My experience (Exceptional Promise) as a research scientist - Endorsed

Stage 1
1

Hi everyone,

First of all, a huge thanks to all the great contributors to this amazing forum. Reading through these posts really helped me preparing my application.
Thus, I think it’s my turn to give something back posting the summary of my application, in case it can be of any help to other applicants before the TN closure.

I applied for Exceptional Promise with OC2 and OC4 (sector: AI & Machine Learning, specialist skill: Research), from the UK (with Skilled Worker Visa).
Applied: Feb 16th
Endorsed: Feb 20th
(several edits through the weekend for what it’s worth)

My background:

  • PhD in Computer Science, with publications
  • Working in the UK as Research Scientist from last year
  • I had worked as freelance during my bachelor and master (openly stated in the application)

In the personal statement I covered:

  • My background, trying to mention the points covered by the recommendation letters
  • What I’ve done beyond my occupation (OC2), with references to the evidence
  • My current employment and how I’m contributing to the UK digital sector, again trying to cover the content of the recommendation letters
  • Why I moved to the UK already
  • Why I am applying for this visa
  • My plans for the future in the UK

I got the recommendation letters from:

  • Manager (with technical career) at my current company
  • My PhD supervisor (professor)
  • Professor from another university I worked with

When asking for the letters, I made the authors aware of the requirements from Tech Nation and I think that helped a lot in receiving good letters.

Evidence I used:

  • MC:
    • current contract with salary and bonuses
    • phd certificate
    • awards I won at conferences
  • OC2:
    • github contributions (covering two personal repositories with about 500 stars and 100 forks in total and other minor repositories)
    • reviewing activity for conferences/journals
  • OC4:
    • list of publications (with official links/DOI)
    • reviews of my phd thesis
    • phd certificate
    • awards I won at conferences

Overall, I had the feeling that the evidence for OC2 was the weakest, but I’m glad it was considered sufficient for the Exceptional Promise.

Now I applied to switch to the GTV (stage 2) and waiting for a decision from the Home Office (fingers crossed).
Note that you cannot leave the UK after completing stage 2 until you get a decision. I didn’t notice this before going through the process and it can be quite disruptive. I wasn’t given any options to get a faster decision.

I hope this can help! Please let me know if you have any questions, I’m happy to answers to them :slight_smile:

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Congratulations Stefano.

You are easily the most succinct and efficient applicant :slightly_smiling_face::grin:. Stage 1 - Stage 2 in one week.

Just out of curiosity, under what sector did you apply?

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Congratulations. Your OC2 is not weak, reviewing journals is a significant contribution besides you are scored on just one evidence for the optional criteria and you provided 2.

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Congratulations @stefano

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Haha preparing the application took way more than a week though :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I applied under the sector “AI & Machine Learning”, I updated the post adding the information.

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@stefano congratulations Stefano!
I have a question please: I see that you got a response in very short time, did you apply with the fast track option?
Thanks in advance

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No, it was a regular application. I may have got a quick response due to the imminent closure of Tech Nation or maybe because I’m in the UK already (or both?).

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Congrats @stefano !

I also completed my Phd in machine learning. I was wondering how can I use it. Was your Phd certificate accepted as a part of the MC documents?

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Hi @Edg

As you can see in the initial post, I used my PhD certificate (official document from my university) as part of my MC and OC4.
I don’t know if it was accepted as evidence because I didn’t receive any feedback from Tech Nation (I think you don’t get any feedback if you get the endorsement).

For OC4, I also used my PhD thesis reviews (which were fairly positive) that may have helped, in addition to the PhD degree itself.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:

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Update: I got the visa from the Home Office after about 6 weeks from the Stage 2 application. :slight_smile:
Getting a decision after stage 2 was the longest part of the process in my case.

As stated here, you cannot get a faster decision on the Global Talent visa if you apply using the “UK Immigration: ID Check” app. Thus, be prepared not to leave the UK from the Stage 2 application until you get a decision (up to 8 weeks).