AAO research
EB-1A membership — AAO decision JUL122023_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (physical p. 6). Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: AAO decision JUL122023_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (physical p. 6). AAO withdrew the Director’s favorable leading/critical-role finding because the record did not show a qualifying leading/critical role for a distinguished organization. It found EO membership requirements did not show outstanding achievement judged by recognized experts; original contributions was waived. High salary remained met. The petitioner therefore had fewer than three criteria (pp. 2–5).
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: in_scope_EB1A_source_reviewed. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | JUL122023_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | July 12, 2023 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A business; entrepreneur in pharmaceutical industry; appeal of Nebraska Service Center denial. |
Procedural posture | Appeal reviewed de novo. Director found leading/critical role and high salary; petitioner challenged membership finding; original-contributions adverse finding was not appealed. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed (physical p. 6). |
Final-merits status | AAO reviewed the record in the aggregate and concluded it did not support sustained acclaim/top-of-field standing; fewer than three threshold criteria were met (p. 6). |
What the AAO decision addressed
AAO withdrew the Director’s favorable leading/critical-role finding because the record did not show a qualifying leading/critical role for a distinguished organization. It found EO membership requirements did not show outstanding achievement judged by recognized experts; original contributions was waived. High salary remained met. The petitioner therefore had fewer than three criteria (pp. 2–5).
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 coded — source PDF |
Membership | not met |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | Not coded — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | waived |
Scholarly authorship | Not coded — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | not met |
High salary or remuneration | met |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
Citations use physical PDF page numbers; pages were visually inspected in source order.
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Good narrow example for business-founder association membership: revenue/ownership eligibility is not itself expert-judged outstanding achievement. Distinguish the one criterion retained (salary) from the withdrawn role finding. Publish as individual business case with clear statement that only high salary was accepted in this appeal.
Editorial use note: Publish as individual business case with clear statement that only high salary was accepted in this appeal.
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
Membership research
Original contributions of major significance research
Leading or critical role research
High salary or remuneration research
Entrepreneurship sector research
Medicine sector research
Waiv research
Browse the AAO decision index · Read EB-1A evidence guides · Review source and correction methodology.