Hi everyone! After living for almost 3 years on Skilled Worker visa, I’m applying for stage-1 endorsement.
Some of my criterias are backed up by references letter, without actual evidences, so I’m concerned about my eligibility
LORs:
Senior Manager from Meta. Was my immidiate manager in the past, now is manager of my manager
Senior Engineer from Meta. Worked as a Director in other companies.
Senior Manager from Meta. Worked as CTO in some other companies
Should I pursue references from more senior people?
MCs:
High total compensation, p90 in London. Proofs are bank statements, RSU vesting schedule and performance letter, where salary and bonus are mentioned
Android application. Apart from work I wrote application which gained over 12k downloads. Proofs are: screenshot of Google Play page, with my name as a dev. Screenshot of a rating
OC1.
Patent without my name. Based on my work, my team got patent (with google patent id), but there is no my name on it since I left earlier. Additionally attaching letter from patent inventor, confirming my contribution
Publication. For the same invention, my team made a publication (also without my name). Attaching the same letter from presentor. Conference got >200 participants
This is not a patent or publication, but series of posts on company’s website, explaining feature
OC3.
Performance letters, showing good ratings during my employment. Screenshot from internal vcs, showing number of commits
Some of the design docs, followed by results in term of user engagement
Letter from one of the previous employers, confirming that I got “Employee of the month” award.
Another question I have: what is the difference between Exceptional Talent and Promise? In term of criterias I don’t see any differences
Your application outline needs work: it is weak as of now on multiple aspects.
MC: You need atleast 1 additional evidence apart from the two mentioned. Salary evidence is not considered a strong evidence as per guidelines and hence only 1 additional evidence will not suffice. For the Android application: how does this demonstrate you are a leader in the digital tech industry which is the purpose of MC?
OC1: Patents without name and on teams umbrella cannot be attributed purely to your work and not the teams. If this is because of a wider team work then this wont be counted. The letters need to specifically call out that the patent was because of your contribution and not overall team contribution. Series of posts on company’s website don’t align with the criteria’s ask of innovation: what exactly is the innovation, your personal contribution to it and evidence towards it is important. Also #3 looks like an additional evidence of the same feature described in 1 & 2? If so, on its own this document doesnt show any innovation and your contribution to it.
OC3: internal performance reviews and awards are not valid as per guidelines. You need to show specifically how your contributions led to impact on company metrics in a quantifiable manner.
Exceptional Talent route is for people > 5 years of work-ex and Promise for people < 5 years of work-ex.
Based on reviewing your application materials, I see some areas of concern. Reference letters alone are generally not considered sufficient evidence by Tech Nation - they need to be supplemented with concrete proof. For your patent and publication claims under OC1, having your name missing from both could be problematic despite the supporting letters. Tech Nation may discount these evidences entirely since you’re not officially credited. I’d recommend finding alternative OC1 evidence where you’re directly credited, if possible.
Your LORs from Meta appear solid, though having all 3 LoRs from the same company is going to be an issue. You have to diversify it - ideally only 1 company per LoR. You can use the remaining LoRs in the criteria below. For your MC evidence, your Android app with 12k downloads is strong, but make sure to include analytics showing user engagement over time. For OC3, consider adding more concrete examples of your impact - performance ratings and commit counts might be seen as routine rather than exceptional.
Regarding Exceptional Talent vs Promise - Promise is for those with less than 5 years of experience while Talent is for established leaders. Promise leads to ILR in 5 years, while Talent leads to ILR in 3 years. Since the documentation requirements are similar, many applicants with your profile opt for Promise as it has a higher approval rate.