Within 14 days after the final respondent's brief is filed, each party must advise the Court whether it seeks oral argument by filing an Oral Argument Statement Form which is available on the Court's website. Failure to timely file the Oral Argument Statement Form signifies that the party does not seek oral argument. See LR 34.1.

Certain types of immigration petitions are not automatically calendared for oral argument but proceed on a separate non-argument calendar ("NAC"). Cases that are heard on the NAC include those that raise the following:

• a claim for asylum under the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"),
• a claim for withholding of removal under the INA, or
• a claim for withholding of deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture, or a denial of a motion to reopen or reconsider a prior decision that raised one of the claims above.

On occasion the Court may decide to take a case on submission, without oral argument. When the Court so decides, the clerk will notify the parties. See FRAP 34(a)(2), LR 34.1.

When an appeal is set for argument, the Court will notify counsel 2 to 4 weeks prior to the argument date. Occasionally the notification time may be shorter especially if the appeal has been expedited on motion of the parties. Once a case has been assigned a date for oral argument, an adjournment is rarely granted.

An appeal is heard by a three-judge panel of the Court. The names of the judges are made public at noon on Thursday of the week before the panel sits. From the third week in August through June, the Court generally sits every weekday but not on a holiday or during the last week of December. In July and the first two weeks of August, the Court holds oral argument as needed.

Currently the Court hears argument in Courtroom 1703 of the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse at 40 Centre Street, New York City. Occasionally the Court will hear argument at another location within the Circuit. Oral argument usually starts at 10:00 a.m. and continues until completion. During certain weeks the Court has double panels with the second panel hearing argument simultaneously in Courtroom 1505 of the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse. Notice of changes in the date, time, or location of a Court session is posted on the website.

The Court sets the amount of argument time for each case that will be heard. Arguments are generally limited to 10 minutes or less per side. Additional time may be granted in complex or multi-party cases. An audio recording of oral argument is available on the Court's website.

Last modified at 12/1/2016