Is it worth doing my first try myself, or should I retain a laywer?

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Ive consulted with two UK lawyers who have both done many GTVs and apparently been 100% successful. Theyre both expressing a lot of optimism about my chances. They are also quite expensive.

I have a reasonably high degree of comfort on applying myself - but I worry that if I apply on my own and dont get the endorsement, I wont have anything new to show when re-applying with support from counsel.

Does that matter? Is it worth doing once myself?

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If you’re confident in your evidence and it clearly aligns with the GTV criteria, self-applying can absolutely be a reasonable choice—many applicants have succeeded this way.
However, if you’re unsure about any part of your case or how it’s presented, working with a lawyer or a GTV coach can help you avoid the risk of rejection and the potential cost or delay of a second attempt. The key consideration is whether your current application is already strong enough or could benefit from expert review to tighten it up the first time around.

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If you have the time a s have strong evidence to meet the criteria the. You can do the application yourself. In my opinion, lawyers are good when it comes with immigration related cases like visa. Except the lawyer understands the tech landscape and skilled in your expert area. They may just be helping you in redrafting your letters. For instance, if you are a technical applicant, how much of the depth of an opensource contribution or stack overflow contributions can they interpret to know if it is substantial or not?

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I have several problems with hiring lawyers to do your application for you. Will pen some of them down here:

  1. Lawyers are generally not up to date with the latest guidance, and don’t know what’s working. If you look at the success posts and failure posts here - you probably have more perspective and advantage than them here.
  2. They don’t write well. I’ve seen the evidences lawyers write. It’s filled with legalese and it’s confusing to follow-through. You would be able to write in a clearer manner and with your own first-person perspective.
  3. They aren’t technical. Lawyers don’t know their GitHub from their npm, and won’t be able to guide you how to best present technically-oriented evidences in your application.

You can use lawyers for the submission step or to discuss visa steps. Beyond that, you will struggle to benefit from them.

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Hi @california_gtv

If you have clarity on the guidelines, understanding of the depth and quality required for successful application and time to do it all yourself then it’s best to do it yourself.

Lawyers and firms do a bouquet of visa services with GTV as one, they themselves are also not GTV holders or from tech backgrounds required for endorsement. If you must need expert help for full application,
strategy or even just review to pack a strong application together and ensure all red flags or common rejection pitfalls are addressed, consider a GTV coach over a lawyer. Have seen many many poor applications lacking basic guideline knowledge with lawyers.

Good luck!

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Just to say though, no one can truly claim a 100% success rate with GTV applications. The outcome is entirely in Tech Nation’s hands, and there’s a level of subjectivity involved. Even strong applications can get rejected if the evidence isn’t presented in the right way or doesn’t clearly match the criteria.

That said, if you’ve got strong evidence, you can definitely put together a solid application on your own. This platform has a ton of support - people who havd been through the process, feedback, guidance - everything you need to do without paying a dime.

So yes, you can absolutely apply yourself. And if things don’t go as planned, it doesn’t automatically weaken your chances later, every application is assessed separately without referencing the formal.

Happy to take a look at your evidence if you ever want a second opinion.

Cheers,