Court Opinion

ID: 9363789
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-17 18:01:06.053961+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:34.229113
License: Public Domain

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

                       UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                            FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
                                 ___________

                                       No. 22-1397
                                       ___________

                                     OLEG ZHUIKO,
                                               Petitioner

                                             v.

              ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                   ____________________________________

                        On Petition for Review of an Order of the
                             Board of Immigration Appeals
                              (Agency No. A087-312-113)
                       Immigration Judge: Kuyomars Q. Golparvar
                       ____________________________________

                  Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
                                 January 5, 2023
        Before: JORDAN, GREENAWAY, Jr., and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges

                            (Opinion filed: January 17, 2023)
                                     ___________

                                        OPINION *
                                       ___________

PER CURIAM

       Oleg Zhuiko, a native of Kazakhstan, entered the United States in 2001 and

overstayed his visa. In November 2018, the Department of Homeland Security charged

*
 This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
him with removability under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B) for remaining in the country

longer than permitted. Zhuiko conceded removability and applied for cancellation of

removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b). Following a hearing, an Immigration Judge (IJ)

denied his application as a matter of discretion. 1 The Board of Immigration Appeals

(BIA) dismissed the appeal, and we dismissed Zhuiko’s petition for review. See Zhuiko

v. Att’y Gen., No. 19-3728, 2022 WL 385521 (3d Cir. Feb. 8, 2022).

       In February 2022, Zhuiko moved the BIA to reopen his removal proceedings to

request asylum and withholding of removal. Recognizing that his motion was time- and

number-barred under the applicable regulations, Zhuiko sought to satisfy the changed-

country-conditions exception by presenting evidence that the Kazakh government had

“stripped [him] of his Kazakh citizenship due to his non-Kazakh heritage, which

constitutes persecution.” AR000060. That evidence included: (1) a letter from the

Consulate General of the Republic of Kazakhstan stating that Zhuiko no longer has

citizenship, in accordance with Article #21 of that country’s citizenship law, 2 AR000183;

(2) a letter from the Department of Internal Affairs, City of Almaty, stating that Zhuiko’s

passport/identification card had been “included in a Category INVALID on December

1
  In finding that Zhuiko did not merit a favorable exercise of discretion, the IJ took into
account that, in 2014, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services determined
that Zhuiko had entered into a fraudulent marriage in an effort to adjust his status.
2
 According to Zhuiko, Article 21 provides that “[c]itizenship of the Republic of
Kazakhstan is lost . . . if an individual is permanently residing outside the [country] and
has not reported to a Kazak mission abroad for five years without a valid reason.”
AR000214.

                                              2
13, 2019, in connection with the ‘Loss of Citizenship of Republic of Kazakhstan,’”

AR000185; and (3) an affidavit by expert Steve M. Swerdlow opining that Zhuiko will

likely be persecuted on account of his “nationality and ethnicity (Jewish) and religion

(Judaism), which is considered both an ethnicity and a religious faith in Kazakhstan,”

AR000192, and noting that Article 21 “is used disproportionately against Non-Kazakh

nationals,” AR000211. Zhuiko also provided general country conditions evidence,

including, for example, the State Department’s 2014 Human Rights Report: Kazakhstan,

AR000154–168, Bulletins issued by Refugees International in 2007 and 2010,

AR000142–43 and AR000220, and a 2009 article titled “Refugees still face uncertainty

in Kazakhstan,” AR000170. The BIA determined that Zhuiko had not satisfied the

changed-country-conditions exception and denied the motion to reopen. 3 Zhuiko timely

filed a petition for review.

       We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1). We review the BIA’s denial of

a motion to reopen for an abuse of discretion. Bamaca-Cifuentes v. Att’y Gen., 870 F.3d

108, 110 (3d Cir. 2017) (quotation marks omitted). We review its conclusions of law de

novo, Filja v. Gonzales, 447 F.3d 241, 251 (3d Cir. 2006), and will uphold its factual

determinations if they are “supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence

on the record considered as a whole.” Id. (quoting INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478,

481 (1992)).

3
 We do not address the remainder of the BIA’s decision because Zhuiko does not
challenge it in his brief. See United States v. Pelullo, 399 F.3d 197, 222 (3d Cir. 2005).

                                             3
       Generally, a noncitizen may file only one motion to reopen removal proceedings,

and that motion must be filed no later than ninety days after the agency’s final order. 8

U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(i); see also 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(2). The time and numerical

limitations do not apply, however, to motions seeking reopening “based on changed

circumstances arising in the country of nationality” and supported by material evidence

that was not available during the previous proceeding. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(ii));

see also 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(3)(ii). “This changed-circumstances regulation effectively

creates a procedural hurdle that must be overcome before an untimely motion to reopen

may be considered.” Bamaca-Cifuentes, 870 F.3d at 111.

       We see no abuse of discretion in the BIA’s determination that Zhuiko’s untimely

motion failed to satisfy the changed-country-conditions exception. In order to satisfy this

exception, he was required to present evidence that, inter alia, makes a material

difference to his proposed asylum and withholding of removal claims. Substantial

evidence supports the BIA’s finding that this evidence does not sufficiently show that his

citizenship was revoked on account of his non-Kazakh ethnicity or Jewish religion rather

than his failure to follow the law for retaining citizenship. 4 And, to the extent that

Zhuiko seeks asylum on the ground that he fears persecution on account of his “lack of

4
  We read the BIA’s findings in this regard as supporting its determinations that: (1) any
change in country conditions was not material; and (2) Zhuiko failed to establish prima
facie eligibility for relief. To the extent that the BIA may have conflated the analyses of
these two independently dispositive determinations, any such error is harmless. See
Yuan v. Att’y Gen., 642 F.3d 420, 427 (3d Cir. 2011).

                                              4
citizenship,” AR000248, or “statelessness,” Br. 8, ECF No. 10, lack of citizenship is not a

protected category under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42). Therefore, any change supported by

this evidence was not material to his claims for asylum and withholding of removal.

       We have considered the remaining arguments that Zhuiko raises in his briefs and

conclude that they do not warrant relief. First, Zhuiko contends that the BIA “ignored”

evidence demonstrating that the Kazakh government enforces its immigration laws

disproportionately against non-ethnic Kazakhs. Notably, however, the BIA explicitly

recognized in its decision that Zhuiko was relying on “country conditions evidence and

an expert affidavit to establish that his citizenship was revoked on account of his non-

Kazakh ethnicity” and referenced the relevant portions of the record. AR000006 (citing

AR0000182–223). Second, Zhuiko argues that the fact that the Kazakh government did

not revoke his status until 2019 “should lead one to believe that other factors played a

part in [his] denaturalization.” Opening Br. 6, ECF No. 10. As the Government correctly

notes, however, nothing in the record establishes that Zhuiko’s citizenship was revoked in

2019 as opposed to an earlier date. Br. 6, ECF No. 10. 5

              Accordingly, we will deny the petition for review.

5
  To the extent that Zhuiko challenges the BIA’s alternative determination that he failed
to make a prima facie showing that he is entitled to asylum or withholding of removal,
we address only the Board’s independently dispositive determination that his untimely
motion failed to satisfy the requirements of 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c). See Bamaca-Cifuentes,
870 F.3d at 111–12 (explaining that the Board was procedurally barred from examining
the underlying merits of petitioner’s claims because the motion to reopen was untimely).
                                             5