AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision JUN262018_01B2203: Awards

EB-1A awards — AAO decision JUN262018_01B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 6). Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: AAO decision JUN262018_01B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 6). Certificates and letters did not establish nationally/internationally recognized awards, qualifying media, major field contributions, or critical role for distinguished organizations. Evidence showed experience and skills but not acclaim/top-of-field or field-wide impact; initial threshold failed (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	JUN262018_01B2203
Decision date as printed	June 26, 2018
Classification / field stated in source	EB-1A extraordinary ability in athletics; petitioner is a mountain climber and guide (p. 1).
Procedural posture	Appeal of Texas Service Center denial; petitioner claimed awards, published material, original contributions and leading/critical role (pp. 1–5).
Operative disposition	Appeal dismissed (p. 6).
Final-merits status	Not coded in the normalized review fields

What the AAO decision addressed

Certificates and letters did not establish nationally/internationally recognized awards, qualifying media, major field contributions, or critical role for distinguished organizations. Evidence showed experience and skills but not acclaim/top-of-field or field-wide impact; initial threshold failed (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 Certificates of appreciation/commemoration did not establish recognized awards for excellence in field (p. 3). — source PDF
Membership	Not coded — source PDF
Published material about the person	not met Record did not establish qualifying publication about petitioner in professional/major media (p. 3). — source PDF
Judging the work of others	Not coded — source PDF
Original contributions of major significance	not met Letters praised skills but did not show that unique methods had already been used or significantly influenced the field (pp. 3–5). — source PDF
Scholarly authorship	Not coded — source PDF
Artistic display or showcases	Not coded — source PDF
Leading or critical role	not met Role for organizations was not shown to be critical or organization’s distinguished reputation established (pp. 5–6). — source PDF
High salary or remuneration	Not coded — source PDF
Commercial success in the performing arts	Not coded — source PDF

Source holds and limits

"Identity and organizations are redacted; avoid broad conclusions about climbing or guiding based on this record."

Source-cited findings recorded in review

p1: Matter of D-S- cover; mountain climber/guide.; p2: Framework and petitioner’s experience; award and criterion claims.; p3: Awards and media evidence reviewed.; p4: Original contributions and expert letters; skills and experience are not field impact.; p5: Leading/critical-role analysis; insufficient evidence of distinguished reputation or role.; p6: Conclusion and dismissal.

How this record may be used in research

Comparison scope: Useful outdoor/athletics case for separating expertise and skill from externally documented acclaim, recognized awards and demonstrated field-wide contributions. Eligible for a focused negative case summary, preserving the distinction between experience and extraordinary ability.

Editorial use note: Eligible for a focused negative case summary, preserving the distinction between experience and extraordinary ability.

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
Published material about the person research
Original contributions of major significance research
Leading or critical role research
Athletics sector research
Threshold research

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

Primary source

Official USCIS AAO decision PDF for JUN262018_01B2203