Endorsement Received for exceptional promise - My experience

Stage 1
1

This forum has been quite helpful when I was preparing for my Global Talent Visa application so I want to share my experience to help others.

I’m a game designer/developer with about 3-4 years of experience in China and 2 years in the UK under a Tier 2 visa.

Here is a summary of my documents:

  • Letter of Recommendation 1 - From one of my mentors in the UK, a well-known indie developer and studio founder

  • Letter of Recommendation 2 - From the head of department of the university (UK) where I studied a MA in game design and development

  • Letter of Recommendation 3 - From the CEO of my current employer in the UK

  • Personal statement: I summarized my experience working in the game industry across China and UK, my aspirations, why I’m applying for this visa, my plan after getting the visa, and why I chose the UK

For the optional criteria, I chose OC 1 innovation and OC 3 contribution. And most of my evidence files kind of support all three criteria and they are all connected to each other, so I put almost all my evidence files under the list of each criterion, and it seems to work.

  • Evidence 1: I was shortlisted for an award in the UK game industry
  • Evidence 2: A scholarship I got while studying in the UK
  • Evidence 3: A mobile game I created and released (still in early access though) while working as an indie developer in China. It was shortlisted for an award.
  • Evidence 4: Another mobile game I designed and released while working as an indie developer in China.
  • Evidence 5: A game I created during my study in the UK - focused on how I designed and developed it
  • Evidence 6: Still about the above game but focused on the recognition it received. It was recognized by some media in the UK.
  • Evidence 7: my contribution to the game I’m currently working on for my current employer, some Github contribution screenshots, store pages of our game etc.
  • Evidence 8: A feature I designed and implemented for the above game
  • Evidence 9: Employment contract with my current employer
  • Evidence 10: A mobile game I worked on while in China, with a letter from the CEO

Tips:

  • I believe it’s okay to put one evidence file under more than one criteria
  • You don’t have to have worked directly with your referrer, as long as they know your work, that should work
  • You can start filling out the Tech Nation application form before you start your stage 1 with the Home Office, after you click the link to the application form, they provide you with a sample reference number to unlock the form.
  • Everybody’s experience is different, just focus on your highlights.
6 Likes
2

Hello @xu_he,

firstly congradulation on your endorsement and thanks very much for sharing.

i have a couple of questions please and would highly appreciate your answers:

  1. Did you apply from the UK?
  2. Did you apply for stage 1 and 2 at the same time? or stage 2 is still in process?
  3. for evidences 3,4,and 5 , what documents did you provide to show your design, development and releases?

regards,

3

Hi @Maya,

Thank you.

  1. Yes, I applied in the UK.
  2. No, I didn’t apply for stage 1 and 2 at the same time, and stage 2 is still in process .
  3. I included store pages of the games, explanations of the game mechanics with some screenshots and why they were innovations, some code of the games (just a few lines, not sure if this is necessary though), and achievements of the games (award shortlist, download numbers, reviews etc).
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