Hi all - a bit belated to posting this, but I received endorsement for my Global Talent exceptional promise visa for digital technology through the business route. I have worked as CMO and part of the founding team of a climate tech + blockchain start-up in the UK for the last 2.5 years, and am currently planning to found a new climate tech business.
I submitted my application on February 14, 2024 and received the endorsement on February 20, 2024. I have been accepted into (and am currently participating in) the Carbon13 Venture Builder incubator, so that likely sped up my application processing time.
Including my information below in case it’s helpful to others:
Letters of recommendation:
- CEO and co-founder of the digital tech start-up I most recently worked for
- Investor from a major corporate investor that participated in the seed round for that same start-up (I was heavily involved in the fundraise)
- President and co-founder of another UK-based climate tech firm in the same space that has raised ~US $100M, who knows my work
Mandatory Criteria evidence:
- Speaking engagements: screenshots, explanations (including audience size) and links to speaking engagements I have participated in over the last 3 years
- News coverage of my work: screenshots, explanations and links to trade media articles about my work at the start-up
- Evidence of compensation: screenshots of my employment contract and equity contracts, compared against industry averages, plus screenshots of my pay stubs
- MBA letter of recommendation: recommendation letter from a technology and innovation professor at my MBA program, plus my transcript and diploma
OC2 evidence:
5. Thought leadership through op eds: screenshots, publication statistics and links to op ed pieces I had written, plus me being included in an industry “power list”
6. Working Groups & Industry Contributions: screenshots, explanations and links proving my contributions to a number of industry working groups, including groups that published several whitepapers; emails from working group leads thanking me for my contributions; evidence of me presenting to major industry bodies on blockchain in climate
7. Letter of recommendation from a principal at a top VC fund in the UK who invests in the climate tech space and spoke about my contributions to the sector
OC3 evidence:
8. Evidence of start-up fundraising: news coverage of the seed fundraise of my start-up; email excerpts from conversations with investors; links and screenshots to live investor pitch events I did; evidence of investor meetings
9. Commercial success of my company: metrics showing marketing traction of my start-up (Hubspot + social media); awards nominations; sales pipeline screenshots; trade news article about a major customer deal
10. Letter of recommendation: recommendation letter from another co-founder of my start-up explaining the commercial traction I contributed to
TIPS:
- For each evidence document, I wrote an explanation at the top that used language from the Tech Nation visa guide and explained clearly and briefly why the evidence in that document proved the criteria
- I asked several people who had already received this visa to review my documents, their input was very helpful
Good luck to all applicants!!!