dismissed EB-1A RFE Issued

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Researcher

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Researcher · Iran · 2025-03-05

Decision Date
2025-03-05
This case is from a USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) appeal decision. Appeal cases represent a subset of petitions and may not reflect typical outcomes.

Framework Evaluation

2 of 3 criteria met
Judging the work of others (Met)

The Director and AAO agreed the Petitioner satisfied the requirements for judging the work of others.

Authorship of scholarly articles (Met)

The Petitioner authored 44 articles and presentations in professional journals and conferences.

Original contributions of major significance (Not Met)

Expert letters lacked specific examples of field-wide impact, and citation metrics were not shown to be exceptionally high compared to the field baseline.

High salary or other significantly high remuneration (Not Met)

The Petitioner failed to provide a reliable comparison to others in similar roles and did not account for non-salary compensation components.

Why This Petition Was Denied

The appeal was dismissed because the Petitioner failed to meet at least three EB-1A criteria. Specifically, the 'original contributions' criterion was not met as citation data was considered average for the field and expert letters lacked corroboration of field-wide impact; the 'high salary' criterion was not met due to inadequate comparative data for his specific role and compensation structure.

Request for Evidence (RFE)

Unsuccessfully Addressed

The RFE challenged the major significance of the research and the comparative nature of the salary; the Petitioner provided OpenAlex data and World Salaries surveys in response.

RFE Targets
Original contributions of major significanceHigh salary or other significantly high remuneration

Evidence

Evidence Types
Peer Reviewed Publications
Citations
Awards
Media Coverage
Reference Letters Independent
Reference Letters Dependent
Conference Presentations
Professional Memberships
Judging Experience
Original Contributions
High Salary
Evidence Submitted
  • 44 published articles and presentations (Google Scholar)
  • 312 total citations
  • h-index of 8
  • Judging the work of others (peer review)
  • Membership in the International Chamber of Commerce of Iran
  • Contracts for monitoring services in banking/insurance systems
  • Media quotes as an expert in payment systems

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Frequently Asked Questions

A dismissed EB-1A petition means USCIS found the evidence insufficient to meet the eligibility criteria. Common reasons include weak documentation, failure to meet the required number of criteria, or insufficient evidence of the claimed qualifications. Petitioners can refile with stronger evidence or explore alternative visa categories.

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Case data sourced from publicly available petition decisions and case studies. Decision date: 2025-03-05.

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At a Glance

Outcome dismissed
RFE Issued
Criteria Met 2 / 3
Evidence Types 11

EB-1A Case Data

Scraped Case Data

Total Cases 881
Success Rate 52.9%
Sustained 466
Dismissed 299

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