Call US Federal Court From Abroad: PACER, Clerks, and the Right Number

Calling US federal court from outside the United States splits into two lines. For PACER access, login, fees, or billing: +1 (210) 301-6440 (San Antonio, 7 a.m.–6 p.m. CT). For a case-specific question, a hearing, a document filing, or jury duty: the district clerk's office where your case lives. US toll-free numbers (1-800-676-6856 for PACER, the district 1-800 lines) don't connect from abroad. The +1 area-code direct lines do — every time. World Dialer routes either for $0.04 a minute.

This guide gets you to the right line for any federal court question from any country, with the verified numbers, the statutory grounds for overseas jury deferral, and a one-paragraph clarification of the immigration-court mix-up that catches half the people who search this.

The Two Lines — PACER or Clerk

Federal court has two phone systems. PACER handles your account; the clerk handles your case. You almost never need both.

PACER is the central account, billing, and login service. One number, one service center in San Antonio, one set of agents. The clerk's office is the district court itself — staff who know your case file, your judge's calendar, and your district's local rules. There's a separate clerk for each of the 94 federal districts, each of the 13 circuits, and each of the 90+ bankruptcy courts.

Pick the right line from the question:

If your question is about... | Call

PACER login or password | PACER Service Center: +1 (210) 301-6440

PACER fees, billing, or fee waiver | PACER Service Center

Case status or docket entry | District clerk's office

Hearing date or scheduling | District clerk's office

Document filing (paper or sealed) | District clerk's office

E-filing technical issue (CM/ECF) | District's CM/ECF Help Desk

Jury summons, deferral, or excuse | District clerk's Jury Department

Attorney admission (incl. pro hac vice) | District clerk's office

If you have an immigration matter, neither column is your line. Immigration court is a separate system — Section 7 covers the distinction.

PACER Service Center — The One Number for Account Stuff

PACER's customer service line is +1 (210) 301-6440 from outside the US, 1-800-676-6856 inside. Same San Antonio service center, same agents, same system.

Field | Value

From outside US | +1 (210) 301-6440

Inside US (toll-free) | 1-800-676-6856

Hours | 7 a.m.–6 p.m. Central Time, Mon-Fri

Email | pacer@psc.uscourts.gov

Address | P.O. Box 780549, San Antonio, TX 78278

PACER agents handle: account registration, password reset, PACER fee questions, billing disputes, fee waiver applications, and technical login problems. If your bank flagged a PACER charge and you can't get into your account, this is the line.

PACER agents do not handle: case-specific questions, motion practice, hearing schedules, document filing, jury duty, attorney admission. Anything that touches the actual case file goes to the district clerk where the case is filed. Calling PACER for a case status will get you politely redirected to the clerk; calling the clerk for a PACER login reset will get you redirected back.

Hold times at PACER are short by federal standards — 15-to-30 minutes is typical, much faster than USCIS or IRS hold queues. Email often resolves account questions overnight without a phone call.

Why 1-800 PACER Doesn't Work From Abroad

US toll-free numbers — 1-800-676-6856 included — don't route from outside the United States. The structure is the problem, not the agency.

US toll-free prefixes (1-800, 1-888, 1-877, 1-866, 1-855, 1-844, 1-833) are funded by the called party paying a per-minute origination fee inside the US tariff. International origination sits outside that tariff. Most foreign carriers refuse to route the call at all. Some route it but charge you $1-3 a minute for the privilege, depending on country. Either way, you don't reach PACER.

PACER fixed this on their end. +1 (210) 301-6440 is a normal San Antonio area code, billable by every international carrier the same way any other US landline is. Same service center on the other end, same agents.

What you'll pay to reach +1 (210) 301-6440 from abroad depends entirely on how you route the call. Roaming on a US mobile carrier abroad runs $2-4 a minute. A local foreign mobile carrier charges $0.30-$1+ a minute. A browser-based service like WorldDialer routes the same call for $0.04 a minute. The full cost breakdown is in Section 8.

The same toll-free problem applies to every federal court 1-800 line you might find on a court website. The fix is the same: dial the +1 area-code direct number instead. For the deeper version, see calling 1-800 numbers from abroad.

Finding Your District Clerk — Federal Court Finder

The fastest way to find any federal court clerk's number is the Federal Court Finder at uscourts.gov/federal-court-finder/find. Type the district name, the city, or the court name; the tool returns the clerk's office direct line, address, and operating hours.

Four high-traffic district examples, all verified on uscourts.gov as of mid-2026:

Court | Number | Hours (Local)

SDNY (Manhattan, 500 Pearl Street) | +1 (212) 805-0136 | 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. ET

CDCA (Los Angeles, Western Division — main information) | +1 (213) 894-1565 | Mon-Fri business hours PT

EDVA (Alexandria) | +1 (703) 299-2100 | Mon-Fri business hours ET

US Court of Appeals — DC Circuit (Clerk's office) | +1 (202) 216-7300 | Mon-Fri business hours ET

The four above cover a meaningful share of the overseas-litigant call volume — SDNY for commercial and securities cases, CDCA for entertainment and West Coast civil, EDVA for the "rocket docket" patent and government cases, DC Circuit for federal agency appeals. EDVA Alexandria publishes useful sub-lines: civil intake at (703) 299-2101, criminal at (703) 299-2102, jury and naturalization at (703) 299-2104.

The Administrative Office of the US Courts (the central administrative body, not a case-handling office) is reachable at +1 (202) 502-2600 for press, public affairs, and administrative inquiries. Don't call them about a case; they'll send you back to your district clerk.

CM/ECF Help — Different Phone for E-Filing Issues

CM/ECF technical issues — login failures, document rejection, attorney filer registration — go to the district's own CM/ECF Help Desk, not PACER.

CM/ECF (Case Management/Electronic Case Files) is the e-filing layer on top of PACER. PACER is read access; CM/ECF is write access. Every district runs its own CM/ECF Help Desk with separate hours and a separate phone number from the clerk's general line. There's no central CM/ECF support line.

To find your district's help desk, go to that district's website (linked from uscourts.gov), find the "E-Filing" or "CM/ECF" page, and look for the help desk number. Examples: the Court of International Trade publishes 1-866-450-1859 (toll-free, US-only); CDCA, EDVA, SDNY, and NDTX each publish their own.

Typical CM/ECF Help Desk hours are 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. local time, Mon-Fri. The help desk is the right line for filer-registration issues, locked accounts, document upload failures, and rejected filings. For an account-billing question, go back to PACER.

Jury Duty While You Live Abroad — The Deferral Path

If you got a federal jury summons and you're living abroad, call the clerk's office Jury Department for that district. Deferral or excuse is granted under 28 USC §1869(j), which defines "undue hardship or extreme inconvenience" to include "great distance, either in miles or traveltime, from the place of holding court."

The statute is the right anchor, but the actual decision happens at the district level. Each of the 94 federal district courts maintains its own jury procedures and policies. The clerk's Jury Department handles requests — by phone, mail, or online portal depending on the district. uscourts.gov publishes "Juror Qualifications, Exemptions and Excuses" as the canonical reference.

Two distinctions matter for overseas callers:

• Permanent overseas residents. Federal jury service requires residency in the district for at least one year (28 USC §1865). If you've moved abroad permanently, you're typically not qualified to serve, and the clerk will process a disqualification, not just a deferral. You'll usually need to show proof of foreign residence.
• Temporary overseas residents. Sabbatical, military spouse posting, year abroad, extended work assignment. You're still eligible, but the clerk's Jury Department can grant a deferral (postpone date) under §1869(j) hardship grounds.

Don't ignore the summons. Failure to respond to a federal jury summons can result in a contempt citation or a bench warrant. Calling the clerk's Jury Department within the response window — even at long distance — is the right move.

A scam note worth flagging: federal courts never demand payment by phone, gift card, or wire transfer for missed jury duty. Several districts including CDCA have published active warnings about scammers impersonating clerk's office staff. If a "court" calls demanding payment, hang up.

Bankruptcy, Appellate, and the Immigration Court Mix-Up

Bankruptcy courts mirror the district pattern — each of the 90+ districts runs its own bankruptcy clerk and CM/ECF help desk. Appellate courts (the 13 circuits) follow the same model. Immigration court is the trap.

For bankruptcy, use the Federal Court Finder; the bankruptcy clerk for each district is listed alongside the district court clerk. The line you call depends on which division of the bankruptcy court the case is filed in. For appellate matters, the circuit clerks handle filings, scheduling, and arguments — for example, the DC Circuit Clerk's Office at +1 (202) 216-7300, or the circuit clerk for whichever circuit covers your underlying district.

Immigration court is a separate system. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is part of the US Department of Justice, not the Article III federal court system. EOIR runs the immigration trial courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). If you have an immigration case — a removal hearing, an asylum application before an immigration judge, a BIA appeal — neither PACER nor the district clerk is your line.

EOIR's automated case hotline is 1-800-898-7180 (toll-free, US-only). From outside the US, dial +1 (304) 625-2050. The line is automated, 24/7, and provides case status in English and Spanish. EOIR Filing Information (live agents) is +1 (703) 605-1007 during business hours.

When immigration cases get appealed past the BIA into the federal court system (a petition for review in a US Court of Appeals, for example), the circuit clerk for that circuit handles it from there. That's the bridge where you cross from EOIR back into Article III court.

What It Costs to Call Federal Court From Abroad

A call to +1 (210) 301-6440 or any district clerk's +1 line costs $2-4/min on US mobile roaming, $0.30-$1+/min on a local foreign carrier, and $0.04/min on World Dialer. The math is the math, and federal court calls aren't short.

How You're Routing | Per-Minute | Setup

US mobile carrier roaming abroad | $2-4/min | None — your US carrier bills you

Local foreign mobile carrier (international dial) | $0.30-$1+/min | None — billed on local plan

WorldDialer (browser) | $0.04/min | None — open browser, add credit

PACER hold queues run 15-30 minutes typically. A district clerk's office answers faster (5-15 minutes most days). A CM/ECF Help Desk during US business hours is usually under 10 minutes. A 20-minute PACER call on US mobile roaming costs $40-80. The same call on WorldDialer costs $0.80. The longer the hold, the worse the gap.

WorldDialer routes to any US +1 number from any country with internet — federal court lines, government agencies, banks, anything. No app, no subscription required, no minimums. It's one option among several for calling US government agencies from abroad, and it's a fraction of carrier IDD rates.

Make the Call

You have the lines. PACER for accounts. The district clerk for cases. CM/ECF Help Desk for e-filing tech. EOIR for immigration. Time to dial.

For PACER, dial +1 (210) 301-6440. For a district clerk, look up your court at uscourts.gov/federal-court-finder/find and dial the +1 direct line. WorldDialer routes any of those calls from anywhere for $0.04/minute. Browser-based, no app to install, no subscription required — same channel for calls from overseas to US institutions.

We'll be here when the line you actually need is the +1 line.

→ Try WorldDialer

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