How BIA appeal records are counted
Definitions and limits for recorded IJ Case Appeal dispositions in EOIR CASE, complete FY2021–FY2025.
BIA patterns can change over time. These figures describe recorded dispositions during the displayed historical period, not a permanent characteristic of a person, court or nationality. Changes may coincide with law, policy, administration, BIA composition, case mix or backlog; these data alone do not establish why.
Record unit and source
One unique EOIR tblAppeal appeal event is counted, not one person, case or asylum application. The source is the 2026-08 CASE release, observed through 2026-08-31.
Included and excluded records
The bia-decided-1 population requires strAppealCategory=IJ, strAppealType=Case Appeal and a valid recorded datBIADecision in complete disposition FY2021–FY2025. Earlier filing years may enter. Other appeal types, absent or invalid disposition dates and partial FY2026 are outside this denominator. The five-year N is 119,252 appeal events.
Decision year, filing year and FY2025
A federal fiscal year runs from 10-01 through 09-30. Annual outcomes use the recorded BIA disposition date, not the appeal filing date. The separate FY2021–FY2025 filing population has 200,545 events and cannot replace the decided denominator. FY2025 is complete in the 2026-08 source; FY2026 is partial and omitted. A missing decision date is not verified pending status.
Who filed and the denominator
A means respondent-filed, I means DHS-filed, B means both, and O means other. All-party annual rows contain A/I/B/O; A and I panels use their own N and exclude B/O. A disposition of a DHS appeal is not automatically a respondent outcome.
Recorded disposition codes
The frozen 55-code dictionary maps each source code to the broad DIS, REM, SUS or heterogeneous Other display group. DIS records dismissal/affirmance; REM returns a matter for further action; SUS records an appeal sustained. Other contains distinct summary, administrative and specialized pathways. None alone establishes the later asylum result. The exact source descriptions and mapping appear in the codebook below.
Court association
A court row links an appeal to an exact proceeding/case match with a stored B_TblProceeding.BASE_CITY_CODE and no known chronology conflict. Of 119,252 national events, 119,223 are court-attributed and 29 remain unattributed. This does not identify the court that issued an immutable original decision or the place where BIA decided the appeal.
Nationality on the appeal record
Nationality is a valid code in tblAppeal.strNat against the frozen lookup. Proceeding and case nationality are checked but never substituted. The code is a recorded appeal attribute, not independently verified citizenship. Eligible public-source groups are published, including small samples. Eight source codes retain their registered semantic or identity restrictions; codes with no qualifying source events have a separate no-records state.
Stored judge-code association
A certified profile panel counts respondent-filed appeals linked to proceedings carrying a stored EOIR IJ_CODE. It shows pooled FY2021–FY2025 counts only. This code does not prove the coded judge authored the appealed order or was assigned when it was issued; no reversal or quality rate follows.
Publication of public-source aggregates
Current national, court, nationality and judge-code tables publish validated public-source counts, including 1–9 and groups below N=100. Small N makes proportions less stable; it does not hide the count. Identity, exact linkage, chronology, source availability and valid denominators remain boundaries. A zero count is a measured zero; an unavailable value is not zero, and a zero denominator has no calculable share. Historical downloads retain their frozen rules and are labelled separately.
Why official workload totals differ
The separate EOIR official BIA workload report covers all appeal types and reports filings, completions and pending stock under its own definition. CASE here counts IJ Case Appeals by recorded disposition FY. The two denominators must not be combined or forced to agree.
Historical source versions
Archived EOIR CASE releases were compared for tested mature periods. Measured source-vintage drift was very low in those windows, including a common window through 2025-01-01; this does not prove all historical rows immutable, establish a causal explanation, or provide a second fully mature FY2025 vintage. The 2026-08 release still supports complete FY2025 results.
Historical change and its unresolved cause
Recorded BIA disposition patterns changed over the period. Measured filing-party and observable case differences account for part of the change; these data do not identify the cause of the rest. The detailed Phase 3B standardization is descriptive, not a causal effect. Historical source checks support only their tested windows.
What cannot be inferred
These aggregates are not a personal appeal forecast, legal advice, final asylum result, court or judge quality assessment, or explanation of why an individual appeal received its code. A remand does not reveal later proceedings.
Exact BIA disposition codebook
The source descriptions below remain in English; codes, frozen families and broad groups are reproduced without changing their legal meaning.
| Code | Source description (English) | Frozen family | Broad display group |
|---|---|---|---|
ABC | American Baptist Church Settlement | specialized_abc | Other |
ACR | ROP Returned to Court to correct deficiency | correction_administrative_return | Other |
ADM | Administratively Closed | administrative_closure | Other |
ADR | Administrative Return | correction_administrative_return | Other |
APD | Administratively Closed-DHS PD | administrative_closure | Other |
BCR | Background Check Remand | background_check_remand | Other |
BVD | BIA GRANTS VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE EXCEPT WHEN CFV APPLIES | specialized_bvd | Other |
CFD | Final Denial of EOIR 42B/40 | specialized_cfd | Other |
CFG | Final Grant of EOIR 42B/40 | specialized_cfg | Other |
CFV | Final Denial of 42B/40 - Granting VD | specialized_cfv | Other |
CGR | ANY CONDITIONAL GRANT OF RELIEF-EXCEPT CPC | specialized_cgr | Other |
CON | Continued | specialized_con | Other |
CPC | Conditional Grant--CPC Asylum | specialized_cpc | Other |
CPG | Coercive Population Control | specialized_cpg | Other |
CTM | Administratively closed other than ABC | administrative_closure | Other |
D30 | Dismissed (Grant V/D 30 days) | specialized_d30 | Other |
DBR | Summary Dismissal Discretionary Board Review | summary_dismissal | Other |
DED | Deferred Enforced Departure | specialized_ded | Other |
DEN | Denied | specialized_den | Other |
DIS | Dismiss Appeal/Affirm IJ's Decision | dismissal_affirmance_recorded | DIS |
DMO | Dismissed as Moot | specialized_dmo | Other |
DNS | Denied Soriano | specialized_dns | Other |
DSO | Dismiss Soriano | specialized_dso | Other |
DUT | Dismiss as Untimely | specialized_dut | Other |
DVD | Dismissed (Voluntary Departure Granted) | specialized_dvd | Other |
FMD | Franco Motion DEN; Remove/Ineligible Relief | specialized_fmd | Other |
GNR | Grant with no Remand | specialized_gnr | Other |
GRN | Granted | specialized_grn | Other |
GRS | Granted Soriano | specialized_grs | Other |
MBD | Moot Bond | specialized_mbd | Other |
NAN | NACARA NOTICE | specialized_nan | Other |
NJU | Lacks Jurisdiction - BIA | specialized_nju | Other |
OTH | Other | specialized_oth | Other |
OTS | Other Soriano | specialized_ots | Other |
REJ | Rejection | specialized_rej | Other |
REM | Remand | remand_recorded | REM |
S-L | Streamlining | specialized_s_l | Other |
SAD | Summary Dismissal (a) inad reason on appeal | summary_dismissal | Other |
SAF | Summary Affirmance | summary_affirmance | Other |
SAV | SUMMARY AFFIRMANCE/VD | summary_affirmance | Other |
SCC | Suspension Cancellation CAP | specialized_scc | Other |
SDA | Summarily Dismiss - Annual Asylum Fee (AAF) | summary_dismissal | Other |
SDG | Summary Dismissal (G) untimely or waived appeal | summary_dismissal | Other |
SED | Summary Dismissal (e) no brief | summary_dismissal | Other |
SNC | SPECIAL NACARA CONTINUATION | specialized_snc | Other |
SND | SUMMARY DISMISSAL - BOTH (a) & (e) | summary_dismissal | Other |
SOD | Summary Dismissal (o) Other | summary_dismissal | Other |
SUD | Summarily Dismiss | summary_dismissal | Other |
SUP | Suspension Completion | specialized_sup | Other |
SUS | Sustain | sustained_recorded | SUS |
TER | Termination | termination | Other |
TPD | Terminate-DHS PD | termination | Other |
TPS | Temporary Protected Status | specialized_tps | Other |
WDL | Withdrawal of Appeal | withdrawal | Other |
WPD | Withdrawal-DHS PD | withdrawal | Other |