AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision FEB032025_03B2203: Membership

AAO EB-1A decision FEB032025_03B2203: Membership

EB-1A membership — AAO decision FEB032025_03B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed The AAO affirmed the two criteria accepted by the Director (published material and leading/critical role) and rejected membership, judging, original contributions, scholarly authorship, and high salary; fewer than three criteria were established.

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: The source is a Form I-140 EB-1A extraordinary-ability decision.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.

Decision snapshot

Decision ID

FEB032025_03B2203

Decision date as printed

February 3, 2025

Classification / field stated in source

Form I-140 EB-1A extraordinary-ability decision under INA §203(b)(1)(A).

Procedural posture

Appeal of Texas Service Center denial of Form I-140; appeal dismissed.

Operative disposition

Appeal dismissed

Final-merits status

Fewer than three initial criteria were established. The AAO included aggregate discussion but did not conduct a separate formal final-merits determination.

What the AAO decision addressed

The AAO affirmed the two criteria accepted by the Director (published material and leading/critical role) and rejected membership, judging, original contributions, scholarly authorship, and high salary; fewer than three criteria were established.

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 met — p. 2, p. 3, p. 4

Published material about the person

met — p. 2

Judging the work of others

Not met — p. 4, p. 5

Original contributions of major significance

Not met — p. 5, p. 6

Scholarly authorship

Not met — p. 6, p. 7

Artistic display or showcases

Not coded — source PDF

Leading or critical role

met — p. 2

High salary or remuneration

Not met — p. 7

Commercial success in the performing arts

Not coded — source PDF

Source-cited findings recorded in review

  • claim: The petitioner earned a public-administration master’s degree in Georgia, managed/director roles at companies there, entered the United States in 2022, and operated a Pennsylvania consulting company from 2023.; pages: 1; 2

  • claim: The Director accepted published material and leading/critical role based on work as general director of a Georgian hair-care marketer/distributor; the AAO did not disturb those findings.; pages: 2

  • claim: Membership evidence for ISFP and BPW Georgia lacked objective proof of outstanding-achievement admission judged by recognized experts.; pages: 2; 3; 4

  • claim: The petitioner’s documented activities did not establish judging work in the same or allied field; business plans and projects did not show original contributions of major significance.; pages: 4; 5; 6

  • claim: An unpublished report and a newspaper article not shown to be authored by the petitioner did not establish scholarly authorship; salary claims lacked independent comparative data.; pages: 6; 7

  • claim: The AAO found fewer than three criteria; aggregate discussion found insufficient sustained acclaim but it did not conduct a formal final-merits determination.; pages: 8

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

  • Membership research

  • Published material about the person research

  • Judging the work of others research

  • Original contributions of major significance research

  • Scholarly authorship research

  • Leading or critical role research

  • High salary or remuneration research

  • Entrepreneurship sector research

Browse the AAO decision index · Read EB-1A evidence guides · Review source and correction methodology.

Primary source

Official USCIS AAO decision PDF for FEB032025_03B2203