AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision OCT012019_04B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed Only judging was established among the criteria discussed. Awards, membership, and published material were not established; the three-criterion threshold failed.
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: Cover and discussion identify an EB-1A Form I-140 petition under INA §203(b)(1)(A).. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | OCT012019_04B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | 2019-10-01 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary ability in athletics |
Procedural posture | AAO appeal of Nebraska Service Center denial; dismissed. The AAO found only judging met among the discussed criteria; no formal final-merits stage. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | The summary expressly says no full final-merits determination was needed; its brief aggregate assessment is not a separate final-merits holding. |
What the AAO decision addressed
Only judging was established among the criteria discussed. Awards, membership, and published material were not established; the three-criterion threshold failed.
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 | Not met — p. 6 |
Judging the work of others | met — p. 6 |
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 | Not considered — source PDF |
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 cover identifies Matter of A-L-S-, October 1, 2019, EB-1A athletics petition for a martial-arts instructor/referee/judge.; pages: 1; 2
claim: A 2017 gold-medal claim lacked evidence of competition prestige, competitors, selection, or national/international recognition; martial-arts rank certificates were not awards.; pages: 2; 3; 4
claim: Membership evidence did not show that associations required outstanding achievements judged by recognized experts; post-filing membership was not considered.; pages: 4; 5
claim: Published-material claims were undermined by incomplete/noncertified translations and articles that did not establish qualifying media coverage about the petitioner.; pages: 6
claim: AAO agreed with the Director that judging evidence did meet the criterion, based on corroborated judging at martial-arts events.; pages: 6
claim: Summary states fewer than three criteria were established; AAO gives aggregate comments but does not reach a formal final-merits determination and dismisses appeal.; pages: 7
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.
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
Performance sector research
Threshold research
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