The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA, for its acronym in English) issued a precedent-setting decision this Friday that protects asylum seekers from being automatically deported for failing to pay the required annual fee, in a ruling involving a Cuban citizen.
The resolution, identified as Matter of L-F-R-, 29 I&N Dec. 787, decided that "If a foreign national does not pay the annual asylum fee within the established timeframe, their asylum application must be rejected outright ('pretermitted') or considered abandoned."
The second decision states that "The annual asylum fee and the consequences for not paying it do not apply to a request for mandatory deportation withholding, nor to a request for protection under the Convention Against Torture."
In practical terms, this means that an immigration judge cannot issue a complete deportation order based solely on non-payment of the fee, as other forms of protection remain in effect.
The case arose from the appeal of Lisneidis Figueroa Ramos, a Cuban whose asylum application was deemed abandoned on March 25, 2026, by an immigration judge, without her having received proper notification regarding the required payment.
"I was issued an order of deportation in absentia, without notification, without anything," Lizney herself recounted in a video posted this Friday.
"I went and hired the lawyer Nera Shefer and her team at Alianzas, where she filed an appeal to the BIA, we won the case at the BIA, and it became a precedent."
Lizney had submitted her asylum application on January 13, 2025. The attorney Nera Shefer, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, brought the case before the BIA, which upheld the appeal and remanded the file to the immigration court for further proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security opposed the appeal.
The annual asylum fee was introduced by the Trump administration as part of the Reconciliation Act and went into effect for pending cases before immigration courts starting October 1, 2025, through memorandum PM 26-01 from EOIR, effective from January 2, 2026.
In the fiscal year 2026, the fee amounts to $102, adjusted for inflation from the original $100, and applies to any asylum application pending for over a year, both with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and in immigration courts. There is no waiver for economic hardship.
Before this ruling, there was legal uncertainty regarding whether non-payment could lead to a complete deportation order, as some judges would dismiss applications without distinguishing between asylum and other forms of protection. The BIA's decision clarifies that limit in a binding manner for the entire system.
At the same time, a federal judge blocked last week the revocation of asylum applications and work permits for thousands of immigrants related to the fees, indicating that the policy remains under active litigation in the courts.
Lizney concluded her message with a reflection that encapsulates the significance of the case: "In my case, this is the situation that is currently going viral across the country. I'm nervous, please forgive me a little, but I am completely grateful to Attorney Nera and her team."
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