Hello everyone,
I am preparing my application for the UK Global Talent visa (digital technology route) and would appreciate guidance from those with experience or insight into Tech Nation assessments.
Which application route/option I should select in the form, considering my years of experience and senior technical role in large-scale systems
You have a proven record for innovation as a founder or senior executive of a product-led digital technology company, or as an employee working on a new digital field or concept
You have been recognized for work beyond your occupation that contributed to the advancement of your field
You have made significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder, senior executive, board member or employee of a product-led digital technology company
You have been recognized for work beyond your occupation that contributed to the advancement of your field
You have demonstrated exceptional ability in the field through research published or endorsed by an expert
Which of these should be used as Mandatory Criteria evidence and which should be submitted under Optional Criteria
Evidence prepared:
Based on my background in designing and developing national-scale, mission-critical platforms, I have gathered the following evidence and would like advice on
3 recommendation letters from senior executives
2 employment verification letters
Project 1 evidence, including:
Company overview and annual revenue
System and project architecture
Production infrastructure screenshots (like number of servers…)
Evidence of ~400 million transactions per day (Kibana and database metrics)
GitLab commit history screenshots (multi-year)
Selected code samples from development environments
Jira task and delivery screenshots
Project 2 evidence, with similar documentation as above
Project 3 evidence (Remote Working), with similar documentation as above
Last 3 salary payment slips (formally translated)
Insurance/employment history letter covering 21 years (formally translated)
Last 3 months’ salary records from my employer (formally translated)
Proof of high earnings compared to standard engineering roles
Contract for an external project outside my primary employment
Given this profile and evidence set, I would be grateful for advice on:
How to best map these documents to Mandatory and Optional Criteria, and
Which application category/option best fits someone with long-term experience in architecting and delivering large-scale production systems.
Hi @farshid, it’s hard to say which path is right for you without knowing how long you’ve been in the industry. But looking at the evidence you’ve shared, I’ll be honest, you might find it tough to meet the requirements even for the Promise category.
I suggest you read the Tech Nation guidance and also read through the post of this forum, to see how other applicants have listed their evidence vis-a-vis the criteria.
Hi @Raphael
Thank you for your review of my initial query regarding the Global Talent Visa.
I am applying under the “Digital Technology” category based on my substantial contributions as a senior technical leader and employee. My 21-year career includes 18 years of direct, progressive experience in software engineering and leading teams , with a focus on architecting and delivering systems at a national scale and of critical business importance.
Specifically, my application will demonstrate my eligibility by evidencing that:
I have made significant technical and commercial contributions through my role in designing and developing mission-critical, national-scale software systems. My work has directly enabled my company to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue , underscoring the substantial commercial impact of my technical leadership.
Given this background, I have selected the following two routes on the application form to provide my evidence:
Route 1: * You have a proven record for innovation as a founder or senior executive of a product-led digital technology company, or as an employee working on a new digital field or concept.
Route 2: * You have made significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder, senior executive, board member or employee of a product-led digital technology company .
My planned evidence includes detailed letters of recommendation from senior executives (CTO, CEO), technical documentation of the systems I architected, and data/metrics linking these systems to the stated revenue outcomes.
My key question is: Based on my profile and the evidence plan outlined above, does this approach seem sufficient to meet the criteria, or would you recommend gathering additional specific types of evidence?
@farshid With 21 years in your career, including 18 years of hands on, progressive experience in software engineering and team leadership you’re eligible through the talent pathway. However, you still need to clearly show, through your evidence, how your innovation and contributions in a tech or product led company have made an impact in the sector.
Your choice to apply under Route 1 and Route 3 (OC1 and OC3 in the guidance) is fine. But remember, beyond describing what you’ve done, you must provide ten strong, distinct pieces of evidence across MC, OC1, and OC3. How you distribute these will depend on the evidence you have, their strength, and the strategy you choose.
On your question
My key question is: Based on my profile and the evidence plan outlined above, does this approach seem sufficient to meet the criteria, or would you recommend gathering additional specific types of evidence?
You’ve only given a brief overview of your career and a few things you’ve done. I’d recommend going through the guidance again, or checking examples on this forum, so you can see the types of evidence you’ll need to prepare for your application.