Pagunsan

MEMORANDUM ***

Maria Teresa Posadas Pagunsan, a native and citizen of the Philippines, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing her appeal from the immigration judge’s (“U”) denial of her application for asylum and withholding of removal. 1 We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . The immigration judge based the denial of relief on an adverse credibility finding. The BIA affirmed the adverse credibility finding and held, in the alternative, that Pagunsan failed to meet her burden of proof for asylum. Id. § 1158. Because we hold that these grounds for denying relief are not supported by substantial evidence, we grant the petition for review and remand.

“Where, as here, the BIA adopts the IJ’s decision while adding its own reasons, we review both decisions.” Siong v. INS, 376 F.3d 1030, 1036 (9th Cir.2004) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review adverse credibility determinations for substantial evidence. Gui v. INS, 280 F.3d 1217, 1225 (9th Cir.2002). In this case, the immigration judge relies primari *621 ly on discrepancies between Pagunsan’s 1991 asylum application and her updated 2000 asylum application. 2…

dissenting.

Pagunsan’s final account of politics and persecution, if it must be believed, suffices for a claim of asylum. But a bare reading of her account, which has grown from a sapling to an oak from its first telling to its last, does not compel belief. The Immigration Judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals found Pagunsan not credible for vagueness, improbability, and material differences in her accounts, finding also that her demeanor betrayed her. Those conclusions are within the Board’s charge and beyond ours.

I. Background

Pagunsan grew up on the southern Philippine island of Panay. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, she lived and worked in Manila from 1981 until 1990. While living in Manila, Pagunsan visited her parents’ home on Panay about three times a year. In August 1990, Pagunsan received a student visa to come to the United States. Within three months of arriving in Florida, Pagunson abandoned her graduate studies and relocated to California, where she has relatives.

In September 1991, on the eve of expiration of her student visa, Pagunsan submitted her first application for asylum. In 2000, she submitted a new application. Both…