After a deportation: what US law requires before a person can return
After a removal order, federal law requires the US government’s consent before the person re-embarks for the United States — not on arrival, not afterward. That consent is requested on Form I-212, which USCIS titles Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States After Deportation or Removal. It is not the same document as the Re-entry Permit on Form I-131, which the law reserves to permanent residents. And returning without that consent is not a paperwork problem: 8 U.S.C. §1326 makes it a federal crime.
⚠️ Before doing anything, speak with a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ/BIA-accredited representative. Which bar applies — 5, 10, 20 years, or permanent — turns on facts that only a case file answers: how the order was issued, on what date, whether there was a later departure, whether there was a reentry. This page describes what the statute, the regulation, and the government’s own forms say. It does not say what applies to any particular case, and no page can. Routes: how to find an immigration attorney and free or low-cost legal help.
Two different documents with almost the same name
This is the confusion that does the most damage, and it is worst in Spanish, where permiso de reingreso is used for both. The two documents have nothing to do with each other:
| Re-entry Permit (Form I-131) | Consent to reapply for admission (Form I-212) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Lawful permanent residents and conditional permanent residents only | People inadmissible under INA §212(a)(9)(A) or (C) — including anyone with a removal order |
| Where it is filed | From inside the United States, and in resident status at the time of filing (8 CFR 223.2(b)(1)) | With USCIS, a consulate, the immigration court (EOIR), or CBP at a port of entry, depending on the situation |
| What it does | Lets a resident apply for admission on return from abroad without a returning resident visa (8 CFR 223.1(a)) | It is the government’s consent to reapply for admission after a removal |
| Validity | 2 years from issuance, and it may not be extended (8 CFR 223.3(a)(1) and 223.3(c)) | Approval is discretionary (Form I-212 instructions) |
| Fee | $630, paper filing, no fee waiver available (G-1055, edition 05/29/26) | $1,175 (see the fee section below) |
| What voids it | Invalid if the person is ordered excluded or deported (8 CFR 223.3(b)) | An approval does not cover a later removal (8 CFR 212.2(j)) |
The practical consequence of the first row is the one that matters: a person with a removal order cannot file Form I-131 for a Re-entry Permit, because the regulation requires being inside the country and in permanent resident status. If what you are looking for is the travel document for residents, people with a pending I-485, TPS or DACA, that is covered on Travel Document / Advance Parole (Form I-131). This page is about the other document.
The bar the removal order creates — INA §212(a)(9)(A)
The removal itself creates a period during which the person is inadmissible and needs the government’s consent before reapplying for admission. The statute splits it in two:
| How the removal happened | Period during which consent is required |
|---|---|
| Removed under 8 U.S.C. §1225(b)(1), or at the end of §1229a proceedings initiated on arrival — §212(a)(9)(A)(i) | 5 years; 20 years for a second or subsequent removal; no time limit with an aggravated felony conviction |
| Any other removal order under §1229a or any other provision of law, or departure while a removal order was outstanding — §212(a)(9)(A)(ii) | 10 years from the departure or removal; 20 years for two or more; no time limit with an aggravated felony conviction |
The summary removal in the first row is the one issued without a judge; how it is produced and what safeguards exist is set out on expedited removal.
The exception is written into the same statute, and its tense is the point. §212(a)(9)(A)(iii) says the two clauses do not apply if, “prior to the date of the alien’s reembarkation at a place outside the United States or attempt to be admitted from foreign contiguous territory, the Attorney General has consented to the alien’s reapplying for admission.” The consent is obtained before re-embarking, from outside the country. USCIS repeats it plainly in the I-212 instructions: “it is very important that you do not return to the United States before you have filed an application for consent to reapply, and before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has approved it.”
Two precisions the instructions (edition 01/20/25) make that informal sources routinely lose:
- Voluntary departure granted under INA §240B and completed within the ordered period does not trigger §212(a)(9)(A)(ii). USCIS expressly excludes that case when describing who departed while an order was outstanding.
- Waiting the full period out ends the consent requirement — but only for a lawful return. USCIS: “If you have remained outside the United States for the entire inadmissibility period, you are no longer required to seek consent to reapply.” The next line warns that even after the whole period has run, a person “will become inadmissible under INA section 212(a)(9)(C) if you enter or attempt to enter the United States without being inspected and admitted or paroled.” The word carrying all the weight is lawfully.
Two primary sources that do not agree — read this before comparing pages
This site checks every number against its source. On this topic the two official sources do not say the same thing, and saying so is more honest than picking one:
- The statute — 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(9)(A) — sets 5, 10 and 20 years, plus the no-time-limit case, depending on how the removal happened (the table above).
- The regulation — 8 CFR 212.2(a), current text read on August 11, 2026 — says: “Any alien who has been deported or removed from the United States is inadmissible to the United States unless the alien has remained outside of the United States for five consecutive years since the date of deportation or removal. If the alien has been convicted of an aggravated felony, he or she must remain outside of the United States for twenty consecutive years from the deportation date before he or she is eligible to re-enter the United States.” It contains no 10-year period anywhere, and no arriving-alien distinction.
The current Form I-212 instructions follow the statute, not the regulation. Neither source says which of them controls. If you compare this page against one that cites only the regulation, it will look as though one of the two has an error: it is not an error, it is a real divergence between two primary sources. Which one applies to a particular case is precisely a question for an attorney, not for an information site.
The permanent bar — §212(a)(9)(C) — and why it is not the 3/10-year bar
Many people arrive at this subject looking for “the 10-year bar” and end up reading about a different bar entirely. These are two separate grounds of inadmissibility with opposite mechanics:
| §212(a)(9)(B) — unlawful presence | §212(a)(9)(C) — the permanent bar | |
|---|---|---|
| What triggers it | Departing the United States after more than 180 days, or more than 1 year, of unlawful presence | Entering or attempting to reenter without being admitted, after more than 1 year of aggregate unlawful presence or after any removal order |
| How long it lasts | 3 years or 10 years, and it expires on its own | Clause (i) sets no expiry; USCIS writes: “you are permanently inadmissible” |
| Way out | A statutory waiver at §212(a)(9)(B)(v) for the spouse, son or daughter of a US citizen or permanent resident | Not a waiver but an exception: §212(a)(9)(C)(ii) opens only more than 10 years after the last departure, and requires DHS consent before re-embarking |
| Other waivers | Statutory exceptions for minors, asylees, family unity, battered women and children, and trafficking victims | Only §212(a)(9)(C)(iii), for VAWA self-petitioners |
Two consequences of the (C) text are worth reading slowly. First, each reentry without admission incurs a new inadmissibility, and with it a new 10-year period outside the country before consent can even be requested. Second, a person inadmissible under (C) who is inside the United States cannot file at all — the instructions say “you may not file,” and they do not describe what happens if someone tries anyway. Ground (C) reaches entries or attempted entries on or after April 1, 1997.
The 3 and 10-year unlawful-presence bars are a different subject, covered on if you overstayed your visa and if you entered without inspection. The two grounds, (A) and (C), are separate and can both apply.
Form I-212: where it is filed, what it costs, how long it takes
Where. USCIS is not the only window. Depending on the situation, Form I-212 is filed with USCIS, with the consulate if the person is applying for a visa, with the immigration court (EOIR) if removal proceedings are underway, or with CBP, which per USCIS now accepts electronic filing through e-SAFE. USCIS warns that it only adjudicates what belongs to it: “We cannot adjudicate applications that must be filed with CBP or the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).”
What it costs. The Form I-212 fee is $1,175, the same across all four filing routes, per USCIS Form G-1055 (edition 05/29/26) in effect as of August 11, 2026. The amount comes from the final rule published at 89 FR 6194, effective April 1, 2024. This site’s fee dataset records three changes for this form: $585 from November 2010, $930 from December 2016, and $1,175 from April 2024. G-1055 lists $0 only for specific categories — certain Afghan and Iraqi translators and interpreters and related SIV categories, abused spouses and children adjusting under the Cuban Adjustment Act or HRIFA, and VAWA self-petitioners including derivatives — and adds that certain applicants may be eligible for a fee waiver under Form I-912.
How long it takes. USCIS publishes the time within which 80% of cases complete, by category and office. The table below is generated from the dataset this site maintains from the official USCIS system, so it shows the current figure rather than a remembered one:
The time in which 80% of cases adjudicated in the past six months were completed, by category and office. Data from the official USCIS system (2026-08-06) · verify live
| Category | Office | 80% complete within |
|---|---|---|
| Permission to reapply for admission after deportation and removal | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 42 Months |
| Permission to reapply for admission after deportation and removal | All Field Offices | 41.5 Months |
Those figures cover only the applications USCIS adjudicates. No source publishes a processing time for applications filed with CBP or with the immigration court.
How it is decided. Approval is discretionary: “the adjudicator will weigh the favorable and unfavorable factors presented in your case.” USCIS publishes both lists. Favorable factors include close family ties in the United States, hardship to US citizen or permanent resident relatives, evidence of reformation and rehabilitation, length of prior lawful presence, evidence of respect for law and order and family responsibilities, absence of significant negative factors, and the likelihood of becoming a permanent resident. Unfavorable factors include evidence of bad moral character, repeated immigration violations, likelihood of becoming a public charge, absence of close family ties, fraudulent marriage, unauthorized employment, and serious immigration violations with no evidence of rehabilitation.
Who does not need to file it. USCIS lists ten situations, among them: the inadmissibility period under (A) has already run; withdrawal of an application for admission with a timely departure; being refused entry at the border without a formal removal; voluntary departure granted by an immigration judge and completed within the ordered period; applicants for Registry under INA §249; and TPS applicants, because INA §244(a)(5) bars considering current status when adjudicating TPS. USCIS immediately adds that the inadmissibility “may remain relevant and be considered for the purposes of other immigration benefits.”
The full fee history
The block below comes from this site’s USCIS fee-history dataset, filtered to the I-212: each amount with the Federal Register rule that set it. It is how to check the $1,175 above for yourself.
A published fee is not necessarily what you pay today. This table records the filing fee each final rule published in the Federal Register. It does not include fee waivers or add-on charges, and the 2020 rule (85 FR 46788) was enjoined nationwide and never took effect — its amounts were never lawful fees, which is why the record jumps from 2016 straight to 2024. Always confirm the current fee with USCIS before you file.
Method and source
Fees are read from each final rule's REGULATORY TEXT (8 CFR 103.7(b)(1) for 2004-2016, 8 CFR 106.2 for 2020+), not from preamble prose or tables. Every amount carries the sentence it came from. Forms with per-classification tiers (e.g. I-129) are marked tiered with amount=null -- no base fee is invented.
The 2024 extraction reproduces all 15 comparable hand-verified fees in data/uscis_fees_canonical.json exactly, with zero mismatches. Same extractor, same anchors, applied to 2004-2016. Every emitted amount is additionally asserted to appear verbatim in its own source_sentence.
The 2004 and 2007 rules yield far fewer forms (~13) than 2010+ (~50) because their regulatory text lists fewer entries in the form we can read with certainty. This is UNDER-coverage, not error: a form absent from an early snapshot means we did not read a trustworthy amount for it, NOT that it was free or did not exist. Never describe a timeline as that form's complete fee history.
Source: U.S. Federal Register (federalregister.gov) -- binding regulatory text. Built: 2026-07-11.
| Form | Effective | Filing fee | Rule (Federal Register) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-212 | 2010-11-23 | $585 | 75 FR 58962 |
| I-212 | 2016-12-23 | $930 | 81 FR 73292 |
| I-212 | 2024-04-01 | $1175 | 89 FR 6194 |
Download the full dataset (JSON) — free to use with attribution to MigrantUSA.
Reentering without consent is a federal crime — 8 U.S.C. §1326
This is the part that carries the heaviest consequences. The statute describes two elements that must both be present: first, having been “denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed” or having departed while an order was outstanding; and thereafter, “enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States” without the government having consented in advance. In other words, the offense is not having a removal order — it is the later conduct the statute describes.
The maximum penalties the text itself sets:
| Provision | Penalty the statute sets |
|---|---|
| §1326(a) — the base offense | Fine under title 18, imprisonment of not more than 2 years, or both |
| §1326(b)(1) — removal following conviction for three or more misdemeanors involving drugs or crimes against the person, or a felony other than an aggravated felony | Fine, imprisonment of not more than 10 years, or both |
| §1326(b)(2) — removal following conviction for an aggravated felony | Fine, imprisonment of not more than 20 years, or both |
| §1326(b)(3) — excluded under §1225(c) as excludable under §1182(a)(3)(B), or removed under subchapter V | Fine and imprisonment “for a period of 10 years, which sentence shall not run concurrently with any other sentence” |
| §1326(b)(4) — removed under §1231(a)(4)(B) | Fine, imprisonment of not more than 10 years, or both |
Note the asymmetry in the text: (b)(1), (b)(2) and (b)(4) say “not more than”; (b)(3) does not say “up to” — it sets a period of 10 years that also may not run concurrently with any other sentence. And §1326(d) sharply limits challenging the removal order inside the criminal case: it requires showing that administrative remedies were exhausted, that the proceedings improperly deprived the person of judicial review, and that entry of the order was fundamentally unfair.
What the federal sentencing data shows (fiscal year 2025)
The statutory maxima describe the ceiling, not what happens. The US Sentencing Commission measures the second thing, and published these figures for fiscal year 2025:
- 18,204 illegal reentry cases reported — a 45% increase over the prior year and 57% since fiscal year 2021 (the series: 11,563 in FY21, 11,977 in FY22, 12,868 in FY23, 12,550 in FY24).
- Illegal reentry made up 80% of the immigration offenses reported to the Commission.
- The average sentence was 10 months. The Commission reports an average, not a median.
- 97% of people sentenced were sentenced to prison.
- 49% had little or no prior criminal history (Criminal History Category I).
- The five districts where these offenses made up the largest share of the total caseload: New Mexico (72%), Western District of Texas (70%), Southern District of Texas (61%), Arizona (54%), and Middle District of Louisiana (35%).
Source: USSC, Quick Facts: Illegal Reentry Offenses, Fiscal Year 2025.
If someone already returned: reinstatement of the prior order
8 U.S.C. §1231(a)(5) says that when a person reenters illegally after having been removed, the prior order “is reinstated from its original date and is not subject to being reopened or reviewed,” that the person “is not eligible and may not apply for any relief under this chapter,” and that they may be removed under that prior order “at any time after the reentry.” The regulation at 8 CFR 241.8(a) adds that in those circumstances there is no right to a hearing before an immigration judge, and that in disputed-identity cases verification must be done by fingerprint comparison — without fingerprints in a disputed case, the person is not to be removed under that provision.
The safeguard the regulation does preserve is at 8 CFR 241.8(e): a person who expresses fear of returning to the country designated in the order “shall be immediately referred to an asylum officer” for a reasonable-fear interview. Saying it clearly and immediately is what triggers that referral.
What the sources do NOT say
Naming the silences is part of the information. Each of these was checked, not omitted:
- The statute sets no dollar fine. Every penalty clause of §1326 says “fined under title 18” and stops there. Any specific dollar figure you read elsewhere did not come from §1326.
- Neither USCIS nor the statute publishes an I-212 approval rate. The form page, the instructions, G-1055 and the processing-times system are all silent on how often consent is granted.
- No source says that filing an I-212 pauses, delays or protects against removal, reinstatement or prosecution. The regulation covers notice, appeal rights, and retroactive or conditional approval — nothing about protection while an application is pending.
- No source publishes how long CBP or the immigration court take to decide an I-212.
- USCIS does not describe what happens if a person inadmissible under (C) files from inside the country. It says only that they may not file.
- None of these sources explains how to find out whether a removal order exists in a person’s own case. That is a records question — EOIR case status, or a FOIA request for the immigration file — not something the statute or the form answers.
Before acting
The difference between §212(a)(9)(A) and §212(a)(9)(C), between 5, 10 and 20 years, and between a lawful return and one that restarts the whole cycle, depends on dates and facts that live in an individual case file. No web page can read them. A licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ/BIA-accredited representative can, and that consultation comes before any step, not after: find an immigration attorney · free or low-cost legal help.
Last verified: 2026-08-11. General information, not legal advice. A removal order and any possible return involve federal criminal liability: consult a licensed immigration attorney or DOJ/BIA-accredited representative before making any decision.