Opinion ID: 1201143
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Peng-Di Zhou, 06-5239-ag

Text: Peng-Di Zhou, a Chinese national, entered the United States in 1992 and shortly thereafter applied for asylum and withholding of removal. In 1999, Zhou received a Notice to Appear charging him with removal, and a hearing was held on March 29, 2001. At the conclusion of that hearing, the IJ denied Zhou's application for asylum and withholding of removal and ordered him removed to China. An appeal to the BIA followed. During the pendency of that appeal, Zhou divorced his first wife, a Chinese national, and married a U.S. citizen. His second wife filed, on Zhou's behalf, an I-130 petition, which was approved on May 13, 2002. Seven months later, the BIA affirmed the IJ's order of removal. On February 23, 2003, Zhou moved to reopen his removal proceedings in light of the approval of his I-130 petition, which authorized him to seek an adjustment of status. This motion was initially granted on July 9, 2003, but the BIA vacated that decision in an Order dated February 1, 2006 on the ground that the IJ did not have jurisdiction over respondent's application because the respondent is an arriving alien. In re Peng-Di Zhou, No. A 72 303 020 (B.I.A. Feb. 1, 2006). Zhou then petitioned this Court for review, but before the matter was heard, the parties entered into a stipulation remanding the case to the BIA for reconsideration in light of newly adopted regulations. Stipulation and Order, Zhou v. BCIS, Docket No. 06-0914-ag, dated Aug. 23, 2006. The stipulation explained that under the new regulations, the USCIS may now `exercise discretion to grant applications for adjustment of status . . . by aliens who have been paroled into the United States and who have been placed in removal proceedings.' Id. (quoting 71 Fed.Reg. 27,588). We approved the stipulation and ordered a remand on August 23, 2006. On remand, the BIA denied Zhou's motion to reopen, explaining that as an arriving alien . . . [Zhou] may not apply for adjustment of status in removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge and instructing him to pursue any application for adjustment of status with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) independent of these removal proceedings. In re Peng-Di Zhou, No. A 72 303 020 (B.I.A. Nov. 6, 2006).