UK Global Talent Visa: Are you a Business or Technical Applicant?

Before you decide to apply for a UK Global Talent Visa in the field of digital technology first you must identify whether you are a technical or a business applicant as this will help you understand what type of evidence you need to submit with your application.

This visa is suitable for both pure technology experts, such as programmers and front-end developers, but also those working within the business and finance side of tech, for example venture capitalists or solution sales experts. It is very important to make a good decision about which ‘stream’ you are going to apply under. Generally, it is easier to go for the Technical Applicant stream than the Business Applicant stream.

Who is eligible for a UK Global Talent Visa ?

Tech Nation states that:

• Technical applicants (i.e. programmers) from non-technical organisations are eligible.
• Non-technical applicants (i.e. business roles) from technical organisations are eligible.
• Non-technical applicants from non-technical organisations are generally not eligible.

How do I know that I am a technical applicant?

Tech Nation provides a list of examples of technical skills that are eligible for a Global Talent Visa to give you an idea of a technical applicant. Please see the list below:

Examples of Technical Skills

• DevOps / SysOps engineers
• Principal software engineers/developers
• Experienced data scientists/data engineers
• Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language
• Processing and Machine Learning experts (AI, NLP, ML)
• Cybersecurity experts
• Hardware engineers
• Experienced front-end developers
• Operating systems engineers
• Experienced video game developers
• Experienced UX/UI designers
• Experienced Mobile App developers
• Experienced back-end developers leading development of, or contributing heavily to major new technologies or open-source projects (e.g. blockchain, Scala, Golang, Elasticsearch etc)
• CTO or VP engineering experience managing teams of in-house employees at a growing digital business
• Virtual and augmented reality developers

How do I know that I am a business applicant?

There are a list of examples of business skills that are eligible for a UK Global Talent Visa to give you an idea of a business applicant. Please see the list below:

Examples of Business Skills

• Experience of leading substantial VC investment over £25m GBP
• Experience as a commercial/business lead (P&L, growth, sales and distribution strategy) in a digital business
• Experience of expanding or growing a significant product-led digital technology business
• Sector-specific experience e.g. payment infrastructure in FinTech / international expansion in EdTech etc.
• Solution sales experts
• Experienced Product Manager
• SaaS or enterprise sales leadership for digital services
• Solution sales skills performed for a growing B2B digital business (i.e. not big-company experience)
• Performance marketing experts, performed in house for digital businesses
• Experienced and senior VC or PE analysts with track records of leading investments in digital businesses
• Experience as C Suite in a SMEs + (CEO, CMO, CIO) or head of operations for a digital business

You may not apply for a UK Global Talent Visa if you fall within one of the following specialisms:

• Service Delivery, Process Delivery, Outsourcing, Consultancy (technical or management), ERP Consultancy, Systems Admin and all related fields.
• Corporate roles or experience of managing large corporate teams.
• Junior investors/analysts. Such specialisms must be supported by an investment track record made at a senior level and are not suitable for Global Promise.

Also, please note that business skills apply to in-house work within product-led digital technology companies, not tech-enabled or service companies such as agencies, outsourcers, marketing firms etc.

Evidence you must provide as part of your application

Once you have successfully identified what type of applicant you are you can start working on preparation of your evidential documents.

Technical applicants must demonstrate proven technical expertise with the latest technologies in building, using, deploying or exploiting a technology stack and building technical infrastructure. 

As for Business applicants they must demonstrate a proven commercial, investment, or product expertise in building digital products or leading investments in significant digital product businesses.

You must provide at least 10 pieces of evidence relevant to your field of expertise and this may include evidence of mentorships, recommendation letters, employment documents, evidence of establishing a successful technology business, and many more.

These documents will need to be incorporated in an online Tech Nation application. They will be reviewed by Tech Nation along with other documents you must provide (your CV, personal statement, 3 reference letters signed by three different senior members of different established organisations in the digital technology sector).