The Membership Necessary For Extraordinary Ability
I. THE MEMBERSHIP NECESSARY FOR EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY
USCIS requires that the membership must require outstanding achievements, as judged by national or international experts. USCIS does not specifically state which membership qualifies, but AAO gives some guidance.
A. AAO’s Membership Requirement
AAO stated that the membership must be in an association that requires outstanding achievements to become a member. As such, the AAO does not consider memberships in large, well-known associations such as, American Association for Cancer Research, American Association of Orthodontists, New York Academy of Sciences, or Sigma Xi, to be adequate.
For highly accomplished athletes, the membership requirement is easy to meet because they can use their team as the association. In past cases, AAO has ruled that professional sports team, or an Olympic team, is the equivalent of an association requiring outstanding achievements. In re Petitioner (file number not released) (AAO), In re Petitioner WAC-02-161-51678 (AAO).
B. Non-Qualifying Membership
AAO has made it clear that membership requirements based on employment, minimum education, certain amount of experience, standardized test scores, grade point averages, recommendations by peers, or payment of dues, do not qualify the membership as requiring outstanding achievements. In re Petitioner WAC-01-256-52882 (AAO).
In addition, a membership that is local in nature, or is merely restrictive, would also not qualify. In re Petitioner WAC-02-228-50750 (AAO).
Finally, the AAO noted that the prestige of the association or the achievements of its members are irrelevant, because only the requirement for the membership is considered. In re Petitioner WAC-02-169-50172 (AAO).
C. Conclusion
Membership useful for EB-1 must require outstanding achievement. Only then would it be possible to show that the person is an alien of extraordinary ability. When faced with qualification issue, our law office will use supplementing criteria to meet the requirements.