Farcas

MEMORANDUM ****

Irina Farcas (“Farcas”), a native and citizen of Romania, petitions for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), which affirmed without opinion the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of her application for asylum and withholding of removal and relief under Article III of the Convention Against Torture. Farcas’s underlying applications were based on a claim of religious persecution. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 (a)(1), and we grant the petition for review and remand for further proceedings.

Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recite them in detail. When the Board adopts a decision of the IJ without opinion, as it did here, we review the IJ’s decision as the final agency determination. See Lopez-Alvarado v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 847, 851 (9th Cir.2004). Credibility findings are reviewed under the substantial evidence standard. Gui v. INS, 280 F.3d 1217, 1225 (9th Cir.2002). When the IJ does provide specific reasons for questioning a witness’s credibility, we may evaluate those reasons to determine whether they are valid grounds upon which to base a finding that the applicant is not credible. Id.; see…