Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed The AAO found the musician did not establish three criteria or sustained acclaim; it dismissed the appeal after reviewing evidence concerning membership, media, contributions, display, leading/critical role, salary, and commercial success.

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 is a Form I-140 EB-1A extraordinary-ability decision.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.

Decision snapshot

What the AAO decision addressed

The AAO found the musician did not establish three criteria or sustained acclaim; it dismissed the appeal after reviewing evidence concerning membership, media, contributions, display, leading/critical role, salary, and commercial success.

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.

Source-cited findings recorded in review

• claim: The petition sought extraordinary-ability classification for a musician; the AAO describes the petitioner as a drummer and evaluates his work with several bands.; pages: 2; 5; 6

• claim: ASCAP membership did not establish outstanding achievement as a membership requirement; membership claims concerning EMI and Drummer Zone lacked documentary support.; pages: 3; 4

• claim: The articles focused on the bands rather than the petitioner or his individual work, and some foreign-language items lacked certified translations.; pages: 4; 5

• claim: The record did not show that the petitioner’s songwriting or drumming produced original contributions of major significance to the field of music.; pages: 5; 6

• claim: A Warner Brothers contract concerned use of one co-written song for $1,000 and did not show a leading/critical role; evidence also failed to establish distinguished reputations for the claimed bands/organizations.; pages: 6; 7

• claim: The record lacked comparative compensation evidence and actual record-sales evidence; the AAO found that the petitioner had not established sustained acclaim at the top of the field.; pages: 7; 8; 9

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.

• PDF page 1 — Opening physical page visually inspected; date, identity, classification and posture checked.

• PDF page 2 — Physical page visually inspected in sequence; page legibility, redactions, and content checked against extracted text.

• PDF page 3 — Physical page visually inspected in sequence; page legibility, redactions, and content checked against extracted text.

• PDF page 4 — Physical page visually inspected in sequence; page legibility, redactions, and content checked against extracted text.

• PDF page 5 — Physical page visually inspected in sequence; page legibility, redactions, and content checked against extracted text.

• PDF page 6 — Physical page visually inspected in sequence; page legibility, redactions, and content checked against extracted text.

• PDF page 7 — Physical page visually inspected in sequence; page legibility, redactions, and content checked against extracted text.

• PDF page 8 — Physical page visually inspected in sequence; page legibility, redactions, and content checked against extracted text.

• PDF page 9 — Final physical page visually inspected; conclusion and operative order checked.

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

• Published material about the person research

• Original contributions of major significance research

• Artistic display or showcases research

• Leading or critical role research

• High salary or remuneration research

• Commercial success in the performing arts research

• Performance sector research

• Coverage research

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

Primary source

Official USCIS AAO decision PDF for MAR062009_01B2203