Global Talent Visa Review

Stage 1
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently compiling my pieces of evidence for the Global Talent Visa and would like feedback on what I have so far.

For context, I am a Frontend Engineer with 6+ years of experience. I have worked at two major companies, the first being a Y Combinator-backed company that has raised over $35m through the years. I worked at this company for a little over a year before moving to the second company.

At the second company, I started out as a senior Frontend engineer, and was then promoted to Frontend Lead and finally Engineering Manager. Though the company raised only about $2 million in funding, it was eventually acquired by a bigger fintech company.

Here is the pieces of evidence I have so far:

LORs

LOR 1: Letter from the CTO of the first Company
LOR 2: Letter from the CTO of Second Company
LOR 3: Letter from the CEO of Second Company

MC

  1. Evidence of High Remuneration at Company 2, showing I earn over 900% more than the average engineer in my country, as shown by Glassdoor.

  2. Evidence of leading a large technology-led industry initiative: Documentation and screenshots showing my leadership in a technology-led company(Company 2).

  3. Op-ed authored & News articles published, showing my status as an exemplary thought leader in the industry.

OC2

  1. Evidence of Contributions to an Open Source Project

  2. Stack Overflow Profile Demonstrating Active Participation

OC3

  1. Evidence of Leading Development of High-Impact Digital Product: This focuses on my work at Company 2.

  2. Evidence of Employment and Growth Trajectory at Company 2. This will include my offer letter, promotion letters, as well as evidence of increased stock options over my five years at the company.

  3. Letter from employer(current CEO of Company 2) highlighting my impact and contributions to the company’s growth and success over the years.

Technically, a lot of my evidences are tied to company 2 because I worked there for a period of 5 years, and that is where I was really able to make the most impact. So here are my questions:

  1. Do you think having most of my evidence from the same company would hurt?

  2. Would it be weird if the CTO from company 1, where I worked for a little over a year wrote me a recommendation letter even if none of my evidences are from company 1?

  3. What is the general feedback on my evidences? Any suggestions on how I could possibly make it stronger?

  4. Also, even though I have over 5 years of experience, I’m considering going for the Promise route as I don’t think I fit into the Talent category.

Thank you!

2

Having your evidence primarily from Company 2 shouldn’t hurt your application as long as they demonstrate meaningful impact and innovation. It’s absolutely fine to have a recommendation letter from Company 1’s CTO even if none of your evidences come from there. Reference letters are meant to speak to your overall capabilities and potential, not just specific achievements at that company. This actually helps diversify your application by showing you’ve impressed leaders across multiple organizations, which strengthens your case.

Your evidence list looks comprehensive, covering the mandatory criteria and two optional categories well. I would suggest strengthening your application by adding more quantifiable metrics about your impact - for example, specific percentages of improvement, user growth, or revenue increases that resulted from your work. Regarding the Promise vs Talent route, your decision to apply for Promise despite 5+ years of experience is sensible if you don’t have things like a PhD, significant research publications, or executive-level roles that are typically expected for the Talent route.