AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision JAN282025_01B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed The AAO agreed with the director that leading/critical role and high salary were met, but rejected awards, published material, and original-contribution claims. The three-criterion threshold was not reached; no formal final-merits determination.
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 decision identifies an EB-1A Form I-140 petition under INA §203(b)(1)(A).. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | JAN282025_01B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | 2025-01-28 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary ability under INA §203(b)(1)(A) |
Procedural posture | AAO appeal of denial of an EB-1A immigrant petition; appeal dismissed after only two criteria were established. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | Only two criteria were met, so the AAO did not reach a distinct final-merits determination. Any overall-acclaim discussion is not a substitute for that stage. |
What the AAO decision addressed
The AAO agreed with the director that leading/critical role and high salary were met, but rejected awards, published material, and original-contribution claims. The three-criterion threshold was not reached; no formal final-merits determination.
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. 3 |
Membership | Not considered — source PDF |
Published material about the person | Not met — p. 4 |
Judging the work of others | Not considered — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | Not met — p. 5 |
Scholarly authorship | Not considered — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not considered — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | met — p. 6 |
High salary or remuneration | |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not considered — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
claim: The petitioner worked as a video-game design lead and appealed denial of an EB-1A petition.; pages: 1; 2
claim: The AAO agreed that leading/critical role and high salary criteria were met.; pages: 2; 3; 6
claim: The awards, published-material, and original-contribution claims were not established under the evidence and reasoning discussed by the AAO.; pages: 3; 4; 5
claim: Because only two criteria were met, the AAO dismissed without a separate final-merits determination.; pages: 7; 8
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
Judging the work of others research
Original contributions of major significance research
Scholarly authorship research
Artistic display or showcases research
Leading or critical role research
High salary or remuneration research
Commercial success in the performing arts research
Threshold research
Final Merits research
Waiv research
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