Plain answers
What is CeBONDS?
Since April 2023 immigration bonds are posted through an online system, not at a counter. Most instructions online still describe the old way. Here is how it actually works now.
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The short version
CeBONDS is the online system ICE uses to verify bond information and accept bond payments. ICE began using it to process bond payments and execute the Form I-352 bond contract on 20 April 2023. Payment is made by Fedwire or ACH bank transfer.
You cannot post a bond at a detention facility, and you no longer post one at a counter with a cashier's check as a matter of course. ICE says it will still work with people who want to pay in person on a case-by-case basis, but that is now the exception, and it still requires access to banking services.
Who is allowed to use it
ICE allows U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, law firms, and non-profit organizations to post a delivery bond. Each has to prove who they are with specific documents: a passport, birth certificate, naturalization certificate, REAL ID licence or state ID, military ID, or a permanent resident card.
A person without immigration status cannot post a delivery bond for someone else. This is the wall most families hit, and it is the main reason bond companies exist. It is not a failing on your part and it is not unusual.
Hours, and why they matter
Bond posting hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., excluding federal holidays, applied in the time zone where the person is detained. Anything arriving outside those hours is processed the next business day.
ICE says verification of the bond contract and payment usually takes about one to two hours during those hours. That is the single most useful number on this page, because it tells you that a bond started at 2:45 on a Friday is a Monday matter.
What happens after it is approved
ICE says people are typically released by the end of the day after the bond is approved and the Form I-352 bond contract is signed. It also says the detention facility's own processing time varies with staffing and with the individual case.
We will not improve on that with a promise. Plan the drive, bring identification, and do not build the day around an exact hour nobody has given you.
Checked against ICE guidance on 30 July 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.