AAO research
EB-1A awards — AAO decision SEP032019_04B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.
Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed AAO agrees the scholarly-authorship criterion is met, but awards, published material, original contributions and leading/critical role fail; fewer than three criteria. It expressly does not provide a formal final-merits determination, while concluding its aggregate review does not establish acclaim.
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: The physical source identifies an AAO appeal concerning an EB-1A extraordinary-ability Form I-140.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.
Decision snapshot
Decision ID | SEP032019_04B2203 |
|---|---|
Decision date as printed | September 3, 2019 |
Classification / field stated in source | EB-1A extraordinary ability (Form I-140) |
Procedural posture | Nonprecedent AAO appeal from Texas Service Center denial of EB-1A Form I-140; cited as Matter of M-W-, ID# 4134363; appeal dismissed. |
Operative disposition | Appeal dismissed |
Final-merits status | The decision does not reach a separate formal final-merits determination because the threshold of three initial evidentiary criteria was not met. Where noted, the AAO separately discusses aggregate acclaim in its overall eligibility conclusion; this is distinguished from a reached formal final-merits stage. |
What the AAO decision addressed
AAO agrees the scholarly-authorship criterion is met, but awards, published material, original contributions and leading/critical role fail; fewer than three criteria. It expressly does not provide a formal final-merits determination, while concluding its aggregate review does not establish acclaim.
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 | Not considered — source PDF |
Published material about the person | |
Judging the work of others | Not considered — source PDF |
Original contributions of major significance | |
Scholarly authorship | met — p. 2 |
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: Petitioner is a Chinese-language lecturer seeking EB-1A in education; she works as director of a Chinese program and claims awards, media, contributions and leading role.; evidence_pages: 1; 2
claim: The AAO agrees the director correctly found scholarly authorship met; grant/scholarship evidence does not establish recognized awards in the field.; evidence_pages: 2; 3; 4
claim: Online and broadcast coverage lacks proof of major-media status and material about her; publication traffic figures and screenshots are unsupported.; evidence_pages: 4; 5; 6
claim: Citation/download counts and generalized recommendation letters do not establish original contributions of major significance; leading role evidence lacks a qualifying position/organizational impact.; evidence_pages: 5; 6; 7; 8
claim: No one-time award or three criteria; formal final merits not reached; aggregate review does not establish sustained acclaim; appeal dismissed.; evidence_pages: 9
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
Teaching sector research
Threshold research
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