BIA Overrules G-Y-R-: Old Address Enough for Removal Notice

What if you moved years ago and never updated your address with immigration authorities — can DHS still deport you in absentia? As of today, the answer is yes. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a landmark ruling on September 3, 2026, in Matter of Ifeanyi Emmanuel Diji, overturning a 25-year-old precedent that had protected immigrants who never received their Notice to Appear (NTA — the document that starts removal proceedings).

What the BIA decided

Until today, a 2001 BIA decision called Matter of G-Y-R- said immigration courts could not order someone removed in absentia if that person never received their NTA and therefore never knew they had to keep their address updated. The new ruling throws that protection out. The BIA held that DHS can legally mail an NTA to the most recent address you ever gave any immigration agency — including USCIS — even if you provided that address years before the NTA was issued and even if you have since moved. If DHS mails the notice to that address and it is not returned as undeliverable, the law treats you as having received proper notice. You can still be ordered removed if you do not show up to court.

The case involved a man from Nigeria who overstayed his visa. DHS mailed his NTA in April 2019 to an address he had given USCIS roughly a year earlier. He had moved in January 2019 and says he never received the NTA or any hearing notices. He only found out about his removal order in June 2025, when he appeared for a green card interview after marrying a U.S. citizen. By then, an in absentia removal order from April 2023 was already on his record — and because of that order, he is now ineligible to apply for a green card. His motion to reopen was denied. The BIA dismissed his appeal.

Two BIA judges — Appellate Immigration Judges Mullane and Gemoets — dissented. But the majority, sitting en banc (meaning the full board), ruled that the plain language of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires only that DHS mail notice to the last address you provided. The statute, the majority said, places the burden on you to update your address — not on DHS to track you down.

What to do

• Update your address with USCIS immediately any time you move. Use Form AR-11 (the Alien's Change of Address Card) within 10 days of moving — this is a legal requirement under federal law.
• If you have ever applied for any immigration benefit, check what address is on file with USCIS. Log in to your myUSCIS account or call the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283.
• If you think you may have missed a court hearing — even years ago — contact an immigration attorney right away. An in absentia removal order can block a future green card application and can be very hard to reopen.
• If you received a removal order in absentia and believe you never got proper notice, lawyers recommend acting quickly: a motion to reopen filed within 180 days of the order based on exceptional circumstances, or at any time if you can show you truly did not receive notice, may still be available — but today's ruling makes that argument harder to win.

What to do, step by step — see our guide “Immigration Court Rulings”.