The EB1A Mindset: Why Your Narrative Matters More Than Your Checklist
Hi, my name is Mukund Sarma. I’ve been working in cybersecurity and fintech for over a decade, focusing on building programs, tools, and practices that help make financial systems safer at scale. I applied for EB1A under the category of extraordinary ability in cybersecurity and financial technology.
When people search for EB1A experiences, most of what they find is about forms, steps, or checklists. That content is extremely valuable, but what often gets left out is the human side - the doubts, the strategy, and the mental shifts it takes to package a career into a petition that tries to prove “extraordinary ability.”
This is my story, what I learned, and what I wish I had known earlier.
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My Immigration Journey
Like many others, my U.S. journey started on an F1 visa when I came here for my master’s. After graduating, I went through the familiar cycle: CPT, OPT, STEM OPT, and then eventually the H-1B.
In late 2019, my company applied for my green card under the EB2 category, and I got a priority date. However, as the years went on, the reality of the 100+ year backlog for Indian nationals in EB2 sank in. I found myself stuck in a constant cycle of stress: tracking visa appointment slots, worrying about whether I could travel, and wondering if I’d ever be able to visit my aging parents back home or see my sister who lives in Europe.
It felt like being in golden handcuffs. I was grateful for the opportunities in the U.S., but I didn’t want my life to be constrained by the uncertainty of a visa appointment. I wanted to be able to get on a plane without the fear that I might not be able to come back.
Getting married made this even more important. It was no longer just about me - it was about my family too. That’s why pursuing EB1A mattered so much. It wasn’t only about professional recognition; it was about creating stability and freedom for myself and for the people I love.
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The Rollercoaster Ride
The EB1A process is humbling. At its best, it’s validating to see your achievements laid out. At its worst, it makes you second-guess whether what you’ve done is truly “extraordinary.”
When I first applied, I received a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID), and that was a gut punch. For a moment, it felt like the system was saying you’re not good enough. But instead of giving up, I learned to see it differently: as feedback. It forced me to dig deeper, find better evidence, and refine my story. That shift in mindset was critical.
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Shaping a Narrative, Not Just Collecting Evidence
What truly surprised me is that EB1A isn’t really about the volume of evidence - it’s about the story you tell.
And here’s the most important distinction I learned: The successful narrative isn’t about how many millions of users my company served. That kind of impressive scale is evidence that you played a leading or critical role in the success of an organization - a key element, but often not the core of the EB1A claim.
The narrative for EB1A is singularly focused on how your work advanced the field of cybersecurity itself. In my career, for example, I wasn’t just securing financial data for hundreds of millions of U.S. members; the real story was how I pioneered new approaches that contributed to advancing cybersecurity practices beyond those companies.
That distinction was critical. Evidence on its own is the what. The narrative is the so what. And in EB1A, the “so what” must always be tied back to your field of endeavor, not just your employer.
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Why Context in My Field Mattered
Another thing I learned is that EB1A isn’t about proving you’ve helped “millions of people” in a broad sense. It’s about showing how your work stands out compared to others in your specific field. For me, that meant cybersecurity within fintech.
This shaped both my evidence and my narrative. Instead of saying, I secured X million users, the stronger story was, I introduced new approaches to solving problems that others in cybersecurity had not tackled in this way.
For example:
Through a security platform I built, I wasn’t just creating another developer tool. I was pioneering a proactive, automated way of embedding security into the developer workflow, which fundamentally shifted how product security is practiced.
With a privileged access solution I led, I wasn’t just reducing risk inside one company. I was setting a new standard for how high-risk access could be automated and temporary - something peers in the industry noticed and recognized at conferences.
Even my patent filings weren’t valuable just as intellectual property, but because they introduced new thinking on complex problems like service-to-service authentication in fintech security.
Crucially, in building this evidence, I showed two types of impact:
Industry Impact: I highlighted instances where other commercial solutions were built based on my work or directly referenced my innovations.
Measurable ROI: Where direct industry reference wasn’t possible, I showed the Return on Investment (ROI) for my companies, including the significant dollar savings from avoiding commercial contract costs by building superior internal solutions.
By focusing on how my work advanced cybersecurity as a discipline, I could show that I was not just another practitioner, but someone shaping the field itself.
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Why Total Merits Matter The Most
One of the things that isn’t obvious when you start EB1A is how much weight USCIS gives to the total merits determination.
At first, most people (myself included) focus on the checklist: I need to satisfy at least three categories. That part is clear. What’s less clear is that meeting three categories isn’t the finish line - it’s just the first filter. USCIS then looks at the overall significance of your achievements to decide if you truly demonstrate extraordinary ability.
This is where many petitions fall short. You can have all the right pieces - articles, leadership roles, recommendation letters- but if they don’t add up to a coherent story of extraordinary impact, the case can still be denied.
A critical strategy I learned is that you must look at your evidence holistically, not individually. Sometimes, the same robust piece of evidence can be used effectively in the narrative for more than one category. This is highly beneficial, as it creates synergy and reinforces the central story, which directly helps with the total merits determination.
For example, the impact I had in building a popular developer security platform that is widely recognized by my peers was also the main reason I was selected to present at top industry conferences and write scholarly articles about the work. This single achievement fell into multiple categories - Original Contributions, Published Material About Me, and Authorship of Scholarly Articles- and helped unify my entire narration.
And here’s another lesson: letters of recommendation don’t count as evidence by themselves. Without facts and documentation to back them up, they’re just hearsay. A strong letter doesn’t just say “X is an expert” - it anchors that claim in concrete outcomes, measurable impact, or independent recognition.
If you’re considering EB1A, this is the mindset I’d recommend starting with: don’t just ask, Which three categories can I hit? Ask instead, What’s the overall story of my extraordinary ability, and how does each piece of evidence, potentially across multiple categories, strengthen that story?
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Categories I Applied Under (and How I Approached Them)
When I started the EB1A process, one of the biggest mental shifts was realizing it’s not about how many categories you can tick off, but how convincingly you can show extraordinary ability through a few strong ones.
I technically had evidence for awards, too, but I didn’t feel those were strong enough, so I chose not to rely on them. Instead, I built my petition around categories where my evidence was both the strongest and the most aligned with my overall narrative. This was intentional. I learned it’s far better to lean into the strongest evidence that supports your story, rather than trying to check every possible box.
To illustrate this strategy, I focused on six core categories. Here is a breakdown of how I approached each one, ensuring every piece of evidence reinforced my central narrative.
The categories I focused on were:
1. Original Contributions of Major Significance
This was the core of my petition. I leaned heavily on my security innovations, patents, tools, and platforms that changed the way organizations approached product security. I didn’t just describe the projects, I showed impact at two levels:
Impact on the company: I backed this up with internal metrics, such as adoption numbers, security risk reduction, fraud reduction, or efficiency gains. I also compared the cost and fit of my work to equivalent commercial products in the market, demonstrating how building internally saved the company money while delivering a solution better tailored to its needs.
Impact on the industry: I drew parallels to existing commercial solutions or open-source tools to show that the kinds of innovations I built internally had broader industry relevance. In some cases, commercial products had since adopted features similar to what I pioneered, which further proved that the approach was significant beyond just one organization.
This combination of metrics + industry context was essential. It made clear that my work wasn’t just valuable inside my company - it was a meaningful advancement in cybersecurity as a field.
2. Published Material About Me
Media coverage and podcasts proved that independent voices valued my work. I took a proactive approach here, ensuring that content was filed about me and that my comments were quoted by experts in their news articles, features, and product launch announcements. This was crucial: people interview you and quote you only because you’ve made a recognized impact in the industry. The volume of these citations served as strong, independent proof that my expertise was sought after and that my contributions were shaping the public conversation in cybersecurity. Furthermore, I made sure my letters of recommendation specifically highlighted my recognition, media mentions, and influence on the field as corroborating evidence.
3. Authorship of Scholarly Articles
Earlier academic publications that rounded out my profile. I actively leveraged the themes and content from my conference talks and podcasts, repurposing that knowledge to ensure a consistent stream of articles. Over the years, I used those published articles and their citations as evidence for my sustained impact. Additionally, I continued to work on getting my articles published in trade journals and industry magazines - these publications are often viewed as more formal proof of industry influence than personal blogs. This compounding strategy helped build a deep track record of contributions.
4. Judge of Others’ Work
Reviewing and serving on program committees for major industry conferences like OWASP Global AppSec USA and BSidesSF was core to this category. I also proactively sought out other high-level peer review opportunities, such as judging for VC-hosted “shark tank” style startup events, reviewing a wide range of cybersecurity books, and serving on reviewer committees for industry magazines. I quickly realized that serving as a judge for a hackathon where the participants are students wouldn’t work, as the USCIS standard requires you to judge the work of your professional peers or leaders in the field.
Every role I took was intentional, focusing on positions where I assessed significant contributions to the industry. A major secondary benefit of this work was making a ton of new contacts and genuinely learning the inner workings of how publishing and expert validation operate in the trade media.
5. Leading/Critical Role
For this category, I hit on my Leadership roles at the present and previous companies, and how they tied directly to measurable business and security outcomes. I made sure to obtain testimonial letters from the Founders and C-level executives of my previous companies. The fact that these high-ranking executives knew me by name and could specifically attest to the profound impact I had on the organization’s success and security posture was extremely powerful. This elevated the evidence from a simple job title to credible, executive-level recognition. I would highly encourage others to take a similar approach, especially if the executives know them and can personally vouch for their critical role.
6. High Salary
I included compensation evidence that demonstrated I was consistently paid at the very top of my field, which reinforced that my expertise is valued at an extraordinary level. To support this, I compiled salary data from multiple sources: I specifically cited Department of Labor (DOL) data and used previous public statements from USCIS regarding what they consider highly paying jobs. Furthermore, I leveraged data from job sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. Given that my role was based in California, which requires the base salary to be shown for new roles, I was able to demonstrate that my compensation was consistently in the top 95th percentile for my field and region.
Crucially, because my current company was still private when I applied, I used a supporting letter from my HR team that referenced the latest company valuation and explained what my illiquid stock holdings could correlate to in the public market. This data-backed approach made the case that my high salary was an independent measure of my extraordinary ability.
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The Hidden Work Behind the Evidence
Every line of evidence in my petition had years of invisible work behind it. Getting recommendation letters wasn’t about cold outreach - it came from relationships I’d built over years of collaborating and contributing. Similarly, media coverage and podcasts didn’t “just happen.” They were the result of consistently sharing knowledge and being open to opportunities. Even projects I’d done years before became critical pieces that showed my long-term impact.
And here’s something I cannot emphasize enough: I didn’t do this alone. More than a dozen friends and peers supported me throughout the journey. Many of the opportunities I received weren’t because I was brilliant, but because people believed in me and gave me those opportunities. Their trust and backing helped me get in the room, and from there, I did the work. That support mattered as much as the evidence itself.
Looking back, EB1A wasn’t about a single moment of achievement. It was about the compound effect of the choices I made over a decade, plus the community that lifted me along the way.
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What Counts as Evidence (and What Doesn’t)
One thing I learned the hard way is that not all recognition is treated equally by USCIS.
When I first filed, I leaned heavily on things like podcasts, conference talks, company blog features, and mentions in other people’s blogs. In the real world, these are meaningful markers of influence. They show that peers care about what you’re saying, that your voice matters in your industry, and that your work has reach.
But USCIS doesn’t see it that way. At least as of now, podcasts and blogs are not considered “valid” published material because they don’t count as traditional trade media or peer-reviewed journals.
That doesn’t mean the podcasts, blogs, and conference talks were wasted effort. Far from it. Being present in those spaces built my reputation and visibility in the community. That reputation, in turn, made it possible for me to get coverage in traditional media later on. Journalists and editors took me more seriously because they saw the track record of conference talks and podcast features.
In other words, podcasts and blogs may not count as evidence on their own, but they were part of the long game that eventually helped me secure the more formal recognition that USCIS does accept.
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Why Sustained Impact Matters
Another realization I had is that EB1A isn’t about cramming two years’ worth of achievements into a petition and calling it extraordinary. The standard USCIS applies is about sustained impact - showing that your contributions have mattered over time and continue to matter.
When I filed, I made sure my evidence didn’t just stop at what I had already done. I also showed how my work was ongoing and how my influence was continuing. For example:
I highlighted how I had signed contracts to review upcoming books, even if the books weren’t yet published.
I included commitments to review for conferences scheduled up to a year in the future.
I pointed out how patents and projects from earlier in my career - even from my time before coming to the USA fit into the broader arc of how I had been contributing to the field for years.
That continuity mattered. It showed that I wasn’t working toward EB1A as a short-term project, but that my career naturally demonstrated long-term influence.
In short: extraordinary ability isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon of contributions, recognition, and continued relevance.
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How EB1A Changed My Career Too
Everything I did to prepare for my EB1A didn’t just help with my petition - it also helped me grow as a professional. In the process of gathering evidence, speaking at conferences, reviewing for journals, and building my presence, I also advanced the kinds of relationships I’ve built in the community and gained recognition among my peers.
And that recognition continues to help my career today. I think a big part of that is because I approached this journey genuinely. I didn’t take shortcuts or try to game the system. I focused on doing the work, contributing to the field, and sharing knowledge in ways that mattered. That authenticity made a difference—not just for EB1A, but for the opportunities that followed.
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Advice I’d Give Someone Starting Out
Think long-term: If EB1A is even on your radar, start shaping your body of work today. Small contributions compound.
Be authentic but strategic: Don’t inflate achievements, but do learn how to frame them so their impact is obvious.
Don’t try to “pay your way” into EB1A: USCIS is cracking down on paid awards, sponsored media, and other shortcuts. If everyone else is doing it, it’s not extraordinary - it’s ordinary.
Don’t self-petition without at least legal review: Even strong cases can fail if filings lack structure or miss critical elements. At the very least, have a lawyer review to ensure it’s technically sound.
Don’t take setbacks personally: A NOID, an RFE, or doubt along the way doesn’t define your worth - it’s part of the process.
Build relationships, not transactions: Strong letters and recognition come from real connections, not cold outreach.
Use tools wisely: AI, peers, and mentors can help you frame your story, but they don’t replace your own voice.
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Quick FAQ
Did I use a lawyer?
Yes. My company and boss were extremely supportive and sponsored my legal fees. The lawyers were strong on the legal side, but since they came from a more traditional background, I had to write the case narrative myself. They reviewed and validated it to ensure it was airtight.
How long did it take?
It felt like a second full-time job for almost two years. Nights, weekends, and spare hours went into it.
How long was my petition?
The full petition was around 800 pages in total. However, the core narrative - my cover letter and main application was approximately 60 pages. The rest of the page count was dedicated to the required USCIS forms and the extensive body of evidence (Exhibits) that backed up every claim.
Did I do this alone?
No. The EB1A process is an individual application, but it truly takes a village. My partner’s unwavering support at home was foundational, freeing up the time this demanding process required. I was also fortunate to have the full backing of my boss and internal immigration relations manager, alongside nearly a dozen friends and peers who vouched for me and guided me along the way.
Did I use AI/ChatGPT?
Yes. I used it as a brainstorming partner to refine narratives and draft letters, but never as a replacement for my own storytelling.
What was my timeline?
2014 - F1 Visa start
2016 - OPT (Post-graduation)
2018 - H1B visa picked
2019 (Late) - EB2 Green Card applied (Priority Date established)
Feb 2023 - First call with lawyers (checklist seemed daunting; went dormant)
Dec 2023 - Filled out questionnaire and officially engaged lawyers
Jan 2024 - Lawyers confirmed strategy; self-guided evidence work began
Sept 2024 - First EB1A Petition Filed
Oct 2024 - Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) received
Nov 2024 - Application retracted (strategic decision to fully rebuild)
Nov 2024 – Mar 2025 - Continued work on new evidence and case improvements
Mar 2025 (Late) - Reapplied (Second EB1A Petition Filed)
April 2025 (First Week) - EB1A Petition Approved!
June 2025 (Mid) - Green Card received!
Will you help me with my application?
While I genuinely wish I could, no, I am unable to assist with individual applications. I am not an immigration lawyer, and I cannot provide legal advice. Furthermore, my personal petition and lawyer information are highly sensitive and specific to my career. The best I can offer is the strategic advice shared here, which should guide you in finding your own, unique narrative.
Thank you to Ross for giving me the final push to write up and share my journey.
Footnote: When starting this journey, I read a ton of blogs. The two that fundamentally stuck with me and shaped my thinking about the process, tools, and detailed aspects of how to approach EB1A were: