AAO research
EB-1A judging the work of others — AAO decision FEB202020_01B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed Judging, scholarly authorship, and leading role (executive vice president) met. Final-merits review found no sustained national/international acclaim or top-of-field standing; additional awards/roles were evaluated in final merits.
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: Printed decision identifies an AAO Form I-140 EB-1A extraordinary-ability proceeding.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | FEB202020_01B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | February 20, 2020 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary-ability petition appeal; motion posture only if stated below |
Procedural posture | EB-1A appeal dismissed after three initial criteria; formal final merits conducted and found not established. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | AAO expressly conducted final merits after finding three criteria met; the totality did not establish sustained acclaim or that petitioner was among the small percentage at the top of the field. |
What the AAO decision addressed
Judging, scholarly authorship, and leading role (executive vice president) met. Final-merits review found no sustained national/international acclaim or top-of-field standing; additional awards/roles were evaluated in final merits.
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 | Not coded — source PDF |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | |
Original contributions of major significance | Not coded — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | met — p. 2 |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | |
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 held a Ph.D. specializing in immunology and performed research, led projects, coordinated workshops, and served as executive vice president of an organization.; pages: 1; 2
claim: AAO accepted judging (evaluating research/thesis work), scholarly authorship, and a leading role as executive vice president; threshold criteria were satisfied.; pages: 2; 3
claim: New judging evidence postdated filing and was excluded from final-merits analysis; contemporaneous review/evaluator work was not shown to distinguish petitioner nationally or internationally.; pages: 3; 4
claim: Evidence of administrative/project roles, citations to early immunology papers, and reference letters did not establish broad field impact or sustained acclaim; the record showed productive early research and later administration.; pages: 4; 5; 6; 7
claim: A Venezuelan medal related to a historical-preservation project was not shown to recognize immunology achievement; final merits failed and appeal was dismissed.; pages: 6; 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.
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