Dimitranov

MEMORANDUM **

Vesselin Dimitranov, a native and citizen of Bulgaria, petitions for review of an order the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), affirming the decision of an Immigration Judge (“U”) that Dimitranov was not eligible for asylum, withholding of removal, or relief under the Convention Against Torture. We deny Dimitranov’s petition.

Dimitranov claims that he is eligible for asylum and withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(42)(A), as a member of a particular social group consisting of small business owners in Bulgaria. “[A] ‘particular social group’ is one united by voluntary association, including a former association, or by an innate characteristic that is so fundamental to the identities or eon-sciences of its members that members either cannot or should not be required to change it.” Hernandez-Montiel v. INS, 225 F.3d 1084, 1093 (9th Cir.2000) (emphasis in original). Dimitranov testified that he and other business owners were not united by “voluntary association.” Further, being a business owner is not something so fundamental to Dimitranov’s identity or conscience that he cannot be expected to change it. See Matter of…