Digital Technology – Exceptional Talent – Is my evidence pack strong enough?

Stage 1
1

Hi everyone,

I’m considering applying for the UK Global Talent visa under Digital Technology – Exceptional Talent, and I’d really appreciate views on whether my current evidence pack sounds strong enough or too letter-heavy.

Here is my current profile at a high level:

  • 15+ years in software engineering across backend/distributed systems and product-led technology companies
  • senior/staff/lead engineering experience
  • recently started a small company with a few products
  • one small open-source project with some GitHub stars
  • no public speaking or blog posts

My current evidence plan is:

Recommendation letters

  1. Letter from a VP at Company A
  2. Letter from an Associate Director at Company A
  3. Letter from a Head of Engineering at Company B

Employer-backed evidence

  1. Detailed impact letter from Associate Director at Company A

  2. Detailed impact/technical contribution letter from Head of Engineering at Company B

Other supporting evidence

  1. Offer letters / compensation evidence from 3 major product tech companies from the last year

  2. Company registration for my startup + product links/screenshots

  3. Open-source project evidence

  4. A film credit from 2019 for a major production where I was credited as a lead developer

  5. CV

Context:

  • Two former employers are no longer active, so I may only be able to get signed letters from ex-senior leaders rather than internal documents
  • My startup is recent and does not yet have meaningful revenue
  • My open-source project has limited traction
  • I’m unsure whether the older film credit is useful at all for Digital Technology, given recency expectations

My main questions are:

  1. Does this sound like a viable Exceptional Talent case, or too weak on independent evidence?
  2. Are detailed employer-backed letters enough where company documents are no longer accessible?
  3. Would compensation / offer letters from major tech companies materially help for the mandatory criterion?
  4. Is the 2019 film credit worth including only as background, or not at all?
  5. With this kind of pack, would you apply now or wait and strengthen it further?

Any honest feedback would be really appreciated.