Flores-Contreras

MEMORANDUM ***

Petitioner Jose Flores-Contreras appeals the order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying his motion to reopen proceedings and his request for a stay of voluntary departure. In view of our recent decision in Azarte v. Ashcroft, 394 F.3d 1278 (9th Cir.2005), we grant the petition for review.

*911 In an order dated October 30, 2002, the BIA affirmed the order of the immigration judge (IJ), which found Petitioner removable and granted him sixty days to depart voluntarily. The BIA’s order affirming the IJ’s decision granted Petitioner an additional thirty-day period for voluntary departure. On November 12, 2002, Petitioner filed a motion to reopen asserting that Petitioner’s father had become a United States citizen and that a visa became available to Petitioner on November 1, 2002. The BIA denied that motion, without reaching its merits, in an order dated January 23, 2003. The BIA held that Petitioner was statutorily ineligible for the relief sought because he had stayed beyond the sixty-day maximum voluntary departure period available under 8 U.S.C. § 1229c(b)(2). The BIA concluded that, under 8 C.F.R. § 1240.26 (f), it was without authority to extend…