Balabekyan

MEMORANDUM ***

Valodia Balabekyan, his wife Melanie Karapetian, and their children Artak Balabekyan and Arman Balabekyan (“the Balabekyans”), petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of their appeal from an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of their applications for suspension of deportation. Because the transitional rules apply, see Kalaw v. INS, 133 F.3d 1147, 1150 (9th Cir.1997), we have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a). We review legal determinations de novo, Cervantes-Gonzales v. INS, 244 F.3d 1001, 1004 (9th Cir.2001), and we grant the petition.

Under IIRIRA’s 1 stop-time rule, an applicant stops accruing time towards the continuous physical presence requirement for suspension of deportation or withholding of removal when a charging document is issued. Ram v. INS, 243 F.3d 510, 513-16 (9th Cir.2001). In Astrero v. INS, 104 F.3d 264, 266 (9th Cir.1996), this court held that IIRIRA’s new stop-time rule could not be applied in proceedings conducted before its effective date of April 1, 1997. Guadalupe-Cruz v. INS, 240 F.3d 1209 , 1211 (9th Cir.2001).

During a January 9,1997 hearing, the IJ disregarded this court’s holding in Astrero as…