AAO research
EB-1A membership — AAO decision NOV272019_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 5). Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: AAO decision NOV272019_02B2203: Appeal dismissed (p. 5). AAO found association membership did not require outstanding achievements judged by recognized experts; officiating at matches was not judging work of others; evidence did not establish leading/critical role for distinguished organizations. Initial threshold failed; final merits not reached (pp. 2–5).
Source limitation: The review record contains a source hold or limitation. Read the limitation below before relying on any case detail; unresolved facts are not treated as findings.
Scope classification from review: In scope; verified in source review. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | NOV272019_02B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | November 27, 2019 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary ability in athletics; petitioner is a table-tennis player (p. 1). |
Procedural posture | Appeal of Texas Service Center denial; petitioner claimed membership, judging, and leading/critical role; Director had found judging (pp. 1–4). |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed (p. 5). |
Final-merits status | Not coded in the normalized review fields |
What the AAO decision addressed
AAO found association membership did not require outstanding achievements judged by recognized experts; officiating at matches was not judging work of others; evidence did not establish leading/critical role for distinguished organizations. Initial threshold failed; final merits not reached (pp. 2–5).
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 coded — source PDF |
Membership | not met |
Published material about the person | Not coded — source PDF |
Judging the work of others | Not met — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | Not coded — source PDF |
Scholarly authorship | Not coded — source PDF |
Artistic display or showcases | Not coded — source PDF |
Leading or critical role | not met |
High salary or remuneration | Not coded — source PDF |
Commercial success in the performing arts | Not coded — source PDF |
Source holds and limits
"Identity, organizations and event names redacted; avoid implying ordinary sports referees can never satisfy judging criterion."
Source-cited findings recorded in review
p1: Appeal cover; table-tennis player.; p2: Two-step criteria framework and membership claim.; p3: Association, selection and event materials; insufficient expert-reviewed achievement requirement.; p4: Refereeing differs from judging competitors’ work; leading role standard introduced.; p5: Role/reputation evidence insufficient; threshold and dismissal.
How this record may be used in research
Comparison scope: Useful sports example distinguishing officiating from judging, and club participation from achievement-based membership or critical role. Eligible for narrow negative summary; directly cite the criterion distinctions.
Editorial use note: Eligible for narrow negative summary; directly cite the criterion distinctions.
Page-level source trail
Use the official PDF and the cited physical page numbers to check each statement.
PDF page 2 — Two-step criteria framework and membership claim.
PDF page 4 — Refereeing differs from judging competitors’ work; leading role standard introduced.
PDF page 5 — Role/reputation evidence insufficient; threshold and dismissal.
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
Leading or critical role research
Athletics sector research
Threshold research
Final Merits research
Browse the AAO decision index · Read EB-1A evidence guides · Review source and correction methodology.