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PART 1-DEFINITIONS

AUTHORITY: 8 U.S.C. 1101; 8 CFR part 2. §1.1 Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(a) The terms defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (66 Stat. 163) shall have the meanings ascribed to them in that section and as supplemented, explained, and further defined in this chapter.

(b) The term Act means the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.

(c) The term Service means the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

(d) The term Commissioner means the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization.

(e) The term Board means the Board of Immigration Appeals.

(f) The term attorney means any person who is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any State, possession, territory, Commonwealth, or the District of Columbia, and is not under any order of any court suspending, enjoining, restraining, disbarring, or otherwise restricting him in the practice of law.

(g) Unless the context otherwise requires, the term case means any proceeding arising under any immigration or naturalization law, Executive order, or Presidential proclamation, or preparation for or incident to such proceeding, including preliminary steps by any private person or corporation preliminary to the filing of the application or petition by which any proceeding under the jurisdiction of the Service or the Board is initiated.

(h) The term day when computing the period of time for taking any action provided in this chapter including the taking of an appeal, shall include Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, except that when the last day of the period so computed falls on a Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday, the period shall run until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, nor a legal holiday.

(i) The term practice means the act or acts of any person appearing in any

case, either in person or through the preparation or filing of any brief or other document, paper, application, or petition on behalf of another person or client before or with the Service, or any officer of the Service, or the Board. (j) The term representative refers to a person who is entitled to represent others as provided in §§ 292.1(a) (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and 292.1(b) of this chapter.

(k) The term preparation, constituting practice, means the study of the facts of a case and the applicable laws, coupled with the giving of advice and auxiliary activities, including the incidental preparation of papers, but does not include the lawful functions of a notary public or service consisting solely of assistance in the completion of blank spaces on printed Service forms by one whose remuneration, if any, is nominal and who does not hold himself out as qualified in legal matters or in immigration and naturalization procedure.

(1) The term immigration judge means an attorney whom the Attorney General appoints as an administrative judge within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, qualified to conduct specified classes of proceedings, including a hearing under section 240 of the Act. An immigration judge shall be subject to such supervision and shall perform such duties as the Attorney General shall prescribe, but shall not be employed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

(m) The term representation before the Board and the Service includes practice and preparation as defined in paragraphs (i) and (k) of this section.

(n) The term Executive Office means Executive Office for Immigration Review.

(0) The term director means either district director or regional service center director, unless otherwise specified.

(p) The term lawfully admitted for permanent residence means the status of having been lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with the immigration laws, such status not having changed. Such

status terminates upon entry of a final administrative order of exclusion or deportation.

(q) The term arriving alien means an applicant for admission coming or attempting to come into the United States at a port-of-entry, or an alien seeking transit through the United States at a port-of-entry, or an alien interdicted in international or United States waters and brought into the United States by any means, whether or not to a designated port-of-entry, and regardless of the means of transport. An arriving alien remains such even if paroled pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Act, except that an alien who was paroled before April 1, 1997, or an alien who was granted advance parole which the alien applied for and obtained in the United States prior to the alien's departure from and return to the United States, shall not be considered an arriving alien for purposes of section 235(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Act.

(r) The term respondent means a person named in a Notice to Appear issued in accordance with section 239(a) of the Act, or in an Order to Show Cause issued in accordance with §242.1 of this chapter as it existed prior to April 1, 1997.

(s) The term Service counsel means any immigration officer assigned to represent the Service in any proceeding before an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals.

(t) The term aggravated felony means a crime (or a conspiracy or attempt to commit a crime) described in section 101(a)(43) of the Act. This definition is applicable to any proceeding, application, custody determination, or adjudication pending on or after September 30, 1996, but shall apply under section 276(b) of the Act only to violations of section 276(a) of the Act occurring on or after that date.

[23 FR 9115, Nov. 26, 1958, as amended at 30 FR 14772, Nov. 30, 1965; 34 FR 12213, July 24, 1969: 38 FR 8590, Apr. 4, 1973; 40 FR 23271, May 29, 1975; 48 FR 8039. Feb. 25, 1983, 52 FR 2936, Jan. 29, 1987; 53 FR 30016, Aug. 10, 1988; 61 FR 18904, Apr. 29, 1996; 62 FR 10330, Mar. 6, 1997; 63 FR 19383, Apr. 20, 1998]

PART 2-AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSIONER

AUTHORITY: 28 U.S.C. 509, 510; 5 U.S.C. 301; 8 U.S.C. 1103.

§2.1 Authority of the Commissioner.

Without divesting the Attorney General of any of his powers, privileges, or duties under the immigration and naturalization laws, and except as to the Executive Office, the Board, the Office of the Chief Special Inquiry Officer, and Special Inquiry Officers, there is delegated to the Commissioner the authority of the Attorney General to direct the administration of the Service and to enforce the Act and all other laws relating to the immigration and naturalization of aliens. The Commissioner may issue regulations as deemed necessary or appropriate for the exercise of any authority delegated to him by the Attorney General, and may redelegate any such authority to any other officer or employee of the Service.

[48 FR 8039, Feb. 25, 1983]

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Appeals and the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge in the execution of their duties in accordance with this part 3. The Director may redelegate the authority delegated to him by the Attorney General to the Deputy Director, the Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals, or the Chief Immigration Judge.

(b) Citizenship Requirement for Employment. (1) An application to work at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR or Agency), either as an employee or as a volunteer, must include a signed affirmation from the applicant that he or she is a citizen of the United States of America. Upon the Agency's request, the applicant must document United States citizenship.

(2) The Director of EOIR may, by explicit written determination and to the extent permitted by law, authorize the appointment of an alien to an Agency position when necessary to accomplish the work of EOIR.

[48 FR 8039, Feb. 25, 1983, as amended at 60 FR 29468, June 5, 1995; 63 FR 51519, Sept. 28, 1998]

Subpart A-Board of Immigration Appeals

§3.1 General authorities.

(a)(1) Organization. There shall be in the Department of Justice a Board of Immigration Appeals, subject to the general supervision of the Director, Executive Office for Immigration Review. The Board shall consist of a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, and thirteen other members. The Board Members shall exercise their independent judgment and discretion in the cases coming before the Board. A vacancy, or the absence or unavailability of a Board Member, shall not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all the powers of the Board. The Director may in his discretion designate Immigration Judges, retired Board Members, retired Immigration Judges, and Administrative Law Judges employed within EOIR to act as temporary, additional Board Members for terms not to exceed six months. The Chairman may divide the Board into three-member panels and designate a Presiding Member of each panel. The Chairman may from time to time make changes in the

composition of such panels and of Presiding Members. Each panel shall be empowered to decide cases by majority vote. A majority of the number of Board Members authorized to constitute a panel shall constitute a quorum for such panel. Each threemember panel may exercise the appropriate authority of the Board as set out in part 3 that is necessary for the adjudication of cases before it. In the case of an unopposed motion or a motion to withdraw an appeal pending before the Board, a single Board Member or the Chief Attorney Examiner may exercise the appropriate authority of the Board as set out in part 3 that is necessary for the adjudication of such motions before it. In addition, a single Board Member may exercise such authority in disposing of the following matters: a Service motion to remand an appeal from the denial of a visa petition where the Regional Service Center Director requests that the matter be remanded to the Service for further consideration of the appellant's arguments or evidence raised on appeal; a case where remand is required because of a defective or missing transcript; and other procedural or ministerial issues as provided by the Chairman. A motion to reconsider or to reopen a decision that was rendered by a single Board Member may be adjudicated by that Board Member.

(2) Chairman. The Chairman shall direct, supervise, and establish internal operating procedures and policies of the Board. He shall designate a member of the Board to act as Chairman in his absence or unavailability. The Chairman shall be assisted in the performance of his duties by a Chief Attorney Examiner, who shall be directly responsible to the Chairman. The Chief Attorney Examiner shall serve as an Alternate Board Member when, in the absence or unavailability of a Board Member or Members or for other good cause, his participation is deemed necessary by the Chairman. Once designated, his participation in a case shall continue to its normal conclusion.

(3) Board Members. Board Members shall perform the quasi-judicial function of adjudicating cases coming before the Board.

(4) En banc process—(i) Full Board en banc. A majority of the permanent Board Members shall constitute a quorum of the Board for purposes of convening the full Board en banc. The Board may on its own motion, by a majority vote of the permanent Board Members, or by direction of the Chairman, consider any case as the full Board en banc, or reconsider as the full Board en banc any case that has been considered or decided by a three-member panel or by a limited en banc panel.

(ii) Limited en banc panels. The Board may on its own motion, by a majority vote of the permanent Board Members, or by direction of the Chairman, assign a case or group of cases for consideration by a limited en banc panel, or assign a case that has been considered or decided by a three-member panel for reconsideration by a limited en banc panel. Each limited en banc panel shall consist of nine members. Each limited en banc panel shall contain the Chairman or Vice Chairman (as decided by the Chairman). If the Chairman and Vice Chairman are both disqualified in a particular case, then the most senior permanent Board Member who is not disqualified shall sit on the limited en banc panel as the Presiding Board Member. If the Chairman and Vice Chairman are both unavailable to hear a case that has been assigned to a limited en banc panel, but the Chairman is not disqualified, then the Chairman shall a designate Presiding Board Member to sit on the limited en banc panel. If the Chairman is unavailable and disqualified, then the Vice Chairman, if unavailable and not disqualified, shall designate a presiding Board Member to sit on the limited en banc panel. Where a case that has been considered or decided by a three-member panel is assigned for review by a limited en banc panel, the en banc panel shall contain all available permanent Board Members who considered or decided that case as part of a three-member panel. The remaining members of each limited en banc panel will be randomly selected from among the permanent Board Members. The decision reached by a limited en banc panel shall be considered as the final decision of the Board in the case, unless the

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