Tech Nation Visa Rejection

Stage 1
1

Hello all,

I applied for the tech nation visa for the first time over the summer and met 2 / 3 criteria. I was rejected due to not showing contractual evidence between myself and the blockchain company I work for, which discarded my innovation evidence. Fair enough. But I did satisfy the impact and mandatory criteria.

I came back with a stronger application with more evidence that should have satisfied 3 /3 criteria. However, I have been rejected and had my review rejected. I applied for exceptional promise but it seems as if they assessed me for exceptional talent. They said that I didn’t speak at any conferences or events, etc. However, I didn’t choose any of those optional criteria. I chose innovation and impact in a product company.

“The applicant fails to meet the requirements of the Mandatory Criteria (MC) because the evidence provided fails to demonstrate extraordinary ability by emerging national or international recognition. The individual is not able to demonstrate a level of emerging expertise which places them at the forefront of their respective field in the digital technology sector. In order to meet this criteria the applicant would have to demonstrate recognition through a variety of activities. Due to the nature of their role this could include a significant contribution to an open source project(s), involvement in a high profile technology led initiative, speaking engagements at high profile technology events, published materials about technology initiatives and/or speaking and being an expert on technology panels, for example. There is no evidence in this application of these things.”

My lawyer seems to be confused by this decision as well, for they initially said I satisfied 2 / 3 and now they say I only satisfy 1 / 3 so they have gone back on the precedent they set when I have submitted stronger evidence.

I submitted the following evidence:

[1] Reference from co founders of my blockchain company
[2] Reference from a prominent blockchain VC CEO
[3] Reference from another prominent blockchain VC CEO
[4] Proof of a 6 figure salary
[5] Reference from an advisor at my blockchain company proving my innovation
[6] blockchain commit history - github
[7] Reference Letter my old company plus employment contract proving high earnings
[8] tax statement - blockchain company
[9] equity agreement - blockchain company
[10] contract with the bank I worked for proving high earning
[11] reference from my mentor who is a senior engineer at a crypto exchange
[12] git commit history from another company

On paper, this should be enough right? Can anyone please tell me what I’m doing wrong here? Advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

2

Totally not an expert on this so my opinion carries very little weight.

It seems all your evidences point directly to your work and not much outside of work related activities. Probably that’s it. Again I am no expert on this.

1 Like
3

Spot on! This is not about being an expert, Tech Nation Guide gave some pointers

4

Sorry about the outcome of your endorsement application. The evidence you have presented doesn’t show how you meet the mandatory criteria. A high salary is listed as evidence in the guide but it doesn’t really show that you are recognised as a leader or potential leader in your field. Secondly, your application is full of reference letters, Tech Nation clearly stated that reference letters are not enough.
I have seen from other similar feedback shared in this forum that selecting optional criteria 1 & 3 doesn’t mean you will “escape” showing proof for work outside your immediate employment.

5

Yeah, that’s a good point. One thing I’ve just sadly realized (too little too late) is that the lawyer handling my case didn’t submit three key pieces of evidence I had in the first application which helped to satisfy that. This is a frustrating oversight I wish I had discovered sooner.

The first was demonstrating how I conduct research amongst decentralized communities (focusing on DAO governance - I work on an ethereum based application) and leading community initiatives.

The second demonstrated the impact of my work and how people in web3 (crypto space) were writing about the innovative approach I’ve helped champion at my company (this included news articles, twitter threads, youtube videos, etc).

Finally the last one showed how I was part of the finalist team at the ETH Global (Ethereum global) hackathon event and outlined my technical contributions during the process. We were one of a few teams selected out of 140+ teams and it was a huge accomplishment I thought was included in my application.

Do you think those would help satisfy what I was missing? Or is there anything else that could help? Thanks for your advice! Really appreciate the response.

6

Possibly but are the evidence validated by people external to your organisation? How come you didn’t see the evidence before your lawyer submitted it?