AAO research
EB-1A leading or critical role — AAO decision FEB112020_02B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: AAO decision FEB112020_02B2203: Appeal dismissed. after formal final-merits review. The Director and AAO found judging, scholarly authorship, and leading/critical role; final-merits analysis found no sustained acclaim/top-of-field standing across the researcher-to-manager transition. (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 | FEB112020_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | February 11, 2020 |
Classification / field stated in source | Sciences/business; molecular-genetics researcher who transitioned to research-management/associate-director role at a seed-capital and entrepreneurial business |
Procedural posture | Appeal of Texas Service Center denial; AAO de novo review. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed. |
Final-merits status | Formal final-merits determination reached; adverse. AAO found no career of acclaimed work across scientific research and research management; editorial/review duties, eight research articles and citations, and leadership letters did not establish sustained acclaim/top-of-field standing. (pp. 3–8) |
What the AAO decision addressed
Appeal dismissed after formal final-merits review. The Director and AAO found judging, scholarly authorship, and leading/critical role; final-merits analysis found no sustained acclaim/top-of-field standing across the researcher-to-manager transition. (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 coded — source PDF |
Membership | Not coded — source PDF |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | met — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | Not met — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | met — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | met |
High salary or remuneration | Not coded — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Create a sourced explainer distinguishing initial criterion satisfaction from final merits when a researcher changes to management; identify the record’s review-volume, citation, and field-comparison shortcomings.
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
Leading or critical role research
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Final Merits research
Browse the AAO decision index · Read EB-1A evidence guides · Review source and correction methodology.