U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security 20 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Rm. 3000 Washington, DC 20529-2090 u. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ---- EAC 06 037 50950 IN RE: PETITION: Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability Pursuant to Section 203(b)(l)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 5 1 153(b)(l)(A) ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: INSTRUCTIONS: This is the decision of the Administrative Appeals Office in your case. All documents have been returned to the office that originally decided your case. Any further inquiry must be made to that office. If you believe the law was inappropriately applied or you have additional information that you wish to have considered, you may file a motion to reconsider or a motion to reopen. Please refer to 8 C.F.R. 5 103.5 for the specific requirements. All motions must be submitted to the office that originally decided your case by filing a Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, with a fee of $585. Any motion must be filed within 30 days of the decision that the motion seeks to reconsider or reopen, as required by 8 C.F.R. fj 103.5(a)(l)(i). u ,&hn F. Grissom, Acting Chief Administrative Appeals Office DISCUSSION: The employment-based immigrant visa petition was denied by the Director, Nebraska Service Center and is now before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. The appeal will be dismissed. The petitioner seeks classification as an employment-based immigrant pursuant to section 203(b)(l)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(l)(A), as an alien of extraordinary ability. The director determined that the petitioner had not established the sustained national or international acclaim necessary to qualify for classification as an alien of extraordinary ability. On appeal, counsel argues that the director's decision failed to address all of the petitioner's evidence, including her more recent work. Section 203(b) of the Act states, in pertinent part, that: (1) Priority workers. -- Visas shall first be made available . to qualified immigrants who are aliens described in any of the following subparagraphs (A) through (C): (A) Aliens with extraordinary ability. -- An alien is described in this subparagraph 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. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) have consistently recognized that Congress intended to set a very high standard for individuals seeking immigrant visas as aliens of extraordinary ability. See 56 Fed. Reg. 60897, 60898-99 (Nov. 29, 1991). As used in this section, the term "extraordinary ability" means a level of expertise indicating that the individual is one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor. 8 C.F.R. 8 204.5(h)(2). The specific requirements for supporting documents to establish that an alien has sustained national or international acclaim and recognition in his or her field of expertise are set forth in the regulation at 8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3). If the ten criteria do not readily apply to the alien's occupation, the petitioner may submit comparable evidence to establish eligibility. 8 C.F.R. 5 204.5(h)(4). The relevant criteria will be addressed below. It should be reiterated, however, that the petitioner must show that she has sustained national or international acclaim at the very top level. Page 3 This petition, filed on November 14, 2005, seeks to classify the petitioner as an alien with extraordinary ability as a television producer. The regulation at 8 C.F.R. 8 204.5(h)(3) indicates that an alien can establish sustained national or international acclaim through evidence of a one-time achievement (that is, a major, internationally recognized award). Barring the alien's receipt of such an award, the regulation outlines ten criteria, at least three of which must be satisfied for an alien to establish the sustained acclaim necessary to qualify as an alien of extraordinary ability. A petitioner, however, cannot establish eligibility for this classification merely by submitting evidence that simply relates to at least three criteria at 8 C.F.R. 8 204.5(h)(3). In determining whether the petitioner meets a specific criterion, the evidence itself must be evaluated in terms of whether it is indicative of or consistent with sustained national or international acclaim. A lower evidentiary standard would not be consistent with the regulatory definition of "extraordinary ability" as "a level of expertise indicating that the individual is one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor." 8 C.F.R. 4 204.5(h)(2). The petitioner has submitted evidence pertaining to the following criteria.' Documentation of the alien's receipt of lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field of endeavor. The petitioner submitted an October 17, 2005 letter from , journalist and television host of Nine Network Australia's This is Your Life, stating: [The petitioner] and I met while she was a Communications student attending the University of Western Sydney. She contacted me with interests of doing an internship with my then employer Nine Network Australia. At the time contactedme I was Senior News Anchor for the program A Current Affair, Australia's version of 60 Minutes in the United States. [The petitioner] was quickly hired on as my Senior Producer while I hosted the A Current Affair program. As my Senior Producer, [the petitioner] worked on many internationally exclusive stories. She was the only Senior Producer from the show sent to New York to cover September 11 for A Current Affair. [The petitioner's] extraordinary skills as a Producer brought to us the exclusive story of a terminally ill Australian woman who carried out her promise to take her own life. I The petitioner does not claim to meet or submit evidence relating to the criteria not discussed in this decision. Page 4 Another exclusive story that A Current Affair obtained due to [the petitioner's] extraordinary abilities as a Producer was with reclusive S.A.S. service of the Australian Army. Due to the brilliantly produced stories outlined above, in 2001 A Current Affair won a Logie Award (Australia's version of an Emmy Award) for "Most Outstanding Public Affairs Program." I was chosen and honored to accept on behalf of the show. In my acceptance speech I thanked [the petitioner] for being the most proficient, extremely exceptional Senior Producer I have ever had the experience of working with. According to letter, the award was presented to his show (which had multiple producers) rather than to the petitioner. The plain language of this regulatory criterion, however, requires "documentation of the alien's receipt of lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards." We cannot ignore statement that the award was accepted by him rather than the petitioner. Further, there is no supporting evidence from the organizers of the 2001 Logie Awards indicating that A Current Affair received a Logie Award in 2001 or that the award focused primarily on the petitioner's work. Simply going on record without supporting documentary evidence is not sufficient for purposes of meeting the burden of proof in these proceedings. Matter of SofJici, 22 I&N Dec. 158, 165 (Comm. 1998) (citing Matter of Treasure Craft of California, 14 I&N Dec. 190 (Reg. Comm. 1972)). On February 1,2007, the director requested further evidence regarding the aforementioned the Logie Award, including a copy of the award and information demonstrating its scope and significance. In response, counsel states: Unfortunately, like the Emmy award, the Logie Award is actually a small statuette and as such a "copy" of it is not available. The original is in Australia and not available for photography; however, we present the official list of Logie award winners from 1990 which confirms that the news program A Current Affair . won the Loge for most popular current affairs program. We note that the "official list of Logie award winners" submitted by the petitioner in response to the director's request for evidence was not from the competition organizers. Rather, the petitioner submitted a printout from Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, entitled "Logie Awards of 1990." With regard to information from Wikipedia, there are no assurances about the reliability of the content from this open, user-edited internet site.2 See Lamilem Badasa v. Michael Mukasey, No. 07- Online content from Wikipedia is subject to the following general disclaimer: WIKIPEDIA MAKES NO GURANTEE OF VALIDITY. Wikipedia is an online open-content collaborative encyclopedia, that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common resource of human knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required Page 5 2276 (gth Cir. August 29, 2008). As such, we will not assign weight to information for which Wikipedia is the only cited source. Nevertheless, the Wikipedia list submitted by the petitioner is for the "Logie Awards of 1990" rather than for the Logie awards of 2001, the year indicated in We also note counsel's statement that primary evidence of the Loge Award "is not available." A petition must be filed with any initial evidence required by the regulation.