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This site is to help people with Immigration Bond related issues provided by an experienced immigration attorney. The site is NOT authorized or run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
How do I get my bond money back is a very common question. We have a page devoted to explaining the process here. If after reviewing the page you think that the process would be too difficult for you and you would like professional help, we can certainly assist you. Please contact us.
As you will see from reviewing the page, it is important to see whereabouts you are in the process of eligibility for receiving the bond money back. Did you receive the notice from the Debt Management Service that the bond was canceled, form I-391? If you did, you will see that applying to get your money back is a relatively simple process. If you’ve moved and never received form I-391 or you have not moved and heard nothing from ICE, we believe the best first step is to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with ICE to understand from the government’s perspective what has happened in your case. Again, if this is a complex process for you we can assist in filing this request to get all the information to start helping you.
No quick and simple method is available to check on the status of an immigration bond. However, you can gain some idea of the status of the bond by checking on the status of the person for whom you supplied the bond. For example, if the person whom you bonded out recently missed an immigration hearing then you know that the bond has been canceled. Likewise, if the person that you bonded out had an immigration court hearing and was granted some kind of relief such that they could legally remain in the United States, again the bond is canceled.
While checking on the status of a bond through the proxy of checking on the status of the person that you bonded may give you the answer that you need, what would you do if you have lost contact with the person that you bonded out? Under these circumstances we recommend filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA ) request with ICE to get an update. While this is effective, and is a relatively simple process for the obligor, it could possibly take three months to get a response from ICE. If you need help with this second approach as you have lost contact with the person you bonded out, you can contact us to file a FOIA request.
In order to answer this question correctly we need to know where you are in the system. Perhaps the alien that you posted bond for was granted relief by the immigration court. Alternatively, perhaps the person was picked up by ICE for a violation of the bond conditions. In either case, the first step is processing by ICE of the alien and cancellation of the immigration bond. This step can often times take ICE a while to complete.
After cancellation of the immigration bond, the Debt Management Center will send a notice to the person who posted the bond that the bond has been canceled. Once you have this notice, you can complete the paperwork necessary to file for receiving the money back from the federal government. You can get more details on this step here. The last part of the wait is waiting for the debt management Center to issue you a check.
With these steps in mind, if ICE has already notified the Debt Management Center, the debt management Center has sent you the notice of cancellation, and you have filed to receive the bond back, you should typically receive a refund within six months.