This appeal was not successful at this stage
The AAO dismissed the appeal after withdrawing the Director's finding that the petitioner satisfied the scholarly articles criterion, leaving her with only two of the required three criteria met. Without reaching the three-criterion threshold, the appeal was dismissed.
1 more criterion would trigger a full merits review.
A data scientist filed an EB-1A extraordinary ability petition, claiming she met three criteria: published material, judging, and scholarly articles. The Director denied the petition at final merits but had found all three criteria satisfied. On appeal, the AAO reversed the Director's finding on the scholarly articles criterion, concluding that the petitioner's traffic data came from SiteWorth Traffic — an estimation tool relying on Alexa statistics that shut down in 2022 — and that screenshots pasted into a cover letter rather than actual printouts, combined with self-selected comparison websites, failed to demonstrate that Bitsight's blog or Towards Data Science qualify as professional or major trade publications. With only two criteria established instead of three, the AAO dismissed the appeal without conducting a final merits determination, though it noted in dicta that the record would also fail that step.
What worked: Two criteria — published material and judging — were found satisfied by the Director and were not challenged or disturbed by the AAO on appeal.
What failed: The scholarly articles criterion failed because the petitioner relied on SiteWorth Traffic, an unreliable estimation tool that uses a defunct analytics service (Alexa), submitted traffic data as screenshots pasted into a letter rather than proper exhibits, and compared her publications only to self-selected websites rather than providing an independent ranking of major trade publications in her field. Without this criterion, she could not meet the required minimum of three.
Takeaway: Petitioners relying on website or publication traffic data to establish 'major trade publication' status must use current, reputable, independently verifiable sources — not estimation tools of questionable accuracy — and should submit rankings of peer publications rather than cherry-picked comparisons. All evidence should be submitted as standalone printouts or official exhibits, not embedded screenshots in a cover letter.
Cases like this are frequently used by attorneys when responding to RFEs or building initial petitions. The evidence patterns that worked (or failed) here directly reflect what USCIS officers look for when evaluating EB-1A criteria.
● Evidence that moved the needle
- Two criteria — published material and judging — were found satisfied by the Director and were not challenged or disturbed by the AAO on appeal.
● Evidence that wasn't enough alone
- The scholarly articles criterion failed because the petitioner relied on SiteWorth Traffic, an unreliable estimation tool that uses a defunct analytics service (Alexa), submitted traffic data as screenshots pasted into a letter rather than proper exhibits, and compared her publications only to self-selected websites rather than providing an independent ranking of major trade publications in her field
- Without this criterion, she could not meet the required minimum of three.
Criterion-by-criterion breakdown
Published material about the person
MetDirector found this criterion met; AAO did not disturb this finding.
Judging the work of others
MetDirector found this criterion met; AAO did not disturb this finding.
Authorship of scholarly articles
Reversed in their favorDirector granted criterion without analysis. AAO reversed, finding the evidence (SiteWorth Traffic data, screenshots pasted into letter, self-selected comparison websites) was inadequate and relied on a defunct Alexa-based service to establish that Bitsight and Towards Data Science qualify as professional or major trade publications.
Evidence supporting published material criterion (criterion iii) — accepted by Director and not disturbed by AAO.
Evidence supporting judging criterion (criterion iv) — accepted by Director and not disturbed by AAO.
SiteWorth Traffic website data: deemed unreliable because it uses custom algorithms, cannot guarantee accuracy, and continues to reference Alexa statistics, a service defunct since 2022.
Screenshots of SiteWorth Traffic data pasted into RFE response letter rather than submitted as actual evidentiary printouts.
Self-selected comparison websites used to show relative traffic of Bitsight and Towards Data Science, which may have excluded higher-traffic publications and thus did not constitute a proper ranking of major trade publications in the field.
Articles published on Bitsight's blog and Towards Data Science website: insufficient evidence that these qualify as professional or major trade publications due to inadequate traffic/readership data.
Director granted the scholarly articles criterion (8 C.F.R. § 204.5(h)(3)(vi)) without providing any analysis or reasoning to support the finding.
Director relied on traffic data derived from SiteWorth Traffic, an estimation service that cannot guarantee accuracy and relies on Alexa statistics — a service defunct since 2022 — without assessing the reliability of that source.
Completed
I-140 filed
Data scientist who also founded an information technology company in the United States
Completed
Texas Service Center Director — Denied
Initial decision: Denied.
Completed
Appeal to the AAO
Petitioner appealed to the Administrative Appeals Office for de novo review.
2024-06-05
AAO decision — Dismissed
The AAO dismissed the appeal after withdrawing the Director's finding that the petitioner satisfied the scholarly articles criterion, leaving her with only two of the required three criteria met. Without reaching the three-criterion threshold, the appeal was dismissed.
If you're appealing a similar decision, I-290B must be filed within 30 days of personal service of the denial, or 33 days if mailed.
Find this useful? A coffee helps keep Case Reviewer free and ad-free.
Buy me a coffee