sustained EB-1A Case: Athletics

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
In Re : 17644740 
Appeal of Nebraska Service Center Decision 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
Date : SEPT . 22, 2021 
Form 1-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Extraordinary Ability) 
The Petitioner, which trains athletes inl lseeks to classify the Beneficiary , ~------~ 
coach , as an individual of extraordinary ability . See Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) section 
203(b)(l)(A), 8 U.S.C . § 1153(b)(l)(A) . This first preference classification makes immigrant visas 
available to those who can demonstrate their extraordinary ability through sustained national or 
international acclaim and whose achievements have been recognized in their field through extensive 
documentation . 
The Director of the Nebraska Service Center denied the petition , concluding that although the record 
established that the Petitioner satisfied the initial evidentiary requirements with respect to the 
Beneficiary's recognition as an athlete , it did not do so regarding his recognition as a coach. The 
matter is now before us on appeal. 
In these proceedings , it is the Petitioner's burden to establish eligibility for the requested benefit. 
Section 291 of the Act, 8 U.S .C. § 1361. Upon de nova review , we will sustain the appeal. 
I. LAW 
Section 203(b)(l)(A) of the Act makes immigrant visas available to individuals with extraordinary 
ability if: 
(i) the alien has extraordinary ability in the sciences , arts , education , business , or 
athletics which has been demonstrated by sustained national or international 
acclaim and whose achievements have been recognized in the field through 
extensive documentation , 
(ii) the alien seeks to enter the United States to continue work in the area of 
extraordinary ability , and 
(iii) the alien's entry into the United States will substantially benefit prospectively the 
United States. 
The term "extraordinary ability" refers only to those individuals in "that small percentage who have 
risen to the very top of the field of endeavor." 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(2). The implementing regulation 
at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3) sets forth a multi-part analysis. First, a petitioner can demonstrate 
international recognition of a beneficiary's achievements in the field through a one-time achievement 
(that is, a major, internationally recognized award). If that petitioner does not submit this evidence, 
then he or she must provide sufficient qualifying documentation that meets at least three of the ten 
criteria listed at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(i)-(x) (including items such as awards, published material in 
certain media, and scholarly articles). 
Where a petitioner meets these initial evidence requirements, we then consider the totality of the 
material provided in a final merits determination and assess whether the record shows sustained 
national or international acclaim and demonstrates that the beneficiary is among the small percentage 
at the very top of the field of endeavor. See Kazarian v. USCIS, 596 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2010) 
( discussing a two-part review where the documentation is first counted and then, if fulfilling the 
required number of criteria, considered in the context of a final merits determination); see also 
Visinscaia v. Beers, 4 F. Supp. 3d 126, 131-32 (D.D.C. 2013); Rijal v. USCIS, 772 F. Supp. 2d 1339 
(W.D. Wash. 2011). 
II. ANALYSIS 
The petitioning club has trained several champion! I[ inclulding the silver medalist at the 2016 
Olympics. In the United Kingdom, the Beneficiary trained at where he later worked as a coach. 
After entering the United States, the Beneficiary trained at the petitioning club. In early 2017, he began 
coaching for the Petitioner as an 0-1 nonimmigrant of extraordinary ability, while continuing to compete. 
We agree with the Director that the Beneficiary's gold medal at the 2014 .__ ______ __. 
Championships, while significant, is not a major, internationally recognized prize that qualifies as a one­
time achievement under 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3). Without such a prize, the Petitioner must submit evidence 
to satisfy at least three of the alternate regulatory criteria at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(i)-(x). 
The Director essentially stipulated that the Beneficiary meets at least three criteria as an athlete: 
• The Beneficiary won "many awards including the gold medal at the 2014._I ______ _. 
Championships," satisfying 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(~ 
• The Beneficiary's membership in Great Britain'sl___Jteam at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics 
is a qualifying membership under 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(ii); and 
• "The record shows the beneficiary has received major media attention as an international 
athlete," fulfilling the requirements of 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(iii). 
The Director also determined that the Beneficiary's coaching position with the Petitioner qualifies as 
a leading or critical role for an organization or establishment with a distinguished reputation, satisfying 
8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(viii). 
If the Petitioner had filed this petition seeking to classify the Beneficiary as an athlete of extraordinary 
ability, the above determinations would be sufficient for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 
(USCIS) to proceed to a final merits determination. The Petitioner, however, seeks to employ the 
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Beneficiary as a coach, rather than as an athlete. The Director determined that much of the Petitioner's 
evidence concerns the Beneficiary's achievements and recognition as an athlete, not as a coach. The 
Petitioner contends, on appeal, that the "Beneficiary's field of endeavor is I I and therefore his 
accomplishments as a competitor should have more weight than the Director afforded them. 
In this respect, it bears noting that the Petitioner asserts on appeal that the Beneficiary "continues to 
compete as al I on a national and international level." The petition form indicates that the 
Petitioner intends to employ the Beneficiary only as a I I coach, but this does not mean the 
Beneficiary has stopped competing. Rather, the Petitioner is not a professional team that employs 
athletes to compete on its behalf 1 Instead, thellteams are separate from the traTing dibs. The 
Petitioner's head coach is also the head men's~ch for Team USA, the national team. 
As the Petitioner observes on appeal, the USCIS Policy Manual directly addresses the issue of athletes 
transitioning to coaching: 
Competitive athletics and coaching rely on different sets of skills and in general are not 
in the same area of expertise. However, many extraordinary athletes have gone on to 
be extraordinary coaches. 
Therefore, in general, if a beneficiary has clearly achieved recent national or 
international acclaim as an athlete and has sustained that acclaim in the field of 
coaching or managing at a national level, officers can consider the totality of the 
evidence as establishing an overall pattern of sustained acclaim and extraordinary 
ability such that users can conclude that coaching is within the beneficiary's area of 
expertise. 
6 USCIS Policy Manual F.2(A)(2), https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual. Under this policy guidance, 
evidence of acclaim as an athlete cannot suffice by itse(fto establish extraordinary ability as a coach, 
but users can give proportionate weight to evidence of that acclaim when the record also shows that 
the acclaim has continued into the beneficiary's coaching career. The guidance in the Policy Manual 
does not specify that a beneficiary must satisfy at least three evidentiary criteria as both an athlete and 
a coach; rather, it calls for evidence of continued acclaim, which is an issue for the final merits 
determination. 
Given the above factors, the proper course of action is to conduct a final merits determination, seeking 
to determine whether the Beneficiary has achieved sustained acclaim both as an athlete and as a coach. 
Because the Petitioner submitted the required initial evidence, we will evaluate whether it has 
demonstrated, by a preponderance of the evidence, the Beneficiary's sustained national or 
international acclaim and that he is one of the small percentage at the very top of the field of endeavor, 
and that his achievements have been recognized in the field through extensive documentation. In a 
final merits determination, we analyze a beneficiary's accomplishments and weigh the totality of the 
evidence to determine if their successes are sufficient to demonstrate that they have extraordinary 
1 Tax documents in the record indicate that the Petitioner paid $127,105 in wages in 2018, and the Benefici7 received more 
than a third of that amount. These figures do not indicate that the Petitioner has a salaried staff of competitive I 
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ability in the field of endeavor. See section 203(b )(1 )(A)(i) of the Act; 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(2), (3); 
see also Kazarian, 596 F.3d at 1119-20. 2 In this matter, we determine that the Petitioner has 
established the Beneficiary's eligibility. 
The record amply documents the Beneficiary's success as an athlete. As noted above, the Beneficiary 
has medaled at high-level international competitions. Ranking lists indicate that the Beneficiary 
ranked #4 in Great Britain in 2018, six years after his first Olympic competition. Most recently, the 
Beneficiary placed first in Britain's National Championships in spring 2019, about six months before 
the Petitioner filed the retitionl in October of that year. While continuing to compete, the Beneficiary 
also coached top-level first fo~and then, since early 2017, for the Petitioner. 
The record supports a determination that the Beneficiary has achieved sustained national or 
international acclaim as a competitive! I The question before us is whether the Beneficiary 
has sustained that acclaim into his coaching career. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that 
he has done so. 
The Beneficiary's former coach atO who has also coached the British Olympic team, states that, 
at his club, the Berficiaj "trained athletes to compete at an Olympic and World Championship 
level," including a "who made it in the top 8 in the World Cup in a ground-breaking 
performance." 
The Petitioner's head coach, who has also served as a coach of the USA National! lteam since 
2011 and as an Olympid lcoach since 2008, asserts that the club has produced a record number 
of champions since the Beneficiary began working there, and he indicates that the Beneficiary is 
responsible for "the direction of the club" during the head coach's absence and, eventually, his choice 
as permanent successor. Twd I who train at the petitioning center, both of whom won medals 
at the 2016 Olympics, attest to the Beneficiary's high-level coaching activity at the Petitioner's 
facility. The record documents the performance of several I lwho train under the Beneficiary. 
The president and chairman of the board ofUS/\1 l(the sport's U.S. national overnin bod 
who is also the vice president of the sport's international governing body, th;;.;:eci.---.-------~ 
I I states that the Beneficiary's "positive influence on the US ~-~-has been felt on 
several fronts," including "[a]s a high level training partner for our USA Men's Team." 
These letters confirm that the Beneficiary has coached at the highest levels in the United Kingdom 
and the United States, training champion athletes who have already competed at the Olympics and are 
well situated to do so again. In the denial notice, the Director acknowledged the Beneficiary's 
coaching work amounts to leading or critical roles for organizations or establishments with a 
distinguished reputation, satisfying the criterion at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(viii). 
2 See also 6 USCIS Policy Manual F.2(B)(2), https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual (stating that USCTS officers should then 
evaluate the evidence together when considering the petition in its entirety to determine if the petitioner has established, 
by a preponderance of the evidence, that the beneficiary possesses the required high level of expertise for the immigrant 
classification). 
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A leading or critical role is not enough, by itself: to establish eligibility, but in the context of the 
Beneficiary's recent ( and ongoing) acclaim as a competitive! I it is consistent with the conclusion 
that the Beneficiary is coaching at the same level at which he has been competing. 
The record establishes that the Beneficiary reached the top of his field as ~ I and has remained 
there as al I coach. We will therefore sustain the appeal and approve the petition. 
III. CONCLUSION 
The Petitioner has established that the Beneficiary meets at least three of the evidentiary criteria listed 
at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(i)-(x). He has also demonstrated sustained national acclaim in his field and 
submitted extensive documentation of his achievements. Lastly, the Petitioner has shown that the 
Beneficiary intends to continue working in the United States in his area of expertise and that his entry 
will substantially benefit prospectively the United States. He therefore qualifies for classification as 
an individual of extraordinary ability. 
ORDER: The appeal is sustained. 
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