AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision FEB032021_04B2203: Appeal dismissed; prior denial affirmed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed; prior denial affirmed Petitioner claimed seven criteria; AAO found fewer than three. Membership, published material, judging, original contributions, scholarly authorship, and leading/critical role evidence were insufficient; final merits reserved/not reached. Award/criterion details treated as source-specific and criteria findings cited below.
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 printed AAO Form I-140 EB-1A source; identity/date/posture checked against the opening page and disposition against the ending page.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | FEB032021_04B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | February 3, 2021 |
Classification / field stated in source | Form I-140 EB-1A extraordinary-ability petition under INA §203(b)(1)(A). |
Procedural posture | Appeal of Nebraska Service Center EB-1A denial; dismissed. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed; prior denial affirmed |
Final-merits status | AAO expressly reserved final merits because fewer than three initial criteria were established. |
What the AAO decision addressed
Petitioner claimed seven criteria; AAO found fewer than three. Membership, published material, judging, original contributions, scholarly authorship, and leading/critical role evidence were insufficient; final merits reserved/not reached. Award/criterion details treated as source-specific and criteria findings cited below.
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 | |
Membership | |
Published material about the person | |
Judging the work of others | |
Original contributions of major significance | |
Scholarly authorship | Not considered — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not considered — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | |
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 petitioner was a CEO/founder seeking classification for technology entrepreneurship/business.; pages: 1; 2
claim: AAO found the claimed venture funding was not shown to be the petitioner’s receipt of an award, and rejected membership, published-material, judging, contributions, authorship, and role evidence for lack of objective/selectivity/impact evidence.; pages: 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9
claim: AAO accepted the leading/critical-role criterion but found awards, membership, published material, judging, and original contributions not met; it reserved high salary and final merits because fewer than three criteria were established.; pages: 10; 11
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Eligible with caveats
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
Entrepreneurship sector research
Computing sector research
Final Merits research
Browse the AAO decision index · Read EB-1A evidence guides · Review source and correction methodology.