AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision MAR012019_01B2203: Awards

AAO EB-1A decision MAR012019_01B2203: Awards

EB-1A awards — AAO decision MAR012019_01B2203: dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: AAO decision MAR012019_01B2203: dismissed. AAO withdrew the Director’s positive membership finding, found awards, membership, and published material not met, and affirmed that critical role was met. Original contributions were not established; threshold remained unmet, so 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 identifies an EB-1A petition appeal or motion. The 2015 motion is in scope for procedural analysis, not as a new merits decision.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.

Decision snapshot

Decision ID

MAR012019_01B2203

Decision date as printed

March 1, 2019

Classification / field stated in source

EB-1A extraordinary-ability petition/appeal

Procedural posture

EB-1A appeal; appeal dismissed after fewer than three criteria; no formal final-merits determination.

Operative disposition

dismissed

Final-merits status

Fewer than three criteria were satisfied; AAO stated a formal final-merits determination was unnecessary, though it made aggregate observations.

What the AAO decision addressed

AAO withdrew the Director’s positive membership finding, found awards, membership, and published material not met, and affirmed that critical role was met. Original contributions were not established; threshold remained unmet, so 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. 2, p. 3, p. 4

Membership

Not met — p. 4, p. 5

Published material about the person

Not met — p. 5, p. 6

Judging the work of others

Not coded — source PDF

Original contributions of major significance

Not met — p. 6

Scholarly authorship

Not coded — source PDF

Artistic display or showcases

Not coded — source PDF

Leading or critical role

met — p. 6

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 beneficiary was a professional table-tennis player and trainer; the Director found membership and critical role met, while the petitioner claimed additional awards, membership, published material, and contributions.; pages: 1; 2

  • claim: Competition certificates/standings did not establish nationally/internationally recognized awards; the evidence also contained an unresolved competition-date discrepancy.; pages: 2; 3; 4

  • claim: “First Class Athlete” membership did not establish outstanding achievements adjudicated by recognized experts; AAO withdrew the Director’s positive membership finding.; pages: 4; 5

  • claim: Two articles did not establish qualifying published material/major-media status; circulation/readership evidence was insufficient.; pages: 5; 6

  • claim: Letters about playing/training did not show methods widely used, techniques adopted, or other field-wide major contributions; the Director’s critical-role finding was supported.; pages: 6

  • claim: The appeal was dismissed because fewer than three criteria were met; formal final merits was not provided.; pages: 7

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

  • 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 MAR012019_01B2203