Anikin

MEMORANDUM

Petitioners seek review of agency decisions denying their applications for adjustment of status, asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. We deny the petition in part and grant it in part. Because the parties are familiar with the history of this case, we need not recount it here.

1. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) permissibly concluded that Irina An-ikina was statutorily ineligible for adjustment of status, where her lawful student status had expired four years before she applied for adjustment of status. Congress has prohibited adjustment of status for any person “who is in unlawful immigration status on the date of filing the application for adjustment of status or who has failed (other than through no fault of his own or for technical reasons) to maintain continuously a lawful status since entry into the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1255 (c). Simply put, one must have status in order to adjust it.

2. Remand is required to determine if Sergey Anikin is eligible for asylum, withholding of removal, or relief under the Convention Against Torture. Here, the Immigration Judge (IJ) twice concluded that Anikin had established…