AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision FEB172009_01B2203: Director’s decision withdrawn; appeal sustained and petition approved. Review source status, procedural…
Decision summary: AAO decision FEB172009_01B2203: Director’s decision withdrawn; appeal sustained and petition approved. AAO found original contributions, selective association membership, and leading/critical role criteria met. Evidence included expanding U.S. distribution for South African wines, measurable import growth and retail access, an industry award as supporting context, and selection to a five-member trade committee. AAO found totality established extraordinary ability.
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; verified in source review. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | FEB172009_01B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | February 17, 2009 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary ability; field claimed: wine importing / distribution and marketing. |
Procedural posture | Appeal from Nebraska Service Center denial. |
Operative disposition | Director’s decision withdrawn; appeal sustained and petition approved. |
Final-merits status | "met" |
What the AAO decision addressed
AAO found original contributions, selective association membership, and leading/critical role criteria met. Evidence included expanding U.S. distribution for South African wines, measurable import growth and retail access, an industry award as supporting context, and selection to a five-member trade committee. AAO found totality established extraordinary ability.
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 |
Membership | met |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | Not coded — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | met |
Scholarly authorship | Not coded — 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 |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
pp. 2–5; field pp. 2–3; contributions pp. 3–5; membership/role pp. 4–5; approval p. 5.
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Positive business comparator grounded in independently measurable market impact, selective industry committee membership, and role at a distinguished distributor; distinguish supporting award evidence from a met award criterion. eligible_for_editorial_review_with_citations
Editorial use note: eligible_for_editorial_review_with_citations
Page-level source trail
Use the official PDF and the cited physical page numbers to check each statement.
PDF page 1 — Cover and appeal identifying wine-industry executive.
PDF page 2 — Appeal will be sustained; describes market/field.
PDF page 5 — Finds leading role and totality establish eligibility; approves petition.
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
Original contributions of major significance research
Leading or critical role research
Entrepreneurship sector research
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