AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision NOV252011_02B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed The AAO found the chess awards, membership, media and roles insufficient, and found the aggregate record failed the final-merits standard.
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: Source is an AAO EB-1A decision. This does not make the decision binding precedent; case-specific procedural and merits-stage caveats are retained.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | NOV252011_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | November 25, 2011 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary ability Form I-140 |
Procedural posture | AAO appeal of Nebraska Service Center denial; appeal dismissed. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | The decision has an express Final Merits Determination beginning at page 16; it finds no sustained acclaim or top-of-field distinction. |
What the AAO decision addressed
The AAO found the chess awards, membership, media and roles insufficient, and found the aggregate record failed the final-merits standard.
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 | |
Published material about the person | |
Judging the work of others | Not considered — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | Not considered — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | Not considered — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not considered — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | |
High salary or remuneration | Not considered — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not considered — source PDF |
Source-cited findings recorded in review
claim: The petition sought EB-1A classification in athletics based on chess.; evidence_pages: 2; 3
claim: The AAO reviewed tournament results, FIDE title/rating evidence, team membership, published materials and leadership claims.; evidence_pages: 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15
claim: The AAO conducted final-merits review, found the record insufficient and dismissed the appeal.; evidence_pages: 15; 16; 17; 18; 19
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Eligible with caveats
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
Athletics sector research
Threshold research
Final Merits research
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