Requirements for supporting reference letters, can I prepare a letter?

[Promising]

Hi everyone,

I’m preparing a Tech Nation application and would appreciate clarification on reference letters submitted within the 10 supporting evidence document. To clarify - not the letters of recommendation.

I’m wondering how others have approached this.
As many of you have probably know, these very senior stakeholders have limited time, so I’d like to do the preparation upfront and make it easy for them to review and respond. Just as I would when working with senior stakeholders in my day job.

1. Can I prepare a draft for their review?
   Can I draft a factual account of my contribution, have them review and correct it as they please, and then approve and sign it through DocuSign? Or must the referee write and originate the document themselves? I understand this is probably not as strong as them writing it?

2. What must these supporting letters cover?
   The guidelines say: They should meet the same format and specification as required for the 3 mandatory letters of reference
   Are they also supposed to discuss:
   my future work plans / how I would benefit from living in the UK / and my expected contribution to the UK digital economy? / And A CV?

Thank you all,

[Noddy]

For the first point, the current requirement is that the letter is signed by the author (or someone on behalf of the recommending organisation), and the older Tech Nation guidance specifically allowed recommendation letters to be signed using services such as DocuSign, provided the signature trail shows the author’s involvement. So preparing a factual draft for a senior stakeholder to review, amend and approve is not inherently prohibited. However, I would not send them a “finished letter” and simply ask them to sign it. The safer approach is to prepare a factual draft based only on things they genuinely know, ask them to substantially review/correct it, and make sure the final version genuinely represents their own assessment. This matters because the guidance also warns against template-like or duplicated letters.

For the second point, there is an important distinction. A supporting/reference letter submitted as one of the 10 evidence documents is not supposed to simply become a fourth mandatory recommendation letter. The referee should establish their credibility, explain how they know your work and then directly validate the particular achievement/contribution contained in that evidence. The letter should strengthen the underlying evidence rather than try to reproduce the entire Global Talent recommendation-letter narrative.

I, therefore, would not consider future UK plans, how you will benefit from living in the UK, and your expected contribution to the UK digital economy to be mandatory content in every supporting letter used inside the 10 evidence documents. Those requirements are explicitly stated for the three mandatory recommendation letters. The current Immigration Rules likewise specify those elements for the three mandatory letters, while the supporting evidence requirement is framed around proving the relevant criteria.

So, practically, for an evidence letter I would structure it around: who the referee is and why they are credible, how they know the applicant, what specific work/achievement they are validating, what the applicant personally contributed, and what impact or significance they observed. Then let the actual supporting document provide the underlying proof. That is materially stronger than using a generic “I recommend X for Global Talent” letter as one of the 10 evidence pieces. The guidance itself says a reference letter alone is not sufficient to demonstrate a criterion. Also, a supporting letter on its own should not be relied upon as the sole proof of a criterion. Ideally, it should corroborate and provide context for the substantive evidence being submitted.

So, in practice, I would keep the supporting letter specific, factual, and evidence-led, rather than making it a broad endorsement of the applicant’s entire career or plans.

[Raphael]

@Promising Trust you are good.

First, I want to clarify that DocuSign is not an old requirement from Tech Nation. Before now, it was handwritten signatures, so that is old. but the new norm is e‑signatures. And for reference letters, unlike recommendation letters, these are written by people who, based on their experience with you in relation to the evidence you’re presenting for that criterion, can actually attest to what you’ve claimed. In short, reference letters are specific to each criterion you choose.

For instance, if you say you led the development of a product, which is an internal activity within a company, an executive in that company would write a letter confirming that what you stated and presented is true. Note that letters are not sufficient on their own, they rely heavily on the evidence they are referencing.

Can I prepare a draft for their review?

What I suggest is that you give them a guide on what you want them to write based on the criterion you want to use the letter for, for instance MC leadership, OC1 innovation, OC3 contribution to a product‑led company.

The draft should simply ask the author questions around the criterion. For MC, it should look like this:

1. Strategic description of yourself as an established expert/executive

2. The capacity in which you know me and my work

3. Describe how I led the development, deployment, and growth of “Product A”

   • Kindly state what I did

   • How I did it and in what capacity

   • How what I did contributed to the company’s financial growth (mention earnings, growth, adoption, partnerships)

   • The relevance of the product to the sector (sector impact)

4. Kindly attest to what I have done and how this makes me a recognised employee

In short, the key thing is that the letter must align with the criterion it’s referencing. Also, formal letters are not long, ideally one page, so they can sit neatly on the third page of your evidence set.

Once they write their letter, follow the standard e‑signature validation flow to show that the letter truly came from them. This part is very important.

What must these supporting letters cover?

Reference letters should follow the administrative eligibility standards, like who writes them, the author’s details, and an e‑signature. You don’t really need a CV for reference letters, but the authors should include their LinkedIn profiles, phone numbers, official email address preferably and on an official letterhead.

Finally, note that a good letter with weak evidence will still be dismissed. So, your evidence must rightly align first.

All the best.