Exceptional Promise Route: How Tech Nation Counts Digital Technology Experience

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Hello everyone,

I would appreciate your honest opinion on how Tech Nation may view my years of experience for the UK Global Talent Visa under the Exceptional Promise route.

I worked in the IT industry at Rack Centre Data Centre for about 3 years as a Data Centre Engineer. After relocating to another country, I moved into the education sector, but my roles were still technology-focused: Network Expert, IT Manager, and IT Instructor for about 4 years.

My questions are:

  1. Would Tech Nation likely view this as around 7 years of digital technology experience, even though part of the experience was in a university/education environment?

  2. If yes, does having around 7 years of technology experience create a risk for applying under the Exceptional Promise route, since Exceptional Promise is usually for applicants earlier in their technology career?

  3. Can I still apply under Exceptional Promise if my strongest recent evidence is in AI cybersecurity, open-source contribution, published research, and network automation?

  4. I founded a small tech company some years ago, but it did not grow strongly and I no longer actively run it. I also do not have strong evidence to support it as part of my application. Can I remove it from my CV and evidence?

  5. Since the company may still appear if my name is searched on Google, would it be better to mention it briefly in my CV for transparency, but not use it as main evidence?

I would appreciate strict and honest feedback on the best way to present this without weakening my application.

Thank you very much.

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Hi @Victor_Oluwasusi,

See my thoughts below

On the years: to my understanding, all your roles as Network Expert, IT Manager, and IT Instructor in the education sector would likely be counted as digital technology experience too. The test is whether the role is substantially in digital technology, not whether the employing organisation is a tech company. Your Data Centre Engineer role is also clearly in scope. So roughly 7 years is probably how Tech Nation would read your background.

About the Exceptional Promise route. Exceptional Promise is designed for people earlier in their digital technology career… i.e under 5 years. In the past this was not a hard cut off, but more recent updates to the Tech Nation Visa Guide makes this super clear.
With 7 years, you likely won’t be considered under promise route although we have seen some endorsement where we are unsure if the assessor missed the number of years of experience or just applied discretion (this happens).

In my opinion, you should be thinking seriously about the Exceptional Talent route (check the TN Visa Guide on this). Your evidence in AI cybersecurity, open-source contributions and published research may support you being endorsed as Exceptional Talent although the bar is much higher than promise.

On the company: if you are not presenting it as evidence and it is not central to your narrative, you do not need to feature it prominently. However, since it will likely be searchable under your name, transparency in the personal statement & CV maybe better.

More important, you should consider that running a failed startup actually also gives some credibility and long tail evidence of your track record. It is not a bad story because you would have learnt somethings in the journey.

Trying to omit something an assessor might find themselves tends to raise more questions than acknowledging it and shaping the narrative yourself. You may also end up with a gap in your profile which is a red flag.

I suggest you include the company but I don’t have your full context.

All the best

#NotImmigrationAdvice

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Thank you so much for the detail feedback

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Based on the information you’ve provided, your profile does not raise any major concerns for the Exceptional Promise route.

Tech Nation usually focuses on whether your work is in digital technology and whether it has real impact. Roles like Network Expert, IT Manager, and IT Instructor can still count, even in a university setting, if the work was genuinely technology-focused. The employer’s sector matters less than the nature of the work.

7 years of experience does not automatically rule out Exceptional Promise. The key question is whether you are still at an early stage of leadership in your field, not just how many years you have worked. Strong evidence in AI cybersecurity, open-source work, publications, and research is more important than the exact number of years.

If your strongest evidence is in AI cybersecurity and related technical contributions, then that should be the main focus of your application. A clear and focused story is stronger than trying to include everything.

If your previous company is no longer active or you do not have strong evidence demonstrating its impact, it does not need to be a primary part of your endorsement application.

However, if it forms part of your professional career history, you may choose to include it briefly in your CV for completeness and transparency, particularly if it is publicly associated with your name. There is no requirement to rely on it as evidence if it does not strengthen your application.

From what you’ve described, your experience appears capable of fitting within the Exceptional Promise route, provided your evidence clearly demonstrates innovation, technical excellence, external recognition, and future leadership potential.

A clear, evidence-led application with strong third-party validation is generally more persuasive than one that relies primarily on job titles or years of experience.

We hope this helps, and we wish you the very best with your Global Talent endorsement application.

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