AAO research
EB-1A leading or critical role — AAO decision MAY082019_02B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: AAO decision MAY082019_02B2203: Appeal dismissed. AAO accepted published material about soccer career and leading/critical coaching role, but rejected claimed qualifying membership and original contributions; awards were not pursued on appeal. He did not establish three criteria, and the decision did not conduct the formal Kazarian final-merits step. (pp. 1–8).
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 | MAY082019_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | May 8, 2019 |
Classification / field stated in source | Athletics; soccer coach and former professional player in German leagues |
Procedural posture | Appeal from Nebraska Service Center denial; dismissed because fewer than three criteria were met. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed. |
Final-merits status | Not reached as a separate formal final-merits determination because only two criteria were met; AAO notes aggregate record was insufficient. (pp. 7–8) |
What the AAO decision addressed
AAO accepted published material about soccer career and leading/critical coaching role, but rejected claimed qualifying membership and original contributions; awards were not pursued on appeal. He did not establish three criteria, and the decision did not conduct the formal Kazarian final-merits step. (pp. 1–8)
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 — source PDF |
Membership | Not met — source PDF |
Published material about the person | met — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | Not coded — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | Not met — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | Not coded — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | met |
High salary or remuneration | Not coded — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
(p. 3)
(pp. 3–5)
(p. 5)
(pp. 5–7)
(p. 7)
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Soccer comparator on professional-league participation vs association membership, licensing vs selective membership, and team-level coaching testimonials vs field-wide original impact. Individual case page; two criteria met; formal merits not reached.
Editorial use note: Individual case page; two criteria met; formal merits not reached.
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
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Leading or critical role research
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