AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision DEC162020_01B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed The AAO found the published-material and awards criteria unmet, leaving fewer than three qualifying criteria; the decision says a final-merits determination is unnecessary and then briefly reviews the record in the aggregate.
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: Complete AAO decision explicitly addressing an EB-1A Form I-140 extraordinary-ability petition.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | DEC162020_01B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | 2020-12-16 |
Classification / field stated in source | Nonprecedent AAO EB-1A Form I-140 appeal decision |
Procedural posture | Appeal from denial of an EB-1A petition; decision reviews awards, published material, and judging evidence. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | The AAO found the published-material and awards criteria unmet, leaving fewer than three qualifying criteria; the decision says a final-merits determination is unnecessary and then briefly reviews the record in the aggregate. |
What the AAO decision addressed
The AAO found the published-material and awards criteria unmet, leaving fewer than three qualifying criteria; the decision says a final-merits determination is unnecessary and then briefly reviews the record in the aggregate.
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 met — p. 6 |
Membership | Not considered — source PDF |
Published material about the person | |
Judging the work of others | met — p. 2 |
Original contributions of major significance | Not considered — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | Not considered — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not considered — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | Not considered — source PDF |
High salary or remuneration | Not considered — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not considered — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
claim: The Director had found awards, published material, and judging; on appeal the AAO finds the claimed published-material evidence inadequate and later rejects the awards evidence. (pp. 2, 6); pages: 2; 6
claim: Online reposts, screenshots, translations, and articles without required publication/title/date/author details did not establish qualifying published material about the petitioner. (pp. 3–5); pages: 3; 4; 5
claim: The decision treats judging as established but finds the awards largely limited to youth/student categories and insufficient to demonstrate the requisite recognition. (pp. 2, 6); pages: 2; 6
claim: The AAO says it need not provide a final-merits determination because the initial-evidence threshold is unmet; it dismisses the appeal. (pp. 5–6); pages: 5; 6
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Eligible for individual case discussion
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
Awards research
Membership research
Published material about the person research
Judging the work of others research
Original contributions of major significance research
Scholarly authorship research
Artistic display or showcases research
Leading or critical role research
High salary or remuneration research
Commercial success in the performing arts research
Threshold research
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