR will 
deactivate the user's EOIR ID, which provides access to electronic 
filing, unless and until the BIA reinstates or otherwise permits the 
attorney or accredited representative to resume practice. See 8 CFR 
1003.101 et seq.
    EOIR will not initially collect or accept any fee payments through 
this expanded electronic filing pilot. Any fees related to 
applications, forms, motions, or appeals that require a fee payment 
should continue to be paid to the Department of Homeland Security or 
the BIA through current procedures. See 8 CFR 1003.24. Once expanded 
electronic filing is available at the BIA, EOIR expects electronic 
payments will be available for appeals and BIA motions that require a 
fee.

    Dated: June 19, 2018.
Nathan Berkeley,
Acting Chief, CLAD.
[FR Doc. 2018-13578 Filed 6-22-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-30-P