Visalytics
Visalytics
dismissed EB-1A RFE Issued

Judo Coach

Athletics · 2025-01-14

Decision Date
2025-01-14
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

1 of 3 criteria met
Leading or critical role in distinguished organizations (Met)

The Director favorably determined that the Petitioner met this criterion, but the AAO did not review this finding as it was unnecessary for the ultimate decision.

Lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards (Not Met)

The Petitioner's 'Master of Sport' award was for his athletic career, not coaching. The 'National Coach' title was obtained after filing and thus not considered. Awards received by other athletes were not considered as the Petitioner did not demonstrate his receipt of them or their broad international recognition.

Membership in associations requiring outstanding achievements (Not Met)

The Petitioner's membership as a head coach did not demonstrate that the association required outstanding achievements of its members, as judged by recognized national or international experts, lacking supporting evidence like bylaws.

Published material about the alien in major media (Not Met)

Evidence for published material was insufficient due to partial translations, missing author information, relevance to the Petitioner's athletic career rather than coaching, and failure to demonstrate the 'major media' status of the publications.

Why This Petition Was Denied

The Petitioner failed to establish a one-time achievement, as his 'Master of Sport' award related to his athletic career, not coaching. He also did not meet the awards criterion because his claimed awards were as an athlete, and the 'National Coach' title was obtained after the petition filing. The membership criterion was not met as evidence did not show the association required outstanding achievements judged by national or international experts. The published material criterion was not satisfied due to partial translations, missing author information, relevance to his athletic career, and lack of proof of 'major media' status. Consequently, the Petitioner did not fulfill the initial evidentiary requirement of at least three criteria.

Request for Evidence (RFE)

Unsuccessfully Addressed

The RFE requested the full article from insidekung-fomagazine.com. The petitioner submitted the article, but it was dated after the petition's filing date, rendering it ineligible for consideration.

RFE Targets
Published material about the alien in major media

Evidence

Evidence Types
Awards
Professional Memberships
Published Material
Leading Role
Evidence Submitted
  • Master of Sport title (as an athlete)
  • Ranking recognition (as an athlete)
  • Black belt degree (as an athlete)
  • Claimed 'National Coach' title (obtained post-filing)
  • Membership with an unnamed association as head coach
  • Published material in 'Sporting [unnamed]' (partial translation, no author, related to athlete)
  • Published material on an unnamed website (partial translation, no author, related to athlete)
  • Published material in 'Weekly' (no author, circulation 12,000-13,000 in Southern California)
  • Published material from 'insidekung-fomagazine.com' (post-filing)
  • Letters from athletes (not considered on appeal)

Similar Cases

Others

Sports · Georgia

USCIS EB-1A rfe dismissed
2024-07-10
The Petitioner failed to meet any of the three claimed criteria: awards, memberships, and published material. Specifically, the awards lacked documentation of significance, membership requirements were not proven to be based on outstanding achievements judged by experts, and published materials lacked proper translations and evidence of being major media.

Athlete

Sports · Russia

USCIS EB-1A rfe dismissed
2025-01-31
The motions to reopen and reconsider were dismissed. The motion to reopen failed because the Petitioner did not present new facts or sufficient evidence to support claims of ineffective assistance or to establish eligibility under new criteria (original contributions, leading role, memberships, published material, judging). The motion to reconsider failed because the Petitioner did not establish that the prior decision was based on an incorrect application of law or policy, particularly regarding the consideration of new evidence on appeal. The AAO found inconsistencies in the translation of the refereeing book, reducing its reliability.

Others

Sports · Brazil

USCIS EB-1A rfe dismissed
2024-12-02
The AAO dismissed the appeal because the petitioner failed to establish a one-time achievement or meet at least three of the 10 EB-1A criteria. Specifically, criteria for lesser awards (i), memberships (ii), published material (iii), original contributions (v), and artistic exhibitions (vii) were not met. For awards, the context for excellence was not established. For memberships, the black belt requirements did not necessitate outstanding achievements. For published material, the publications were not proven to be 'major trade publications or other major media'. For original contributions, the organized tournament was not shown to be of 'major significance'. For exhibitions, Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions were deemed athletic, not artistic, and thus did not qualify.

Coach

Sports · Brazil

USCIS EB-1A rfe dismissed
Arkansas 2024-05-06
The Petitioner failed to meet the awards, memberships, and published material criteria. While he received numerous medals in IBJJF competitions, there was insufficient evidence of their national or international recognition. Additionally, membership in 'D Team' did not require outstanding achievements as judged by experts, and the submitted articles lacked circulation data to qualify as major media.

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.

Browse More Cases

More dismissed cases More Sports cases

Case data sourced from publicly available petition decisions and case studies. Decision date: 2025-01-14.

Browse all cases

At a Glance

Outcome dismissed
RFE Issued
Criteria Met 1 / 3
Evidence Types 4

EB-1A Case Data

Scraped Case Data

Total Cases 919
Success Rate 53.0%
Sustained 487
Dismissed 315

Related Pages

EB-1A Overview All EB-1A Cases EB-1A Dashboard

Get Case Insights

Compare your profile against thousands of real petition outcomes. Join the waitlist for personalized analysis.

Join Waitlist