Immigrating via UK Global Talent Visa
Updated: 6 days ago
I’ve been asked a lot about how I was able to move to, work, and now live permanently in the UK. I genuinely love helping people on their way, and find that my interest far exceeds my capacity. So, the following is my way of making the answers to many FAQs accessible, literally at your fingertips – and at your convenience! – vs. attempting to try to find time for a coffee or “quick chat” that is never quick... because if you’re reading this I’m positive you.are.amazing and I’ll want to learn everything about you, and get nothing else done that I’ve committed to!
The top line is: I came via a Global Talent Visa in Digital Technology, and my family joined me as my dependents.
‼️Regarding the rest, let’s start with a disclaimer ‼️ I am not an official spokesperson for the Global Talent Visa (GTV). The following FAQs are answered from my perspective and experience, like what I would share with my BFF vs. every.single.thing.about.the.visa, which is what you can read on the official websites (linked below).
💼 ➡️ For official resources regarding applications, the latest criteria, timelines and fees, follow these links:
the UK Government’s Global Talent Visa page provides a general overview and is where you actually apply;
the UK’s appointed Global Talent “endorsing body” partner, TechNation provides a specific overview, including the latest info about how to be endorsed, webinars covering helpful topics, and ambassadors you can reach out to learn more;
TechNation's Global Talent Visa Notion page which is a treasure-trove of everything you need to know.
🛂 ✅ For Visa holders who have already obtained a visa there are a couple of amazing resources available to you including:
An alumni community! Over the last 10 years, TechNation is proud to have built an active community of alum which is an incredible network. This includes the resources below. To register to join, click here.
A “Welcome Party” Google Doc put together by the community that covers so much, including how to find housing, commiseration about radiators (IYKYK!) and more!
A robust Slack channel featuring events, jobs, regional community channels and very helpful channels about how to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain while on the visa.
Once you have your visa, reach out to TechNation to get access to these resources.
⚡Lightning Round FAQs ⚡
How did you hear about the visa? It felt quite random. While speaking with a professor I had at LSE about how I wanted to make the move abroad, she exclaimed like it was obvious, “just apply for the Global Talent Visa”. I’d never heard of it. Of course, I immediately reviewed the criteria. With wide-eyed excitement and semi-shock, I was delighted to read that I met almost all of the qualifications. Eureka! I found my path!
Why do you take the time to share your experience? I knew that following this path would change my life in ways I deeply wanted, but I didn’t know how to access. It felt like I was looking for a needle in a haystack. But, apparently the path I was looking for wasn’t some secret door, I just needed someone to simply let me know about it. Maybe you feel this way, too. So, know you know! Go get your life!
Did you use an immigration lawyer or other special counsel? I did not. Apparently most applicants don’t, and TechNation reports little correlation from successful applicants who do or do not use lawyers to help them apply. Seems to be a matter of personal comfort level. You do you!
How long was the process, what was your timeline?
August - November 2022 - I first learned about the visa, and spent a few months organizing my documents, references, and preparing my application.
November 2022 - Applied
January 2023 - Endorsed by TechNation for the Visa, then applied for the Visa
Spring 2023 - paperwork, biometrics, sold our house in the US, scouted for a rental in the UK on our timeline
June 2023 - Moved to London Fields in East London for an amazing two years
July 2025 - We moved to Bristol in time for our kids to start secondary school and to settle indefinitely
June 2026 - I got Indefinite Leave to Remain (permanent residency)
June 2028 - We will all apply for citizenship (as Americans, we can have dual citizenships, two passports)
Where did you move, settle? First London, then Bristol where we live now.
Did you come with a family? Yes, my partner and two children came as my dependents. My kids were 7 and 9 when we moved. We also moved over with two dogs and a cat... see the logistics section below for more info on this!
What about your “trailing” spouse? He was excited. And, because I had been back and forth to the UK for about a year and a half before we moved, he had more of a transition in terms of adjusting to life in the UK, and finding work in his field, at his level.
Did you have a job? Yes and no. I started the process with no “job” but I had been self-employed for many years and had many clients I worked with remotely or in a hybrid capacity. One path for work I envisioned was keeping my clients – and managing a UK-US timezone difference. The other was to get a full-time role in the UK. During the six months from when I applied for the visa to when I moved, I accepted a full-time international, fully-remote job I had planned to do from my new place in London, and I transitioned all my clients off my books. Two weeks before I moved, the job I had ended my contract with a week’s notice. Obviously, this was not what was planned and it was not ideal. At the same time, one thing that was ideal was that because I had a Global Talent Visa, I didn’t have to worry about my right to work and live in the UK being tied to an employer. 😮💨 So, upon arrival, I called up several of my old clients, opened up a limited company and got back to work, and on with life in the UK!
How much did it cost? All in for our family of four, including all visa fees, the health insurance/NHS fees, and miscellaneous required fees from GTV application to Citizenship will be around $50,000 over 5 years.
What about logistics? This is a big topic and there’s lots to consider regarding moving pets, housing, schools, getting a bank account, credit, etc. But, none of it really matters unless you have a visa allowing you to move. So, start there first.
our furry fam prepping for the flight \ checking 4 sets of paperwork three times!
This all seems like a lot! How did you keep going?! It is a lot. See “The Real Real” section below about some of our motivations. Also, I’ll never forget the following that someone told me in the process:
“One day, you’ll be on the other side of all this paperwork and effort sitting outside at a cafe with the sun shining with your family on ‘the other side of the river’. When things get tough, think about that.”
I thought about that a lot! And then one day, after a lot of logistics, paperwork, heartache, stress and excitement, we found ourselves on the side of a canal in Hackney eating ice cream as a family and recognized that we had arrived in the moment we held on to for quite some time: it wasn’t a cafe, but we had made it.
If you want to follow this path, I have no doubt, you will too!
About the Visa Application
Most Important: it’s “Global Talent”, not “Global Genius”
The #1 thing I share early and often: don't count yourself out before you've even applied.
I put this first for two reasons.
One: I often see commentary in "helpful" online forums, from people with no real knowledge of the visa, about how it's "bAsiCaLLy iMpoSSiBle!" to get one. Here's the real deal:
✅ Do you have to meet the qualifications? Yes.
❌ Is the visa pathway "unattainable"? Obviously not.
📄 Every year, ~4,000 people successfully receive a Global Talent Visa (across all categories), and applications have a ~72% success rate.
Two: the “Exceptional Global Talent Visa in Digital Technology” is the most pretentious sounding visa ever! If 'who am I to apply for this?!' doesn't cross your mind, I'm not saying you're a sociopath, but I'm not not saying it either…
Now that I have the visa, I may – from time to time – get a bit of smug satisfaction from being officially deemed as Talented by His Majesty's Government. BUT ALSO: know that it really did take something for me to “step on the scale” to be evaluated – and potentially, officially be deemed – as “talented” or “not talented”! Gulp.
Spoiler alert: it turns out I’m officially talented! 😅as measured by meeting the criteria.
You don't have to be a genius; you "simply" have to be qualified.
And… here’s a special note to everyone in the global majority:
WWSFD: What Would Sasha Fierce Do?
I'm especially bullish about beating the drum of accessibility because statistically, we know that women and people of color count themselves out more often due to “imposter syndrome” and systemic bias. Routinely, we assume we need 100% of qualifications when others apply at 60%.
So, I suggest we respectfully push back and push through the "it's a very high bar" commentary by taking a note from The Queen Bey herself:
Did y'all know that for years Beyoncé performed as an alter ego named Sasha Fierce?
She built her to get onstage when nerves took over.
So if even Beyoncé – the most-awarded artist in Grammy history and a self-made billionaire – has to be her own wing woman sometimes:
What hope do the rest of us have? 😅
You're in great company! 🤩
So, WWSFD, amiright?!
As you work through your application, channel your inner wing wo/man and go for it.
Refresher: Global Talent Visa 101
If you’ve made it this far, I'm assuming you know the basics of this visa. For official criteria, fees, and timelines, go to TechNation's Global Talent Visa page. That's the authoritative source, not me.
The top-line, official info is that: The Global Talent Visa (GTV) is a UK immigration pathway for leaders and emerging leaders in their field. In digital tech, it's endorsed by TechNation. It comes in two tiers: Exceptional Promise (on your way) and Exceptional Talent (already there).
Is it just for technical founders?: No! Fortunately, the powers that be in the UK economy have recognized that it takes more than 1 profile – more than any sole AI wunderkind – to build an entire innovation economy. So, the visa is designed to be just as applicable for an ace startup marketer, a finance or peopleops whizz in early-stage tech, a tech community builder, or an impact investor. If you work in the startup and digital tech ecosystem and you've been building a body of work, read the criteria before you decide it's not for you.
Special s/o to Sara Gordon, an ace startup marketer who was serving as GTV Ambassador at the time I applied. Because she put a literal face to the visa (hers!) – and it was an alternative profile to the AI wunderkind technical applicant – I could, in fact, “see it to believe it – and achieve it!”
Why Global Talent over Skilled Worker or Innovator Visa?
‼️Once again, another disclaimer ‼️ I’m not an immigration lawyer! Fun fact: most Global Talent Visa (GTV) alum don’t use immigration lawyers to get their visas. But, here are my observations:
Skilled Worker: In my limited experience, mostly these visas are arranged by an employer who “sponsors” this process, and by default, the person on the visa. It’s not a blanket rule, but generally I’ve noticed a trend with the types of employers who do sponsor, which are academia, large multi-nationals (“corporates”) or larger startups looking for specific skills. These orgs are large enough to have someone on staff who generally handles this process – or, they outsource to a law firm they pay handsomely to handle the process. Either way, they have the budget to process this type of visa and they have decided to spend it on behalf of the talent because they deem them so valuable to the org. While the skilled worker visa is not specifically tied to that employer, if you are not employed, you don’t have a visa -- which can be tricky for people who don’t love their jobs or are concerned about potential layoffs/redundancies or otherwise having their right to live in the UK tied to their job.
Also, Skilled Workers, even if they are in tech, tend to have the larger corporate
tech experience vs. the more "independent" attributes associated with a
successful Global Talent application: founders, investors, consultants and other
operators who have demonstrated they tend to do life on their own terms…
Innovator Founder Visa: Unlike the GTV, the Innovator Visa has hard metrics to prove to retain your visa and qualify for permanent residency (“Indefinite Leave to Remain” (ILR) aka “Settled Status”). I don’t keep current on the latest milestones that need to be met. But, to give you a sense of the bar, these can include £1 million in annual gross revenue or creating 10 full-time jobs in the UK. Knowing that 90% of startups fail, and that the GTV doesn't have these requirements, I don’t know why anyone would choose to opt into these review cycles vs. having a much more flexible path with the GTV.
“Yes, and”: To throw some nuance in, I bet there are some GTV “types” who may be in academia or corporate, or Innovators who could pursue either the GTV or the other routes. But, why? If you could get a Global Talent Visa, why would you want the others? The GTV is cheaper, more flexible, requires fewer metrics, and has a faster path to permanent residency.
In short, the Global Talent visa is based on you: your merits, track record, achievements and impact. That's why it isn't tied to anything else. The Skilled Worker visa is tied to a job and the Innovator Founder visa is tied to a business plan, whereas the GTV gives you full flexibility and freedom to build your career the way you want.
How do I build toward it?
First, don’t “fake ‘til you make it”; TechNation will interpret a flurry of activity six months prior to applying for a visa as looking like you’re just trying to get a visa. But, if this path is something you genuinely want to pursue and you don’t think you have demonstrated the criteria just yet, I’d advise you to build your track record to show that you have a clear pattern of contributing in the field.
If it were me, I’d look at the endorsed list of TechNation-recognized programmes and accelerators and get involved. For example, mentoring with Techstars or other accelerators on their endorsed list is exactly the kind of ecosystem contribution that they explicitly value.
Another way to literally “show, don’t tell” is to write and speak via a blog, a talk, a podcast appearance – with recognized outlets. And, make sure to capture those links, pdfs, images, social media posts, etc. – especially if they get a notable amount of traction via non-bot likes, shares, comments, etc.
This is all evidence – and great experience!
How do I write a compelling application?
As I already shared, I am not in any way an official authority so take the following as my thoughts and advice I give my besties vs. any end-all-be-all info about what makes a good application. Got it? Good!
At a high-level, I applied every skill to my application that I gained from pitching my startup as a founder and coaching entrepreneurs to raise money. This includes understanding the audience and what’s in it for them, providing them clear evidence of that desired ROI, and wrapping it all in a “pitch” consisting of a compelling narrative, story arc and visuals.
Breaking that down, here are three things that mattered for me:
Understand the ROI & show how you deliver it: Just like any good pitch, state your case thinking about how your proposition fulfils the intention of the scheme (🤣side note: it still tickles my American ears to hear the word "scheme" used by Brits in a neutral "schematics" kind of short-hand vs. how the American ear hears the word like someone twisting their moustache while Mr. Burns-ing their hands!)
ANYWAY…
The most blunt version of the Global Talent Visa (GTV) scheme is that it aims to attract people who will be additive to the economy, in multiples, based on the premise that tech is a sector that returns more than it costs. In short, it's part of the Unicorn-building mentality to 10x the economy. No pressure, right?! Right. You got this →
Like any business proposition, the more you can specifically and quantifiably show that you will bring more value than you cost the better. Specifically for the GTV: position your application evidence considering that the thesis is that not only will you not be a drain on the economy, or even sustainably fend for yourself as a net-neutral on GDP<>spend, but you will also bring more value than you cost. The easier it is for busy reviewers to literally figure that out, the better. Specifically, show how you've done that in your startups, investments, or other parts of the digital work you've done.
Don’t get overwhelmed, get started: I started the process of my application by cutting and pasting the application into a google doc like an outline. In the list of criteria and recommendations, I added bullet points of what evidence I could potentially show and who might be the best person to recommend me for that section.
Evidence: When I applied, applicants had to meet certain mandatory criteria and two of four optional criteria. So when my outline showed that I had more evidence in some areas over others, I picked the strongest areas to serve as my evidence.
Recommendations: I also aligned my recommendations to this case I was building, all based first on the original ROI for the visa, then my evidence, then who would attest to that case. For me, and given this logic, my recommendations were an American VC I knew well who backs under-represented founders*, a current GTV holder, and a colleague who'd made the transition from impact to a VC-backed commercial venture (like me).
*I happen to have a track record in this area. You may not. List your track record, considering the ROI. E.g. I did not – and still do not – pitch ventures led by under-represented founders as some sort of feel-good social impact metric, but as tremendously under-capitalized market opportunities led by those with unique insight into the global majority.
Creating my pitch: With the evidence and references as the foundation of my case, I used that to craft a narrative matching my career arc, interests, evidence, and plans to do that work in the UK. Also, knowing a lot of the digital tech industry communicates in decks, I decided to use that format for my application. Putting this all together, I used the outline narrative I created in the Google Doc and evidence I gathered to support it, and compiled everything into deck format.
👋Reminder: as I mentioned earlier, I had to channel my inner Sasha Fierce to dissociate a bit from bigging “myself” up vs. writing an application that is the highlights reel of my “exceptional global talent”. Of course, I've also had plenty of failures! They just didn't go in the deck!
The Real Real on My "Why"
Apart from the application itself, some things I get asked all the time include the following.
Why did you immigrate? An easy answer people expect is “work”, which is also true but not the full picture. Another layer down is, “running towards and running from…”
Still want to know more? Read on, for some more layers down:
Regarding work, I love that I get to work in a part of the tech and investment field that isn’t obsessed with Unicorn math(s), knows that we shouldn’t “move fast and break things” when the “things” are people… or labor markets… or the environment… and, and, and… Ya see, where I’m from in Texas, the leadership of our State aka the 8th largest economy in the world (!) decided, because of ideological reasons, to actively divest from any investment schemes that consider ESG. Beyond how one might feel about incorporating ESG-informed investment metrics and how it’s good for the world beyond the bottom line, utilizing them is also a proven alpha-generating strategy. Ya don't have to be a business hippie to look around and see that not considering these very real best practices leaves you with stranded assets. Some of y’all might recall that BlackRock’s own Larry Fink said it plainly in his 2020 letter to CEOs: "climate risk is investment risk." He's since found it politically inconvenient to say so quite as loudly… but the math hasn't changed. But, where I work has.
Additionally, through a personal quality of life lens, we were getting increasingly concerned as residents of Texas and the wider US about gun violence, women’s rights, healthcare, the environment, and authoritarianism. It wasn’t conceptual for us: a huge winter storm in 2021 followed by droughts laid bare our State’s climate vulnerability, the mass school shooting in Uvalde and the fall of Roe v. Wade both happened in the summer of 2022 with serious, immediate impact in our own communities in Texas. Also, given my first career was in politics before working in tech, I had a front-row seat to the preview of what happened in Texas playing out across the US in both the public and private sectors. (#CassandrasUnite: we told you so 😞)
→ “Running towards & Running From”: When I considered that I had the opportunity to raise a family in a different environment: one where I could nerd out at a high level building the investment case for purpose and profits together, while my kids enjoyed school without shooter drills, we all paid into a quality healthcare system we could access without fear of bankruptcy, we got to travel by train (!), eat healthy food and holiday in Europe so much more accessibly, it honestly felt like the only choice.
Of course, that meant leaving our home, friends and family – which incurs real grief.
Do you consider yourself an Expat? No. I consider myself an immigrant. Here’s why.
Also, sometimes, with the explicit caveats of knowing I had the significant privilege to choose many things about my migration and to help mainstream 'the immigrant next door', I will judiciously offer to those who I think it might make a difference to: 'I know I may not match what some people have as a mental model for who is part of the great global migration underway — and yet, given the political and climate realities of where I'm from, here I am.'
When you're from a place where you and your neighbors have stood in a school cafeteria thinking about whether your child is going to be one of the ones to come out from a school shooter situation, or lived through an infrastructure collapse — melting snow to flush a toilet, hauling water from a communal tap, opening your home to two additional families — Warsan Shire's words from 'Home' need less translation:
“you have to understand, / no one puts their children in a boat / unless the water is safer than the land.”
Can you help me (personally)?
Whaaaaa?! You want more?! Didn’t I just help you?! Come on! 😂
But seriously, while my spirit is willing, I have sadly been reminded by many people in my life, time and time again, that I have way more interest than I have capacity.
So, if you’re looking for more info or to speak with someone further in depth, I encourage you to check the official TechNation website and reach out to one of their Global Talent Visa Ambassadors. They are happy to help you on your way.
Final Thought
It’s really not hyperbole to say that this visa changed my life – and my family’s and perhaps another generation (if they have one!). I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, maybe it’ll change yours, too? As you follow your path, I hope that what I have shared has been helpful. If so, let me know!
See you on the other side,
— Laurie
