Global Talent Visa: How to Move to the UK Without an Employer

update: Watch the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/xXEP3zmFmP8?si=KsFZUqbWsqCZwH2o

If you want to relocate to the UK, this blog is for you. In this blog, I will share information about the Global Talent Visa (GTV).

I am a GTV holder and did this without the help of any lawyers or agencies. In this blog, I will share my experience with you.
In this blog, we will go through:

Different visa types for job
GTV vs skilled worker visa
Who is eligible for GTV
Process of GTV
Resources

Different visa types for job

There are 2 types of visa when you want to relocate to the UK for job:

Skilled worker visa
Global Talent visa

What is GTV?

Global talent visa, is a visa anyone who is potential leader in the below domains can apply:

arts, and culture
Research, and academic
Digital technology

In GTV, you have promise, and exceptional. We will talk about the difference in the next section.

GTV vs Skilled worker visa

	Skilled worker Visa	GTV (talent)	Global Talent Visa (Promise)
Time to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)	5 years	3 years (including the time you have spent on skilled worker)	5 years (including the time you have spent on skilled worker)
How long can you stay in the UK without a job?	60 days	No need to have a job	No need to have a job
Changing employers	Employer needs to support Skilled worker visa	You have the right to work for anyone	You have the right to work for anyone
Self employment	No	Yes	yes
Restrictions on Job type	You can only work for one employer and with some caveats do 20 hours of something else	Do whatever you want, no sports	Do whatever you want, no sports

More details here: https://www.gov.uk/global-talent

Who is eligible for GTV

Anyone can apply within UK, outside UK, or even if you are on any existing UK visa. I was on skilled worker visa when I applied for the GTV.

Important: Product based experience is prefer over service based companies.

Process of GTV

At a high level, it is 2 step process. At step 1, you will spent most of your time in collecting , preparing, and waiting.

You need to prepare your proofs to show tech nation that you are worthy or leader in your field. For that you need:

Mandatory skills
Optional skills
Statement of purpose

In total you have to submit 10 documents. You don't need to add all 10 but 3 in mandatory, and 3-4 in optional are a good count.

also, would advice to read the tech nation website in detail, and this forum to know about the guidelines. You should follow the guidelines otherwise your application will get reject. Example:

The Letter of recommendations, or proofs should not exceed more than 6 pages. No external links should be in the document. Eg: if you have YT video, or conference pictures then take the screenshot and add in the document itself.

Difference between Talent vs Promise?

If you have more than five years of experience in the digital technology field, you can apply for the talent category. The perception is that the bar for talent may be higher but it is hard to prove. The endorsement committee (Tech Nation) routinely hands out visas in the promise category when someone applies for talent and vice versa. No reason to sweat this.

Endorsements

You need to show the proofs of your work contribution of last 5 years. These contributions should focus on the inside and outside your company. Eg: Best employee award might not be a right proof as you need to add details - why you got it, what impact you created for the company's business. You need to show the numbers, add impact etc.

So, more the global and larger impact is better.

Think of it as using your past five years of experience at work and outside of it and extracting 10 documents out of it.

I used my meetup, and conference activities for 6+ pieces of evidence.
I used a salary comparison for another piece of evidence (glassdoor to compare the salary)
I used the impact of my work as written about on the internet as other pieces of evidence. For Tesco, and Oracle. Most of my work was covered in the news, and YT channel of Oracle.
I used community organizing as another piece of evidence.
I used references from people who I have worked with talking about my work and its impact as other pieces of evidence.
Opensource work also get consider.

Format could be on letterhead or just a word doc. I used docsign to
send the letters to my seniors. I have downloaded these docs and then uploaded on the portal. Please do not send docsign link to tech nation.

I had no doc on letterhead but it is important to have the following details: Full name, email, mobile number, designation, company, LinkedIn profile.