AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision FEB062015_01B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed The petitioner’s documented achievements were as a competitive swimmer, while proposed U.S. work was coaching. Awards, team membership, and articles concerning swimming therefore did not establish coaching-field criteria; published material also lacked certified translations and media evidence. Original-contributions claim was abandoned.
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 an AAO EB-1A appeal/remand decision with case-specific procedural and evidentiary analysis.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | FEB062015_01B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | February 6, 2015 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary-ability petition appeal |
Procedural posture | EB-1A appeal; dismissed after fewer than three criteria; formal final merits not reached, with aggregate observations. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | The threshold failed. AAO said formal final merits was unnecessary, though its aggregate review also found the required expertise not shown. |
What the AAO decision addressed
The petitioner’s documented achievements were as a competitive swimmer, while proposed U.S. work was coaching. Awards, team membership, and articles concerning swimming therefore did not establish coaching-field criteria; published material also lacked certified translations and media evidence. Original-contributions claim was abandoned.
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. 5 |
Membership | Not met — p. 5 |
Published material about the person | Not met — p. 6 |
Judging the work of others | Not coded — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | |
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 coded — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
claim: Petitioner left occupation/job title blank on the I-140, later stated he sought U.S. employment as a swimming coach, and supplied competitive-swimming accomplishments.; pages: 3; 4
claim: AAO held swimming and coaching relied on different basic skills and evaluated eligibility through achievements as a coach.; pages: 4; 5
claim: Swimming medals did not establish nationally/internationally recognized awards for coaching; team membership did not show outstanding-achievement admission and was in the athlete field.; pages: 5
claim: Spanish articles concerned swimming achievements rather than coaching, had uncertified/inadequately identified translations, and lacked circulation evidence.; pages: 6
claim: The Director’s original-contributions denial was not contested on appeal; AAO treated that issue as abandoned.; pages: 6; 7
claim: AAO found the initial three-criterion requirement unmet and dismissed without formal final merits, while noting aggregate evidence did not establish the required expertise.; pages: 7
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
Original contributions of major significance research
Athletics sector research
Final Merits research
Translat research
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