(B)  Suspension Based on Ten Years.  A person who is deportable under one of the crime-related grounds of deportation, such as the moral turpitude, controlled substances, or aggravated felony provisions, must show ten years of continuous physical presence and Good Moral Character immediately following the event that rendered him or her deportable.[421]  Thus, even defendants who have a serious conviction in the distant past still may be eligible for this form of suspension (assuming, of course, that their deportation proceedings began before April 1, 1997 and that they are otherwise eligible).

 

Conviction of an aggravated felony is a permanent bar to a finding of Good Moral Character if the conviction occurred after November 29, 1990.  See § 2.14, supra.  Suspension may still be granted if the conviction occurred before that date. 

[421] INA § 244(a)(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1254(a)(2).  The BIA has held that where a conviction is the event that makes the person inadmissible, the ten years runs from the date of conviction, not the date of commission of the offense. Matter of P, 6 I. & N. Dec. 788 (BIA 1955).

Second Circuit

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION - STOP-TIME RULE APPLIED RETROACTIVELY TO CONVICTION PREDATING ENACTMENT OF RULE
Makadji v. Gonzales, 470 F.3d 450 (2d Cir. Dec. 5, 2006) (stop-time rule for suspension of deportation, providing that period of continuous residence ended upon the commission of certain offenses, was triggered by petitioner's criminal conviction, even through that offense occurred prior to enactment of the 1996 amendments to the INA).

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION - STOP-TIME RULE APPLIED RETROACTIVELY TO CONVICTION PREDATING ENACTMENT OF RULE
Tabile v. Gonzales, ___ F.3d ___ (2d Cir. Dec. 5, 2006) (stop-time rule for suspension of deportation, providing that period of continuous residence ended upon the commission of certain offenses, was triggered by petitioner's criminal conviction, even through that offense occurred prior to enactment of the 1996 amendments to the INA). http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/052955p.pdf

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION
Tanov v. INS, 443 F.3d 195 (2d Cir. Apr. 4, 2006) (former suspension of deportation is unavailable to noncitizens who were paroled into and then ordered excluded from the United States prior to April 1, 1997).
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/034321p.pdf

Third Circuit

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION - CONTINUOUS PRESENCE REQUIREMENT - STOP-TIME RULE - RETROACTIVE APPLICATION DID NOT VIOLATE DUE PROCESS
Arca-Pineda v. Att'y Gen., 527 F.3d 101 (3d Cir. May 28, 2008) (retroactive application of the stop-time rule did not violate due process).

RELIEF - CONTINUOUS PRESENCE REQUIREMENT - STOP-TIME RULE - EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL CLAIM REJECTED
Arca-Pineda v. Att'y Gen., 527 F.3d 101 (3d Cir. May 28, 2008) (respondent cannot re-start clock by failing to appear for removal proceeding and then waiting an additional 10 years).

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION - STOP-TIME RULE
Arca-Pineda v. Att'y Gen., 527 F.3d 101 (3d Cir. May 28, 2008) (continuous physical presence clock did not begin to run again after an administrative closure; administrative closure is not a termination proceedings; it only removes the case from the IJs calendar).

Eighth Circuit

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION
Geach v. Chartoff, 444 F.3d 940 (8th Cir. Mar. 2, 2006) (advance parole regulation, 8 C.F.R. 245.2(a)(4)(ii) (1991) (amended 1996), denies suspension of deportation to aliens admitted on advance parole, but who otherwise meet the statutory requirements for suspension).

Ninth Circuit

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION - RETROACTIVITY - BIA USED IMPERMISSIBLY RETROACTIVE APPLICATION TO DISQUALIFY PETITIONER FROM FORMER SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION
Anderson v. Gonzales, __ F.3d __, 2007 WL 2264698 (9th Cir. Aug. 9, 2007) (repeal of former suspension of deportation relief impermissibly retroactive when applied to a noncitizen who became eligible for naturalization in 1990, but waited until 1995 before making the application with the intent of becoming eligible for suspension of deportation in the event the INS placed noncitizen in removal proceedings upon making the application for naturalization).

RELIEF - SUSPENSION OF DEPORTATION - RETROACTIVITY OF LEGISLATION REPEALING SUSPENSION
Lopez-Castellanos v Gonzales, 437 F.3d 848 (9th Cir. Feb. 16, 2006) (Congress did not make the elimination of suspension of deportation retroactive with sufficient clarity to disturb settled expectations, just as it did not do so with respect to waivers of deportability under former INA 212(c)), following INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001)).