AAO research
EB-1A three-criterion threshold — AAO decision DEC312020_02B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: AAO decision DEC312020_02B2203: Appeal dismissed. The AAO rejected the one-time award claim, national-team membership evidence, and high-salary evidence; found fewer than three criteria and dismissed. It accepted the record of transition to professional performance against the Director’s concern, but this is not a regulatory criterion. (pp. 2–8).
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 | DEC312020_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | December 31, 2020 |
Classification / field stated in source | Tumbling/gymnastics athlete and professional live-show performer. |
Procedural posture | Appeal of I-140 extraordinary-ability denial; AAO review. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed. |
Final-merits status | No distinct final-merits determination after fewer than three criteria; closing conclusion adverse. (pp. 7–8) |
What the AAO decision addressed
The AAO rejected the one-time award claim, national-team membership evidence, and high-salary evidence; found fewer than three criteria and dismissed. It accepted the record of transition to professional performance against the Director’s concern, but this is not a regulatory criterion. (pp. 2–8)
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 — source PDF |
Membership | Not met — source PDF |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | Not coded — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | Not coded — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | Not coded — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | Not coded — source PDF |
High salary or remuneration | Not met — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Useful individual explainer on one-time achievement in non-Olympic sports, team-selection proof, and separating wages/allowances/performance pay in athlete compensation.
Page-level source trail
Use the official PDF and the cited physical page numbers to check each statement.
Open the official USCIS decision PDF. Page-specific citations were not available in the normalized row.
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
Athletics sector research
Performance sector research
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