Does Upwork project count?

[dasha]

Hi everyone! I would like to obtain Talent Visa this year and I have some doubts according one of my references. Please help with this.

I am an AI/ML specialist. In 2018 I did a project for a large US company. They hired me and paid me on UpWork. Since TechNation Guide recommends to have both international and national experience, I asked Director of Marketing of that US company to help me with recommendation letter and he agreed.

So I have 3 questions here:

1. Is that okay that the person who recommends me knows my work from UpWork project? Or it’s better to find someone else from company based in my country?

2. If each recommendation letter should be strengthen by evidence, does UpWork payment docs (Mandatory Criteria, financial evidence along with salary information) count?

3. I assume many of you will say that this is an outsource project, in this case, is there any ways to describe this case so it can be applicable?

It was AI/ML project and I did it myself fully, and very proud of it, so I think it can demonstrate my impact to the industry.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[May]

The person that recommends you need to know your work whether you worked with them directly or not. The country should not be a barrier.

You did not mention the nature of the work done by the large US corporation and how long you worked with them. You’ve to present the evidence very carefully to show you worked with the organisation directly, as self-employed, and not an employee of an outsourcing company, nor doing the projects for outsourcing/consulting companies.

Your presentation of the project will also matter.

You can check this thread:

Self employed on UPWORK. Can I apply?

@Tayyaba, is @Nauman_Qaiser your friend: Please Rate My General Profile for Stage1 (Advice Required) Is this his primary source of revenue? His technical background looks strong. He is a technical applicant and works with technology organisations directly. He is self-employed, not an employee of an outsourcing company, nor doing the projects for outsourcing/consulting companies. Therefore, I believe he is eligible. He has to choose the most extensive and prolonged projects completed for tech…

Regarding the payment evidence, if you’ve other strong evidence you can focus more on those. You need to determine who you’re working for, should that be Upwork or the organisation. Will you be able to evidence that you were paid significantly higher than others delivering the same scope of project? Tech nation says salary information, would this classed as salary based on your expertise or one-off project fee?