*228 OPINION OF THE COURT
Petitioner Mohammed Nasir Khan seeks review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirming the decision of the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) who denied Khan’s request for a continuance of his removal proceeding. We must decide at the outset whether we have jurisdiction.
I.
Background
Khan is a forty-seven-year-old native and citizen of Bangladesh. He entered the United States as a non-immigrant business visitor on September 20, 1996, with permission to remain for a period not to exceed one month. On March 25, 2003, Khan voluntarily reported to the offices of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to register in compliance with DHS’s “special registration” program. 1 DHS placed Khan into removal proceedings that same day by serving him with a Notice to Appear in which it charged him with removability under INA § 237(a)(1)(B) for overstaying his visa.
On October 2, 2003, Khan appeared pro se for a hearing before an IJ who adjourned the proceeding so that Khan could seek counsel. On November 20, 2003, Khan again appeared before the IJ, this time with counsel. Khan conceded his re-movability as charged and did not apply for asylum or other substantive relief. Instead, he applied for voluntary departure and submitted a written motion seeking a continuance of the removal proceeding or, in the alternative, a termination of the proceeding on the ground that his wife (also an alien from Bangladesh) had a pending application for an Alien Employment Certification (“Labor Certification”) with the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”). 2
*229 Khan and his wife, Rehana Begum, were married in Bangladesh in 1982; they have a United States citizen minor child. On April 30, 2001, a prospective employer in Pennsylvania filed a Labor Certification for permission to employ Begum as a “Household Cook” at a private residence. Khan’s wife timely applied for the Labor Certification under INA § 245(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i) (“LIFE Act”), which had a sunset date of April 30, 2001. 3 As relevant to the instant case, the LIFE Act provides that a legal permanent resident alien’s spouse and minor children are eligible, by virtue of their relation to the alien, to apply for adjustment of status if otherwise qualified. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(1)(B); 8 U.S.C. § 1153(d).
At the November 20, 2003 hearing, Khan’s counsel represented to the IJ that it “usually takes about 45 days to get a response from the regional” on an application for a Labor Certification. App. at 49. The IJ denied the requested continuance, reasoning that Begum’s application for a Labor Certification was merely pending, no visa petition had yet been filed, and therefore Khan was not prima facie eligible to adjust his status. The IJ also denied Khan’s alternative request to terminate the removal proceedings altogether, rejecting Khan’s suggestion that termination was warranted because DHS had failed to follow its own regulations in requiring Khan to register under the special registration program. The IJ noted that Khan, through counsel, had conceded his removability as charged and declined to rule on Khan’s due process challenge to the registration program. The IJ ordered Khan’s removal to Bangladesh but granted him a sixty-day window to depart voluntarily.
Khan timely appealed to the BIA, raising two arguments: (1) the special registration procedure “is repugnant to the U.S. constitution;” and (2) the IJ erred in refusing to grant a continuance on the ground that Begum’s application for a Labor Certification was pending. App. at 5. Khan noted that Begum’s Labor Certification already had been approved at the state level and was pending only before the federal Regional Office of the DOL. Khan argued that he should not be faulted for the government’s delay in processing Labor Certifications. On October 27, 2004, the BIA summarily affirmed the IJ’s order without opinion and permitted Khan thirty days to depart voluntarily.
Khan timely filed this petition for review. The Government filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that this court lacks jurisdiction and, alternatively, for summary affirmance.
II.
As we noted above, this case presents at the threshold the question whether this court has jurisdiction over the petition for review. The BIA issued a final order summarily affirming the IJ’s removal order, which the IJ entered after denying Khan’s motion for a continuance. Thus, the BIA order falls within our jurisdiction to review a “final order of removal,” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(1).
The Government argues we lack jurisdiction to review the IJ’s denial of Khan’s request for a continuance because such denial constitutes a “discretionary determination.” Motion to Dismiss at 4. The Government relies upon the language of INA § 242(a)(2)(B)(ii), 8 U.S.C. *230 § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), which provides in pertinent part:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law , no court shall have jurisdiction to review ... any other decision or action of the Attorney General ... the authority for which is specified under this subchapter to be in the discretion of the Attorney General ..., other than the granting of [asylum] relief under section 1158(a) of this title.
Id. (emphasis added).
As the Government suggests, the question whether we have jurisdiction in the present case turns on whether the IJ’s authority to grant Khan a continuance of the removal proceeding is “specified under this subchapter,” and therefore precluded from review.
Id.
We have previously explained that, “[t]he language ‘this subchap-ter’ in the foregoing provision refers to Subchapter II in Chapter 12 of Title 8 of the United States Code,” which consists of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1151-1378 (“Subchapter”).
Urena-Tavarez v. Ashcroft
There is no statutory provision within the Subchapter that explicitly confers discretion on an IJ to grant a continuance. The only provision in the Subchapter which might be construed to confer such discretion is 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(a), which grants authority to “[a]n immigration judge [to] conduct proceedings for deciding the inadmissibility or deportability of an alien.” 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(a)(l). Arguably, a tribunal authorized to hear a matter has inherent authority to continue the hearing to another time. In any event, a federal regulation explicitly confers discretion upon the IJ to grant a continuance: “The Immigration Judge may grant a motion for continuance for good cause shown.” 8 C.F.R. § 1003.29 (2006).
Significant for present purposes is the issue whether the IJ’s decision on such a motion can be reviewed by this court. The Courts of Appeals are divided on the question whether an express grant of discretionary authority in a federal regulation implemented pursuant to the Subchapter amounts to authority “specified under this subchapter.”
We look first to whether this court has spoken on this issue. In
Bakhtriger v. Elwood,
Thereafter, we did consider this language in
Soltane v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice,
*231
We also considered the language of § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) in
Urena-Tavarez,
The only other precedential opinion in which we have considered § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) is our recent decision in
Jilin Pharmaceutical USA, Inc. v. Chertoff,
In none of the cases referred to above, Soltane, Urenar-Tavarez, and Jilin, did we address the issue before this court in the instant case — namely, whether § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) bars jurisdiction when there is no statute expressly granting discretion to the Attorney General but discretionary authority is extant under a federal regulation. Accordingly, the issue before us is one of first impression for this court.
The Eighth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals have interpreted § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) to mean that a Court of Appeals has no jurisdiction to review the denial of a petitioner’s motion for a continuance of a removal proceeding.
Yerkovich v. Ashcroft,
Courts that have held to the contrary have ruled that discretionary authority to grant a continuance cannot be considered “specified under this subchapter” where the language that expressly provides for such authority appears only in a regulation.
See Ahmed v. Gonzales,
*232
The Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits have adopted similar reasoning in concluding that the language of § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) does not bar review of the denial of a motion to reopen removal proceedings, a proceeding comparable to a motion to continue in its invocation of the IJ’s discretion. In
Zhao v. Gonzales,
One might mistakenly read § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) as stripping us of the authority to review any discretionary immigration decision. That reading, however, is incorrect, because § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) strips us only of jurisdiction to review discretionary authority specified in the statute. The statutory language is uncharacteristically pellucid on this score; it does not allude generally to “discretionary authority” or to “discretionary authority exercised under this statute, ” but specifically to “authority for which is specified under this sub-chapter to be in the discretion of the Attorney General.”
Id.
at 303 (quoting § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii));
see also Medina-Morales v. Ashcroft,
In its recent opinion in
Sanusi,
Although the presiding officer at a hearing traditionally has discretion to grant or to deny continuances requested by the parties appearing before him, we cannot conclude that the decision to grant or to deny a continuance in immigration proceedings is “specified under [the relevant] subchapter to be in the discretion of the Attorney General.” Indeed, continuances are not even mentioned in the subchapter. We therefore hold that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) does not deprive us of jurisdiction to review decisions by IJs to grant or to deny continuances, which accords with our general presumption in favor of judicial review. See INS v. St. Cyr,533 U.S. 289 , 298,121 S.Ct. 2271 ,150 L.Ed.2d 347 (2001) (stating that despite specific jurisdiction-denying provisions, in immigration cases there still exists a “strong presumption in favor of judicial review of administrative action”).
Sanusi, at 198 (alteration in original) (footnotes omitted).
In our view, the Second, Fifth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals have adopted the correct reading of § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii). As we have previously observed, “[t]he key to § 125[2](a)(2)(B)(ii) lies in its requirement that the discretion giving rise to the jurisdictional bar must be ‘specified’ by statute. In other words, ‘the language of the statute in question must provide the discretionary authority’ before the bar can have any effect.”
Sol-
*233
tane,
In
Abur-Khaliel,
the Sixth Circuit agreed with the Eleventh Circuit that “we have jurisdiction to review the IJ’s denial of a continuance” but reached this conclusion through different reasoning.
Abu-Khaliel,
Although we agree with the Sixth Circuit that we have jurisdiction to review an IJ’s denial of a continuance, we do not adopt its conclusion that an IJ’s discretionary power to grant or deny a continuance is “specified” in § 1229a(a)(1). Because the IJ’s authority to rule on a continuance motion is not “specified under [8 U.S.C. §§ 1151-1378] to be in the discretion of the Attorney General,” we hold that § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) does not deprive this court of jurisdiction.
III.
Merits
Because the BIA summarily affirmed without opinion, we review the IJ’s decision.
Dia v. Ashcroft,
Khan argues that the denial of his continuance request amounted to an abuse of *234 discretion and deprived him of due process of law because it effectively denied him the benefit of seeking to adjust his status under the LIFE Act. Khan contends that a continuance was warranted because he had done everything in his power to comply with the law and should not have been faulted for the government’s delay in processing his wife’s Labor Certification.
Khan cites
Subhan v. Ashcroft,
In the instant case, as in
Subhan,
the IJ’s explanation for refusing Khan a continuance amounted to a determination that Khan was “not eligible for this form of relief at this time.”
Subhan,
Where, as here, an alien has failed to submit a visa petition, an IJ’s decision to deny the alien’s continuance request is squarely within the IJ’s broad discretion, at least absent extraordinary circumstances not extant in the present case.
7
See Onyeme v. INS,
It is undisputed that Khan is presently ineligible for an immigrant visa, which is a prerequisite to an adjustment of status under § 1255(i). Moreover, Khan cannot show that a visa is “immediately available” to him or even that one will be available to him at some estimable time in the future. Khan has provided no estimate, beyond the 45 days he suggested to the IJ on November 20, 2003, of how long it would take for his wife’s Labor Certification to be approved; therefore, any continuance would be indefinite. As the Eleventh Circuit explained on similar facts in Zafar:
[Sjince all that the petitioners offered the immigration judges was the “speculative” possibility that at some point in the future they may receive, or in Zafar’s case, his father may receive, labor certification, petitioners have failed to demonstrate that they had a visa petition “immediately available” to them because they could not have filed an “approvable” visa petition without the labor certification in the first place, which is a prerequisite for relief under 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i) and 8 C.F.R. § 245.10(a)(3). At the time of the immigration judges’ denials of the petitioners’ motions to continue their removal proceedings, it is clear that the petitioners were ineligible for adjustments to permanent resident status under § 1255(i) and there thus were no visas “immediately available” to them.
Zafar,
It is true, as Khan complains, that DOL’s apparent delay in processing his wife’s Labor Certification is beyond his control, and that if the DOL had acted more promptly he might be adjusting his status rather than facing removal. However, on the present facts that delay does not restrict the IJ’s scope of discretion to the sole option of granting continuance.
Cf. Ahmed,
As with the petitioners in
Ahmed
and
Zafar,
Khan has offered only “the ‘speculative’ possibility that at some point in the
future
... his [wife]
may
receive[], labor certification.”
Zafar,
In addition to his abuse-of-discretion claims, Khan claims that the rejection of his continuance request worked a
*236
denial of his right to due process of law under the Fifth Amendment.
8
To make this claim successfully, Khan “must show that he was prevented from reasonably presenting his case.”
Uspango v. Ashcroft,
IV.
For the foregoing reasons, the Government’s motion to dismiss for want of juris *237 diction is denied and Khan’s petition for review is denied on the merits.
Notes
. The special registration program, which DHS enlarged post-9/11, requires non-citizens from specified countries to register with the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System.
See Ali
v.
Gonzales,
. Employment-based permanent residency (a "green card”) is available to aliens through a three-step process. First, the alien's prospective employer must file an application for Labor Certification (Form ETA-750) with the DOL, which refers the petition to the appropriate state-level authority, such as the Pennsylvania Department of Labor. If the application satisfies certain requirements (e.g., sufficient United States workers are unwilling or unable to perform the job in question), the state labor office and, thereafter, the DOL will "certify” the labor request. Second, the alien’s prospective employer must file with DHS the approved Labor Certification along with a Visa Petition for Prospective Immigrant Employee (Form 1-140):
A Visa Petition constitutes a request to [DHS] that the alien named in the Labor Certification be classified as eligible to apply for designation within a specified visa preference employment category. If [DHS] approves the Visa Petition and classifies the certified alien as so eligible, the alien is assigned an immigrant visa number by the Department of State.
United States v. Ryan-Webster,
. The LIFE Act enabled certain aliens unlawfully present in the United States to pay an application fee and remain here while seeking to adjust their status based on employment. 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i)(1).
. In
Subhan v. Ashcroft,
. Under
Abu-Khaliel,
if § 1229a(a)(1) had granted the power to "conduct proceedings” to the Attorney General rather than to IJs, the Attorney General could then delegate that power to IJs and thereby strip federal courts of jurisdiction to review the denial of a continuance under § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii).
See Abu-Khaliel,
. See supra note 4.
. In Matter of Garcia, the BIA held that while "an alien does not have an absolute right” to a continuance of removal proceedings, an IJ generally should grant such a continuance where an alien has submitted "a prima facie approvable visa petition.” Matter of Garcia, 16 I. & N. Dec. 653, 656-57 (BIA 1978) modified on other grounds by In re Arthur, 20 I & N Dec. 475 (BIA 1992). However, the BIA suggested that, even where an alien has submitted a visa petition, "[i]t clearly would not be an abuse of discretion for the immigration judge to summarily deny a request for a continuance ... upon his determination that the visa petition is frivolous or that the Adjustment Application would be denied on statutory grounds or in the exercise of discretion notwithstanding the approval of the petition.” Id. at 657.
. On appeal before the BIA, Khan claimed that the IJ improperly denied him a continuance but did not put this claim in terms of constitutional due process. See App. at 5. Therefore, we consider briefly whether Khan has exhausted his remedies with respect to this claim.
We have jurisdiction over an alien's claim only where the alien has "raise[d] and exhausted] his or her remedies as to [that] claim.”
Abdulrahman v. Ashcroft,
In
Bonhometre,
Petitioner Bonhometre raised before this court a claim of procedural error he had not raised before the BIA. Although he presented his claim "in the language of procedural due process,” we instead viewed it as an administrative claim of procedural error that the BIA could have addressed on appeal.
Bonhometre,
The present case is similar to
Bonhometre
in two respects. First, Khan raises a procedural due process claim for the first time in his petition for review. Second, because this claim, stripped of its "due process” label, is a claim of procedural error that could have been addressed by the BIA on appeal, the requirement that Khan exhaust remedies applies. However, unlike in
Bonhometre,
Khan did raise this claim (without its "due process” label) in his appellate brief before the BIA. App. at 5 (challenging "the IJ's refusal to grant an adjournment”). Therefore, we have jurisdiction over Khan's “due process” claim, but we treat it as a claim of mere "procedural error correctable through the administrative process.”
Sewak,