AAO research
EB-1A judging the work of others — AAO decision DEC122019_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 6). Review source status, procedural posture and the official…
Decision summary: AAO decision DEC122019_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 6). Three initial criteria were accepted (leading/critical role, high salary, and judging). AAO nevertheless found the totality insufficient: open volunteer judging applications did not show the acclaim implied by a personal invitation; prior work and letters did not show broad influence/recognition or sustained acclaim in business analysis (pp. 2–6).
Source reviewed: This page summarizes the specific AAO source and posture recorded in the completed source-review tracker. It does not turn a nonprecedent decision into a general rule.
Scope classification from review: in_scope_EB1A_source_reviewed. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | DEC122019_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | December 12, 2019 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A business appeal; petitioner is a director of business analysis for a financial corporation subsidiary. |
Procedural posture | Appeal of Texas Service Center denial; director found leading/critical role and high salary; AAO agreed with those findings, found judging met, original contributions not met, and dismissed after an adverse final-merits review (pp. 1–6). |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed (p. 6). |
Final-merits status | Explicit final-merits determination: adverse. Three threshold criteria did not establish sustained acclaim or top-of-field standing; AAO emphasized the weak recognition value of volunteer/open-call judging and lack of independent evidence of industry-wide impact (pp. 5–6). |
What the AAO decision addressed
Three initial criteria were accepted (leading/critical role, high salary, and judging). AAO nevertheless found the totality insufficient: open volunteer judging applications did not show the acclaim implied by a personal invitation; prior work and letters did not show broad influence/recognition or sustained acclaim in business analysis (pp. 2–6).
Criterion-by-criterion status in this source
These labels reproduce the source-review record. “Not considered,” “not reached,” and “not coded” do not mean the criterion failed. A Director finding recited as background is not an AAO holding unless the decision says so.
Criterion | Source-review status |
|---|---|
Awards | Not coded — source PDF |
Membership | Not coded — source PDF |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | met |
Original contributions of major significance | not met |
Scholarly authorship | Not coded — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | met |
High salary or remuneration | met |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
Citations refer to physical PDF pages; every physical page visually inspected in page order.
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Useful business example showing three criteria can be met while final merits remains adverse; the judging criterion and its recognition value are distinct questions. High-value final-merits case page with precise explanation of open-call judging. No CMS edits or publication were made.
Editorial use note: High-value final-merits case page with precise explanation of open-call judging. No CMS edits or publication were made.
Page-level source trail
Use the official PDF and the cited physical page numbers to check each statement.
How to use this record
This is a historical, nonprecedent AAO decision about its own administrative record. It is not a prediction, success rate, or current filing instruction. Compare the issue and procedural stage before drawing an analogy. The current framework is in the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 2.
Related corpus research
Full-corpus research index
Judging the work of others research
Original contributions of major significance research
Leading or critical role research
High salary or remuneration research
Entrepreneurship sector research
Final Merits research
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