According to the latest Tech Nation report, the UK has secured a solid place in the top of the world's leading hubs for high-tech innovation. Global Venture Capital investors have deployed $15B into UK scale ups in 2020. In the first half of 2021, that number had already been surpassed and reached $18B. The tech sector has shown an enviable resilience in these troubling times and the demand for IT specialists continues to rise as of today, nearly 3 mil people are employed in the UK tech industry.
The British government maintains the interest of international IT specialists and makes changes in the immigration policies to make the relocation process much easier. Getting the Global Talent Visa is a new and promising way to relocate your business to the UK.
With its Global Talent programme the United Kingdom invites the brightest tech talents to join and contribute to the country's digital technology sector. The GT visa is very flexible it's not tied to a specific job or firm and it allows its holders to work outside of their main company. The Global Talent visa leads to settlement after 3 years for Exceptional Talent candidates or 5 years for Exceptional Promise candidates.
Tech Nation the official Home Office endorsing body is authorised to assess applications for the GT visa and to endorse candidates. Their evaluation process is quite meticulous and rigorous that's why it's crucial to know how to make your application compelling.
The application consists of 3 major sets of documents that demonstrate one's experience, talent, and uniqueness:
Let's dive into the details of each category.
The letter should explain the reasons for choosing Great Britain for the candidate's relocation. Applicants should also write about the contribution they hope to make to the British IT industry. The tech sector's acceleration, numerous headquarters of international tech giants (Google, Microsoft, Facebook) and countless successful startups based in the United Kingdom make it easy to expand on the first topic of the letter. The second part requires references to the supporting evidence, which we will elaborate on in the next section.
An individual applying for an endorsement from Tech Nation will need to provide evidence of their achievements. The evidence should showcase the candidate's contribution to the company they worked at and to the advancement of the related industry. Various accomplishments can be used as supporting evidence from designing an innovative product and launching a startup to publishing academic research.
Moreover, Tech Nation takes into consideration the evidence of recognition for work outside of immediate occupation. It can be unrelated to the applicant's main job but should still be tied to the digital field. This category of evidence is an especially important addition to the Exceptional Talent application. Recognition outside of work is highlighted separately in the section called «External Profile» here is what you could add to enrich it:
The majority of Immigram's clients take part in such events, some of them take place during large conventions, such as PyCon. The public speeches are listed in their External Profiles and are supported with links to the performances.
A great example would be the organisation called «Girls in Tech», which helps women overcome boundaries and excel in the technology industry.
Many clients of Immigram are contributors to popular Open sources, such as Go, Linux Kernel, ClickHouse, and others. We mention their experience in the CV and add descriptions of the open sources and links.
E.g. giving speeches on IT matters at non-IT events.
Telegram сhannels: for instance, our client D. has created «Experimental chill» a channel which now has over 3 thousand subscribers. D. covers IT news, posts educational content, shares algorithms and curious cases from his own experience. The Telegram channel served as an excellent addition to the External Profile, emphasizing D.'s involvement in the IT industry.
Recommenders should be carefully selected: it’s better to choose employees from the senior staff (CEO / CTO) and preferably with an impressive list of achievements. Tech Nation rarely evaluates the importance of projects on its own, which is why it’s very important to get an assessment of your work from reputable recommenders.
At the beginning of the letter, write a few words about the expert him/herself and highlight their qualifications to demonstrate why the recommender should be trusted. Also, don’t forget to leave their contact details.
According to the rules, it’s required to upload at least 3 letters of recommendation, but it would be safer to send 4 or 5 since some of the letters may be rejected due to non-compliance with the criteria.
So, we have briefly analyzed the main requirements of the Global Talent visa application. We at Immigram are always happy to offer guidance contact our team for help with creating the perfect application.
