Singh

AMENDED MEMORANDUM **

Atinder Pal Singh (“Singh”), a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision denying his motion to reopen deportation proceedings in order to apply for adjustment of status. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . Sotelo v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 968, 970 (9th Cir.2005). Reviewing for abuse of discretion, Socop-Gonzalez v. INS, 272 F.3d 1176, 1187 (9th Cir.2001) (en banc), we grant the petition and remand for further proceedings.

The BIA abused its discretion in concluding that the late filing of Singh’s motion to reopen was not excused by ineffective assistance of prior counsel, Randhir Kang, and instead constituted a lack of due diligence by Singh. A motion to reopen is due “no later than 90 days after the date on which the final administrative decision was rendered in the proceeding sought to be reopened.” 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2 (c)(2). The INS’s letter of March 3, 2003 about Singh’s adjustment of status application did not state that his appeal to the BIA had been dismissed on June 5, 2002. Several months later, Singh sought and then retained new counsel. He filed the motion to reopen at issue…