AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision NOV122013_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (pp. 2, 7). Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: AAO decision NOV122013_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (pp. 2, 7). AAO found only judging established. Athletic awards belonged to petitioner as athlete rather than coach or to students; membership evidence lacked rules and expert review, and national coach certification was a license, not association membership. Contributions were not established. Aggregate record failed to show top-of-field acclaim (pp. 4–7).
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 | NOV122013_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | November 12, 2013 |
Classification / field stated in source | AAO nonprecedent EB-1A appeal concerning an athletics coach in gymnastics in China. |
Procedural posture | Appeal from denial; director had found three initial criteria, but AAO withdrew awards and memberships, retained judging, and conducted aggregate final merits. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed (pp. 2, 7). |
Final-merits status | Explicit legacy-style aggregate final-merits determination; adverse, after AAO found fewer than three criteria. Evidence did not establish sustained acclaim/top-of-field status (pp. 6–7). |
What the AAO decision addressed
AAO found only judging established. Athletic awards belonged to petitioner as athlete rather than coach or to students; membership evidence lacked rules and expert review, and national coach certification was a license, not association membership. Contributions were not established. Aggregate record failed to show top-of-field acclaim (pp. 4–7).
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 |
Membership | not met |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | met |
Original contributions of major significance | not met |
Scholarly authorship | Not coded — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | Not coded — source PDF |
High salary or remuneration | Not coded — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
pp. 2–7
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Narrow coaching comparison on athlete-versus-coach awards, athlete/student awards, association membership versus licensing, and coaching influence. The source is nonprecedent; coaching context is specific to gymnastics in China. Individual source-linked summary; narrowly eligible for coach-specific comparisons.
Editorial use note: Individual source-linked summary; narrowly eligible for coach-specific comparisons.
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
Judging the work of others research
Original contributions of major significance research
Athletics sector research
Final Merits research
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