AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision SEP242020_11B2203: Judging the work of others

AAO EB-1A decision SEP242020_11B2203: Judging the work of others

EB-1A judging the work of others — AAO decision SEP242020_11B2203: Appeal dismissed. Review source status, procedural posture and the official USCIS PDF.

Decision summary: The AAO Appeal dismissed Director found judging and scholarly authorship met; AAO rejected original contributions as not majorly significant, leaving fewer than three criteria.

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 source is a Form I-140 EB-1A extraordinary-ability decision.. This is a source-review label, not a legal conclusion.

Decision snapshot

Decision ID

SEP242020_11B2203

Decision date as printed

September 24, 2020

Classification / field stated in source

Form I-140 EB-1A extraordinary-ability decision under INA §203(b)(1)(A).

Procedural posture

Appeal of Nebraska Service Center denial; AAO de novo review; appeal dismissed.

Operative disposition

Appeal dismissed

Final-merits status

Only two initial criteria; formal final merits not reached. The decision offers aggregate advisory comments.

What the AAO decision addressed

Director found judging and scholarly authorship met; AAO rejected original contributions as not majorly significant, leaving fewer than three criteria.

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 coded — source PDF

Published material about the person

Not coded — source PDF

Judging the work of others

met — p. 2

Original contributions of major significance

Not met — p. 3, p. 4, p. 5, p. 6, p. 7

Scholarly authorship

met — p. 2

Artistic display or showcases

Not coded — source PDF

Leading or critical role

Not coded — source PDF

High salary or remuneration

Not coded — source PDF

Commercial success in the performing arts

Not coded — source PDF

Source-cited findings recorded in review

  • claim: The Director found judging and scholarly authorship met; on appeal the petitioner argued original contributions as an additional criterion.; pages: 1; 2

  • claim: Expert letters, citations, patents citing the petitioner’s work, conference participation, impact factors, and awards did not establish contributions of major significance to molecular biology as a whole.; pages: 3; 4; 5; 6; 7

  • claim: The decision expressly states it did not need to provide formal final merits after the threshold failed, while noting an adverse aggregate view.; 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

  • Judging the work of others research

  • Original contributions of major significance research

  • Scholarly authorship research

  • Medicine 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 SEP242020_11B2203