AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision OCT192009_05B2203: Awards

AAO EB-1A decision OCT192009_05B2203: Awards

EB-1A awards — AAO decision OCT192009_05B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: AAO decision OCT192009_05B2203: Appeal dismissed. The AAO found the evidence insufficient under the criteria considered and, in aggregate, insufficient to show sustained acclaim as a martial-arts coach, competitor, or performer. (pp. 3–11).

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_EB1A_source_reviewed. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.

Decision snapshot

Decision ID

OCT192009_05B2203

Decision date as printed

October 19, 2009

Classification / field stated in source

EB-1A petition in martial arts/athletics; the record proposed U.S. coaching work while much of the evidence concerned competition and performance. (pp. 2–3)

Procedural posture

Appeal from Nebraska Service Center denial; AAO dismissed. (pp. 2, 11)

Operative disposition

Appeal dismissed.

Final-merits status

Aggregate review explicitly found no sustained acclaim/top-of-field standing. (p. 11)

What the AAO decision addressed

The AAO found the evidence insufficient under the criteria considered and, in aggregate, insufficient to show sustained acclaim as a martial-arts coach, competitor, or performer. (pp. 3–11)

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
Award certificates lacked adequate translation or documentary proof of recognition/excellence. (pp. 4–5) — source PDF

Membership

not met
The record did not establish qualifying association membership. (p. 5) — source PDF

Published material about the person

Not met — source PDF

Judging the work of others

not met
A certificate and claimed judging activity did not establish qualifying judging. (pp. 6–7) — 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

not met
Participation in a troupe did not establish a leading/critical role for an entity with distinguished reputation. (p. 9) — source PDF

High salary or remuneration

not met
No adequate comparative remuneration evidence. (pp. 9–10) — source PDF

Commercial success in the performing arts

Not met — source PDF

Source holds and limits

Identity is redacted. Historic decision; source itself discusses different activities (coach, competitor, performer), so preserve that nuance.

How this record may be used in research

Comparison scope: If cleared after editorial review, prepare a decision-specific source-linked summary with exact procedural posture, criterion states, dated page citations, redaction preservation, and non-precedent notice where applicable. Potential narrow comparison on mismatch between evidence of competing/performing and a proposed coaching endeavor; keep the martial-arts record distinct and avoid generalizing.

Page-level source trail

Use the official PDF and the cited physical page numbers to check each statement.

Open the official USCIS decision PDF. Page-specific citations were not available in the normalized row.

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

  • Leading or critical role research

  • High salary or remuneration research

  • Athletics sector research

  • Performance sector research

Browse the AAO decision index · Read EB-1A evidence guides · Review source and correction methodology.

Primary source

Official USCIS AAO decision PDF for OCT192009_05B2203