AAO research
EB-1A published material about the person — AAO decision JAN302025_01B2203: Director decision withdrawn; remanded for a new decision addressing remaining…
Decision summary: The AAO director decision withdrawn; Remanded for a new decision addressing remaining four criteria. AAO interpreted law practice as within science or art, with broader field of law potentially business. Remand was procedural only, to let director adjudicate membership, original contributions, leading/critical role, and remuneration; AAO took no position on criteria or acclaim.
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: EB-1A merits appeal; occupation-scope ruling and remand; criteria/final merits unresolved, two criteria waived.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | JAN302025_01B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | January 30, 2025 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A appeal; occupation-scope denial withdrawn and Remanded |
Procedural posture | Director found fewer than three criteria and concluded law practice did not fit statutory fields. On appeal petitioner asserted that legal practice is within science or art. AAO agreed; findings on awards and published material were waived because petitioner did not challenge them; four other claimed criteria remain for director’s first-instance review. |
Operative disposition | Director decision withdrawn; Remanded for a new decision addressing remaining four criteria. |
Final-merits status | Not reached; AAO Remanded remaining issues and expressly took no position on acclaim. |
What the AAO decision addressed
AAO interpreted law practice as within science or art, with broader field of law potentially business. Remand was procedural only, to let director adjudicate membership, original contributions, leading/critical role, and remuneration; AAO took no position on criteria or acclaim.
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 | Abandoned or waived — source PDF |
Membership | Not reached — source PDF |
Published material about the person | waived |
Judging the work of others | Not reached — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | Not reached — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | Not reached — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | Not reached |
High salary or remuneration | Not reached — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not reached — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
claim: Decision dated January 30, 2025 identifies petitioner as paralegal; director denied for fewer than three criteria and found occupation outside EB-1A scope.; pages: 1
claim: AAO held legal practice falls within science or art; broader law may fit business.; pages: 2; 3
claim: Petitioner waived awards and published-material issues by not challenging those findings; membership, original contributions, leading/critical role, and high remuneration were Remanded.; pages: 2; 3
claim: AAO expressly took no position on remaining criteria or sustained acclaim; decision withdrawn and Remanded.; pages: 3
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Eligible for occupation-scope/remand content only; exclude from approval and criterion outcomes.
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
Published material about the person research
Leading or critical role research
Remand research
Waiv research
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