AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision JAN312023_01B2203: Membership

EB-1A membership — AAO decision JAN312023_01B2203: dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: AAO decision JAN312023_01B2203: dismissed. AAO affirmed only published material and rejected Director’s favorable findings on contributions, critical role, and membership. Fewer than three criteria; no AAO formal 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: Source is an AAO EB-1A extraordinary-ability appellate decision.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.

Decision snapshot

Decision ID	JAN312023_01B2203
Decision date as printed	Jan. 31, 2023
Classification / field stated in source	EB-1A appellate decision, In Re 22678658
Procedural posture	Appeal of Texas Service Center denial; dismissed after AAO re-evaluation of criteria.
Operative disposition	dismissed
Final-merits status	AAO’s review left only one criterion met; it did not reach formal final merits. The Director’s earlier FMD conclusion was not affirmed.

What the AAO decision addressed

AAO affirmed only published material and rejected Director’s favorable findings on contributions, critical role, and membership. Fewer than three criteria; no AAO formal 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	Not considered — p. 2
Membership	Not met — p. 5
Published material about the person	met — p. 2
Judging the work of others	Not coded — source PDF
Original contributions of major significance	Not met — p. 3, p. 4
Scholarly authorship	Not coded — source PDF
Artistic display or showcases	Not coded — source PDF
Leading or critical role	Not met — p. 4
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: The petitioner claimed awards, published material, contributions, critical role, and membership; AAO affirmed only published material and rejected the Director’s favorable findings on three other criteria.; pages: 2; 3; 4; 5
claim: Letters about missionary methods and ministry did not establish major field impact; the claimed church role and admission under an extraordinary church clause did not satisfy critical-role or selective-membership criteria.; pages: 3; 4; 5
claim: Because fewer than three criteria remained, AAO did not conduct formal final merits and dismissed; the record did not show field-wide acclaim.; pages: 5; 6

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
Original contributions of major significance research
Leading or critical role 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 JAN312023_01B2203