Fee Schedule

The Court of Appeals Miscellaneous Fee Schedule sets appellate court fees and exemptions. Fees are paid to the clerk of the appellate or originating court at the time of the transaction.

  • The United States is generally exempt from fees. However, if a document or recording is available through remote electronic access, the United States must pay applicable fees for reproductions requested from the court. 

  • Agencies and individuals providing services authorized by the Criminal Justice Act, and bankruptcy administrators, are exempt from all fees.

The Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule sets the fees and exemptions for electronic access to court documents. Electronic access fees are managed by the PACER Service Center, which bills users quarterly for electronic access.

  • Persons providing services under the Criminal Justice Act are exempt from payment of electronic access fees and should obtain an exempt account for use in CJA cases.
Effective September 1, 2018
Description Fee
Attorney admission fee $221 (no pro hac vice admissions)
Form: Application for Admission to the Bar
Certificate of good standing or duplicate admission certificate
 $19 to court of appeals clerk
Forms: Certificate of Good Standing, Duplicate Admission Certificate
Docketing fee for petition for review or petition for mandamus
 $500 to court of appeals clerk
Docketing and filing fee for appeal from district court
 $505 to district court clerk
Docketing appeal from tax court
 $500 to tax court clerk
Docketing petition for permission to appeal
 No fee for petition; $505 to district court clerk if permission to appeal granted
Docketing fee for direct appeal from bankruptcy court
 $298 to bankruptcy court clerk for notice of appeal; $207 more to bankruptcy clerk if direct appeal granted
Copy fee for documents printed from electronic public access terminal or delivered at the clerk's office counter
 $.10 per page to court of appeals clerk (charge applies to printing only; there is no charge for viewing electronic documents at the public access terminal at the courthouse)
Copy fee for documents sent by mail
 $.50 per page to court of appeals clerk
Form: Copy Request
PACER fee for remote electronic access to documents
 $.10 per page. For case-specific documents, the maximum fee per document is $3. The PACER Service Center bills for remote electronic access on a quarterly basis. If quarterly usage does not exceed $15, there is no charge.
Fee for providing electronic copy of record not available in CM/ECF or PACER $31 to court of appeals clerk
Search of court records $31 to court of appeals clerk
Certification of any document or paper
 $11 to court of appeals clerk
Form: Copy Request
Reproduction of oral argument recordings
 $31 for CD; available without charge on Internet 
Form: Oral Argument CD Request
Box retrieval of court records from NARA,
Philadelphia Federal Records Center
 $64 to court of appeals clerk, $39 for each additional box.
Electronic retrieval of court records from NARA,
Philadelphia Federal Records Center:
 $19.90 plus $.65/page to court of appeals clerk (100-page limit)
Fee for insufficient payment
 $53 to court of appeals clerk.  Fee payments must be made by cash, certified check or money order.

Payments

Any fees due to the Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, may be paid by check, cash or credit card. Checks are made payable to "Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals" and mailed to: Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 1100 East Main Street, Suite 501, Richmond, Virginia, 23219.