AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision FEB262021_06B2203: Awards

AAO EB-1A decision FEB262021_06B2203: Awards

EB-1A awards — AAO decision FEB262021_06B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 6). Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: AAO decision FEB262021_06B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 6). AAO found only high salary/remuneration met. Race wins were not shown to be nationally/internationally recognized awards; jockey license/trade-union membership did not satisfy outstanding-achievement membership; articles/photos did not establish qualifying media or display; roles did not establish leading/critical role. Post-filing evidence was excluded. Final merits not reached (pp. 2–6).

Source limitation: The review record contains a source hold or limitation. Read the limitation below before relying on any case detail; unresolved facts are not treated as findings.

Scope classification from review: In scope; verified in source review. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.

Decision snapshot

Decision ID

FEB262021_06B2203

Decision date as printed

February 26, 2021

Classification / field stated in source

EB-1A extraordinary ability in athletics; petitioner is a racehorse jockey (p. 1).

Procedural posture

Appeal of Texas Service Center denial; Director found leading/critical role and high remuneration, but fewer than three criteria; AAO reviewed the evidentiary record de novo (pp. 1–2).

Operative disposition

Appeal dismissed (p. 6).

Final-merits status

Not coded in the normalized review fields

What the AAO decision addressed

AAO found only high salary/remuneration met. Race wins were not shown to be nationally/internationally recognized awards; jockey license/trade-union membership did not satisfy outstanding-achievement membership; articles/photos did not establish qualifying media or display; roles did not establish leading/critical role. Post-filing evidence was excluded. Final merits not reached (pp. 2–6).

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
Race results lacked evidence of nationally/internationally recognized prizes; winning races did not itself establish qualifying awards (p. 3). — source PDF

Membership

not met
Licensing board was a government authority, not an association; Jockeys’ Guild membership criteria were not shown to require outstanding achievement (pp. 3–4). — source PDF

Published material about the person

not met
Articles were not shown to be in professional/major media or were post-filing; submitted photos lacked publication/broadcast context (p. 4). — source PDF

Judging the work of others

Not coded — source PDF

Original contributions of major significance

Not coded — source PDF

Scholarly authorship

Not coded — source PDF

Artistic display or showcases

Not coded — source PDF

Leading or critical role

not met
Petitioner did not identify organizations/reputations or explain how roles were leading/critical (p. 5). — source PDF

High salary or remuneration

met
AAO accepted the Director’s finding that high remuneration was met (p. 2). — source PDF

Commercial success in the performing arts

Not coded — source PDF

Source holds and limits

"Redacted identities and races; do not generalize to all jockey associations, racing awards or athlete media."

Source-cited findings recorded in review

  • p1: Cover identifies jockey, appeal and denial for fewer than three criteria.; p2: Claimed criteria and only salary criterion found met by AAO.; p3: Post-filing evidence excluded; racing statistics and awards analysis; license not qualifying membership.; p4: Guild membership and media evidence fail; articles/photos not qualifying.; p5: Race listings/photos not displays; leading/critical role not established; final merits not required.; p6: No sustained acclaim/top-of-field showing; appeal dismissed.

How this record may be used in research

Comparison scope: Useful athletics comparison for distinguishing race results, licensing, media and display evidence from qualifying criteria. Eligible for a narrow negative case page, preserving the only met criterion and the explicit time-of-filing limit.

Editorial use note: Eligible for a narrow negative case page, preserving the only met criterion and the explicit time-of-filing limit.

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

  • Leading or critical role research

  • High salary or remuneration research

  • Athletics sector research

  • Final Merits research

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

Primary source

Official USCIS AAO decision PDF for FEB262021_06B2203