AAO research

AAO EB-1A decision APR152021_02B2203: beauty industry executive and high salary evidence pitfalls for eb‑1a

Personal awards must be received by the beneficiary themselves; using company or product awards does not satisfy the EB‑1A awards criterion. Evidence that the beneficiary personally received a prize or award.; Quantitative salary documentation showing the beneficiary’s earnings are high relative to

Decision Snapshot

Field Value --- --- Decision ID APR152021_02B2203 Decision date not stated in the extraction Outcome dismissed Field or occupation beauty industry executive Final merits discussed No / not stated

Criteria Discussed

  • awards

  • high_salary

  • leading_critical_role

  • original_contributions

  • published_material

Criteria Accepted

  • leading_critical_role

  • published_material

Criteria Rejected

  • awards

  • high_salary

  • original_contributions

Core Lesson

Personal awards must be received by the beneficiary themselves; using company or product awards does not satisfy the EB‑1A awards criterion.

Evidence Issue

  • Evidence that the beneficiary personally received a prize or award.

  • Quantitative salary documentation showing the beneficiary’s earnings are high relative to the field.

  • Independent documentation demonstrating that the beneficiary’s contributions had major significance to the broader industry.

  • Proof of sustained national or international acclaim.

How This Connects

This decision is part of Extraordinary's AAO EB-1A corpus. It is exposed as a structured decision card so readers, search engines, and AI search systems can connect the decision to broader EB-1A evidence patterns.

Source Note

Non-precedent AAO decisions are used as evidence examples. They are not binding authority and do not predict any individual case.