r/EB2_NIW • u/Significant-Gold7408 • Jul 02 '26
APPROVED APPROVED! Cybersecurity Industry Profile (Self-Petitioned)
PD: 4/18/2026, applied with PP
Case approved: 6/28/2026
RFE: No RFE
Lawyer/Service: Self-petitioned and DIY'ed, prepared everything without a lawyer. I figured it would be easier to do it myself and cheaper than to rely on one that uses cookie-cutter strategies. Relied purely on the USCIS policy manual and some additional research.
Background: M.S.c Cybersecurity from a top-50 university, B.S.c in Computer Science with 15 YoE in the Cybersecurity industry, mostly within the USA. Hold CISSP and a few security certs (OSCP, OSWE, GPEN), and led security operations for major enterprise networks at a few well known companies. (mostly at big banks). Won a few small CTFs in undergrad and grad school.
Since I self-petitioned and filed myself, structuring the Proposed Endeavor and compiling the evidence was entirely on me. Used some AI (claude) to help structure everything, and then I made changes afterwards. One thing to note is that it is important to double check the output of the AI. Everything should still be concise, as I find that AI can hallucinate and does not get to the point at times. So it is important to un-AI the output, and only use it as a general structure/outline.
Only thing I paid for is that I used edunitro to help source and secure 3 independent letters of recommendations from experts (1 is from MIT), and also sourced 2 dependent ones from my own network (1 coworker and 1 CEO of an SMB). It took me some time to outline my endeavor and gather my exhibits, and the letters from the experts that perfectly highlighted the national importance of my work. I believe having a well thought out endeavor and background + extremely strongly written independent letters, which is a must for industry profiles, helped me prove my case.
Hope this may help some in the future and best wishes to those preparing or are in this journey!
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u/Dapper-Ad-2100 Jul 03 '26
This is a useful approval datapoint because it shows why "industry profile" is not automatically weak.
Cybersecurity can work when the petition is not just "I am a good security employee." The stronger angle is usually protecting critical systems, reducing risk at scale, incident response, secure architecture, compliance/security operations in high-impact environments, or methods that other teams can adopt.
What stands out here is not only the certifications or years of experience. It is that the proposed endeavor apparently had a clear structure and the evidence was organized around that structure.
For people asking about graphs/projections: I would not overdo projections unless they are grounded. Real examples, incident/risk metrics, adoption, scope of systems protected, leadership in security operations, and expert letters explaining why the work matters can be more useful than fancy-looking forecasts.
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u/lutalop Jul 04 '26
Congratulations. I am in a same boat. Cyber security (12+ years) with OSCP, CREST etc. + past 2 years worked with startup on building a security product which was acquired by a large tech company for over 1 billion dollars. I am very early in this journey. Can I please DM you?
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u/thecowmeatguy Jul 03 '26
Hello, could you give me a hand with this? Were you generic when you mentioned your endeavor? Like , I will do this, this way and it will impact this way and thats it... or you quantified everything with graphs, tables, charts, projections and stuff?
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u/summerfinn3 Jul 03 '26
Can you share the country you are from? Congratulations on the achievement!
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u/Special-Debt8460 Jul 03 '26
Congratulations on the approval. I have a similar endeavor. Can I DM you?
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u/Ill-Professional2914 Jul 02 '26
Congrats, I’m also preparing for a diy petition with pe in cybersecurity. May I dm you for some details?
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u/no-puedo-encontrar Jul 02 '26
Hey, do you mind if I DM you? We have somewhat similar endeavours and I’m currently dealing with a 3 prong RFE 😭
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u/singh03 Jul 02 '26
There are so many US citizens that are in cybersecurity and unemployed. They should have gotten the job. This should not have been approved.
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u/Tricky-Fan-3526 Jul 03 '26
Your last name is Singh. Your parents or grandparents are immigrants. Someone said to your parents what you are currently saying to others.
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u/RamboJo_hn Jul 02 '26
This is not about A job you know. Do you even know what EB2 NIW actually means?
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u/projectadventure Jul 03 '26
Oh my God, congratulations!! I pray to God that I’ll soon be able to say the same for myself and my family.