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AAO Decisions Explorer · Free

Published AAO appeal decisions

Search the decisions the Administrative Appeals Office has published, narrow them by visa, criterion, field and year, and read our summary of each one with a link to the official PDF.

These are AAO appeal outcomes: appeals of petitions USCIS had already denied. They are not approval odds for new petitions.

Decisions

6,586

Sustained or remanded

5%

of 6,586 decisions

Most discussed criterion

Merit and national importance

in 3,009 decisions · Based on 6,586 classified decisions

Latest year

2026

722 decisions that year

Share sustained or remanded, by year

Based on all 6,586 decisions in the library

0%5%10%15%20%2020202120222023202420252026
  • EB-1A
  • EB-2 NIW
  • O-1A

Appeal outcomes, not approval odds. Each point shows its n on hover; a year with fewer than 20 decisions has no share and is not drawn.

Share sustained or remanded, by criterion discussed

Based on 6,586 classified decisions

Bars are drawn on a scale of 0 to 50%

  • Balance favors a waiver41% n 273
  • Well positioned17% n 656
  • Leading or critical role9% n 976
  • Scholarly articles9% n 810
  • Judging8% n 1255
  • Exhibitions8% n 400
  • Commercial success8% n 115
  • Original contributions7% n 1114
  • High salary7% n 527
  • Published material6% n 1487
  • Merit and national importance4% n 3009
  • Awards4% n 1821
  • Membership3% n 1230

A decision counts once for every criterion it discusses. Appeal outcomes, not approval odds.

Visa by field

Based on 6,586 classified decisions

EB-1AEB-2 NIWO-1A
Agriculture and food0%n 308%n 53n 2
Arts, design, architecture6%n 5381%n 855%n 43
Biotech and pharma4%n 2519%n 52n 1
Business and management6%n 2521%n 6755%n 22
Chemistry and materials7%n 576%n 36n 1
Civil and environmental engineering4%n 247%n 121-
Computer science and AI12%n 1616%n 383n 6
Data science and analyticsn 199%n 56-
Education and academia2%n 952%n 160n 4
Electrical and electronic engineering7%n 2910%n 87-
Energy and climaten 147%n 98-
Entrepreneurship12%n 410%n 250n 1
Film, music, performing arts5%n 225n 104%n 52
Finance and economics7%n 761%n 251n 5
Healthcare, clinical7%n 1232%n 386n 8
Law, policy, social science13%n 522%n 130-
Life sciences and medicine6%n 27227%n 90n 3
Marketing, media, communications2%n 550%n 61n 4
Mathematics and statisticsn 10n 7-
Mechanical and aerospace engineering4%n 563%n 155n 1
Other3%n 2611%n 133n 9
Physics and astronomy12%n 25n 10n 1
Software engineering7%n 307%n 60n 1
Sports and athletics4%n 4340%n 846%n 85

darker = a higher share; shown only where n is 20 or more

Share sustained or remanded; a cell with fewer than 20 decisions shows its n only. Appeal outcomes, not approval odds.

Outcomes by visa

Based on all 6,586 decisions in the library

EB-1An 2904

Dismissed 2741 · 94%Remanded 79 · 3%Sustained 84 · 3%

EB-2 NIWn 3433

Dismissed 3300 · 96%Remanded 50 · 1%Sustained 83 · 2%

O-1An 249

Dismissed 239 · 96%Remanded 9 · 4%Sustained 1 · 0%

  • Dismissed
  • Remanded
  • Sustained

How the published appeals ended, by visa. Appeal outcomes, not approval odds.

Appeals sustained or remanded, by decision year
Appeals sustained or remanded, by decision year
EB-1AEB-2 NIWO-1A
202612% n 3267% n 390 n 6
20256% n 3205% n 664 n 15
20243% n 2092% n 11935% n 20
20238% n 1322% n 70210% n 20
202212% n 1153% n 15110% n 21
20219% n 1366% n 2330% n 24
20205% n 24011% n 47 n 17
20198% n 107 n 10 n 18
201814% n 70 n 180% n 21
20179% n 5614% n 215% n 20
201618% n 45 n 4 n 19
20159% n 46-5% n 20
20140% n 41- n 16
20130% n 53--
20120% n 122--
20110% n 51--
20100% n 64--
20092% n 228--
20088% n 53--
20075% n 56--
20062% n 41- n 5
20050% n 393- n 7

These are AAO appeal outcomes: appeals of petitions USCIS had already denied. They are not approval odds for new petitions. A share is shown only with its n, and only where n is 20 or more. Dataset: published AAO non-precedent decisions in this library, 6,586 decisions.