AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision OCT302015_01B2203: Awards

AAO EB-1A decision OCT302015_01B2203: Awards

EB-1A awards — AAO decision OCT302015_01B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: AAO decision OCT302015_01B2203: Appeal dismissed. The AAO found judging met but the other claimed criteria (awards, membership, published material, contributions, display, and leading/critical role) did not; only one criterion was satisfied. (pp. 3–12).

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

OCT302015_01B2203

Decision date as printed

October 30, 2015

Classification / field stated in source

Matter of Y-W-, non-precedent EB-1A appeal concerning a choreographer, sport-dance judge, coach, and instructor seeking classification in arts and athletics. (pp. 1–2)

Procedural posture

Appeal of Texas Service Center denial; AAO dismissed. (pp. 1, 13)

Operative disposition

Appeal dismissed.

Final-merits status

AAO did not reach final merits because the three-criterion threshold was not met; it stated that final merits would follow only if initial evidence threshold were met. (p. 12)

What the AAO decision addressed

The AAO found judging met but the other claimed criteria (awards, membership, published material, contributions, display, and leading/critical role) did not; only one criterion was satisfied. (pp. 3–12)

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
Awards were not shown to have national/international recognition for excellence in sport dance. (p. 3) — source PDF

Membership

not met
Evidence did not establish outstanding-achievement membership judged by recognized experts. (pp. 4–6) — source PDF

Published material about the person

Not met — source PDF

Judging the work of others

met
Documentation showed service as judge at more than twenty sport-dance competitions; AAO agreed criterion was met. (p. 8) — 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
Roles and organizational reputation evidence did not satisfy the criterion. (p. 12) — source PDF

High salary or remuneration

Not coded — source PDF

Commercial success in the performing arts

Not coded — source PDF

Source holds and limits

No source identity or completeness hold. Non-precedent, redacted and fact-specific; do not infer that a judging criterion finding establishes overall extraordinary ability.

How this record may be used in research

Comparison scope: If editorially cleared, prepare a source-linked decision summary that names the procedural posture, distinguishes criterion-stage findings from final merits, and cites the PDF pages. Narrow comparison for sport-dance cases on documented judging, event participation, association roles, and the distinction between event activities and major contributions.

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

  • Athletics sector research

  • Performance sector research

  • Teaching sector research

  • Final Merits research

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

Primary source

Official USCIS AAO decision PDF for OCT302015_01B2203