AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision MAR042024_03B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed Director found judging and high-salary criteria met. AAO rejected the asserted one-time Teacher of the Year award and leading role, and concluded fewer than three alternate criteria were established. Other unchallenged criteria findings were waived; 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 decision identifies an EB-1A Form I-140 petition under INA §203(b)(1)(A).. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | MAR042024_03B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | 2024-03-04 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary ability under INA §203(b)(1)(A) |
Procedural posture | AAO appeal of Nebraska Service Center denial of EB-1A petition filed by public school system; appeal dismissed. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | Only two alternate criteria were found met, and no one-time award was established. AAO did not reach a separate final-merits determination. |
What the AAO decision addressed
Director found judging and high-salary criteria met. AAO rejected the asserted one-time Teacher of the Year award and leading role, and concluded fewer than three alternate criteria were established. Other unchallenged criteria findings were waived; 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 | |
Membership | waived — p. 3 |
Published material about the person | waived — p. 3 |
Judging the work of others | met — p. 2 |
Original contributions of major significance | waived — p. 3 |
Scholarly authorship | Not considered — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not considered — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | |
High salary or remuneration | met — p. 2 |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not considered — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
claim: A public school system sought to employ the beneficiary as a high-school science teacher under EB-1A.; pages: 1; 2
claim: Director found judging and high salary met; AAO rejected the claimed one-time Teacher of the Year award and the lesser awards evidence.; pages: 2; 3; 4; 5; 6
claim: The record did not establish that the Teacher of the Year award was internationally recognized or that the other awards were nationally/internationally recognized for excellence.; pages: 3; 4; 5; 6
claim: The AAO agreed the claimed regional-director/board/fellowship roles did not establish a leading or critical role for distinguished organizations.; pages: 6; 7
claim: The appeal was dismissed because the beneficiary did not establish a qualifying one-time award or three criteria; final merits was not reached.; pages: 8
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
Judging the work of others research
Original contributions of major significance research
Scholarly authorship research
Artistic display or showcases research
Leading or critical role research
High salary or remuneration research
Commercial success in the performing arts research
Teaching sector research
Final Merits research
Remand research
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