Global Talent. Simplified.

This category is for highly skilled people in specific fields who wish to work in the UK.  

 Applicants will already be internationally recognised at the highest level as leaders in their particular field or have already demonstrated exceptional promise and are likely to become leaders in their particular field.  

An endorsing body will assess whether the applicant meets the eligibility requirements on an endorsement application. An applicant using a Prestigious Prize to qualify does not require an endorsement.

Stage 1: Application for endorsement

First, you need to apply for endorsement by the endorsing body responsible for your area of expertise (see our FAQs section below for a list of what area of expertise is covered by which endorsing body). 

You must provide the documents required by your chosen endorsing body unless you are a digital technology applicant. Digital technology applicants must upload their supporting documents via the Tech Nation application form, and are not requested to send evidence to the Home Office. 

Stage 2: Application for Global Talent visa 

If you are endorsed, you then need to apply for the Global Talent visa. This is also an online application.

See below in the 'What supporting documents do I need to provide with my global talent visa application?' for a list of what area of expertise is covered by which endorsing body.

The application for the endorsement is £561. If you get the endorsement and apply for the visa you have to pay £205.

At the point of the visa application, you will also have to pay £1,035 per year of the endorsement (which you can choose, up to 5 years) for the Immigration Health Surcharge.

If you wish to apply with any dependants (e.g. partner, children), you will have to pay £766 for each application, and the Immigration Health Surcharge for each dependant (the rate for children is £776 per year of stay).

As an illustrative example, for a lead applicant to apply with a partner and two children for a three year stay, the total cost would be £13,930.

Note that this does not include any additional Home Office fees e.g. paying for a quicker decision in your application.

https://www.gov.uk/global-talent

It costs £766 to apply.

If you’re applying based on an endorsement, you’ll pay the £766 in two parts:

£561 for the endorsement application

£205 for the visa itself

You will also have to pay £1,035 per year of the endorsement (which you can choose, up to five years) for the Immigration Health Surcharge.

If you wish to apply with any dependants (e.g. partner, children), you will have to pay £766 for each application, and the Immigration Health Surcharge for each dependant (the rate for children is £776 per year of stay).

As an illustrative example, for a lead applicant to apply with a partner and two children for a three year stay, the total cost would be £13,930.

£766 application fee for lead applicant

£2,298 application fee for three dependants

£3,105 Immigration Health Surcharge for lead applicant (for three years)

£7,761 Immigration Health Surcharge for three dependants (for three years)

Note that this does not include any additional Home Office fees e.g. paying for a quicker decision in your application.

Because of the nature of this visa route, the evidence you will need to provide will depend entirely on the endorsing body requirements.

The supporting documents you will need to submit depend on the endorsing body you are applying to. The requirements for each endorsing body are taken from Home Office guidance (correct at the time of writing, December 2021), and are set out below.

Arts Council England

Arts Council England endorse applications themselves, but also refer endorsement applications out for certain specialisms. Where ACE is itself the endorsing body, it requires:

3 letters of endorsement that demonstrate their work as an individual or named member of a group:

• one must be from a UK based arts and cultural organisation, institution or company
• one must be from an arts and cultural organisation, institution or company, which may or may not be UK based
• one must be from either a third arts and culture organisation (based either in the UK or overseas) or from an eminent individual with recognised expertise in the applicant’s specialist field
• up to 10 pieces of supporting documentation (which will be listed on the stage 1 application form)

The requirements for its sub-endorsers are as follows:

Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT)

3 letters of endorsement as described above for ACE applicants, from organisations or individuals in the film and television industry

• evidence of each award they were nominated for or won, including:

  • full details of the production nomination or award, including category and year of nomination or award
  • evidence of the applicant’s involvement if the nomination or award was as part of a group
  • evidence of the credit the applicant received for the nomination or award
  • if the applicant is claiming credit for an award where they made a significant and direct contribution, evidence of their significant and direct contribution to the win or nomination

The British Fashion Council (BFC)

3 letters of endorsement from established organisations, institutions or companies with a national or international reputation and recognised expertise in fashion:

• if applying under Exceptional Talent criteria, at least one of these letters must be from a UK organisation
• up to 10 pieces of supporting documentation (which will be listed on the stage 1 application form)

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

3 letters of endorsement as described above for ACE applicants, from organisations or individuals in the architecture industry

• evidence of each award they were nominated for or won, including:

  • full details of the nomination or award, including category and year of nomination or award
  • evidence of the applicant’s involvement if the nomination or award was as part of a group
  • evidence of the credit the applicant received for the nomination or award
  • if the applicant is claiming credit for an award where they made a significant and direct contribution, evidence of their significant and direct contribution to the win or nomination.

• up to 10 pieces of supporting documentation (which will be listed on the stage 1 application form)

Science bodies (peer-review) (British Academy, Royal Society or Royal Academy of Engineering applications)

• applicants must provide a:

  • letter of recommendation from an eminent person in the UK
  • CV

• a written recommendation from a reputable UK organisation may be also supplied. This second letter is one of 3 possible options under the exceptional talent qualifying criteria and so will not always be supplied. The second letter is not required for exceptional promise applicants.

Tech Nation

For Tech Nation applications, applicants must provide:

• 3 letters of recommendation from 3 different well-established organisations acknowledged as experts in the digital technology field

  • a CV
  • up to 10 pieces of information to demonstrate that they meet the qualifying criteria:
  • if the applicant has had any active or dissolved digital technology businesses in the last 5 years, or evidence of share ownership through business in a digital technology sector company, their 10 documents must include evidence of this.

We regularly review Global Talent visa applications prior to their submission, and which we would usually do via our popular one-off consultation service. If you would be interested in this please do get in touch.

Lots of people make GT endorsement applications without engaging a lawyer.  

However, we have assisted several clients to successfully make applications in the last few years, including individuals who had been refused previously when they applied by themselves. 

The endorsement application is usually the more challenging of the two stages. We would not say that you needed a lawyer for the Stage 2 visa application after securing endorsement. 

If you are in doubt about whether you think you need a lawyer get in touch to set up a brief intro call.

- Founders and co-founders, including AI and UX/UI-led startups

- Chief technology, operating and product officers

- Senior vice presidents of AI/ML

- Software engineers

- Machine learning and AI engineers

- AI researchers and computer scientists

- AI safety specialists

- Cybersecurity specialists

- Cryptographers

- Blockchain developers

- Data systems specialists

- Enterprise software specialists

- Algorithmic traders

- Fintech go-to-market leaders

- Digital health and healthtech specialists

- Product managers, including in gaming

- Product designers

- Hardware and UX designers

- UX researchers and UI designers

- Growth and digital marketers

- Go-to-market strategists

- Enterprise sales and commercial leads

- Operations leaders

- Musicians, including pianists, violists, violinists, banjo players, singer-songwriters and lyricists

- Afrobeats artists and producers

- Sound engineers

- Dancers

- Actors

- Musical theatre performers

- Authors, including cookbook authors, and journalists

- Audiobook and spoken word producers

- Podcasters

- Photographers

- Painters and muralists

- Installation artists

- Moving image artists

- Visual artists

- Curators

- Film, television and creative producers

- Animators

- Video game designers

- Costume artists

- Fashion designers

- Architects

- Interior designers, in commercial and retail settings

- Brand designers

- Bio-designers

- Cardiologists, including interventional cardiologists

- Psychiatrists

- Neuroscientists

- Biomolecular condensate biologists

- Theoretical physicists

- Materials data scientists

- Statisticians

- AI researchers and computer scientists

- Mechanical and automotive engineers, including Formula 1 engineers

- Engineer-founders

- Design researchers

- Philosophers, including legal philosophers

- Political theorists

- International relations scholars

- Social policy researchers

- Management and economics researchers

- Human geographers

- Historians, including modern and oral historians

- Art historians

- Literary scholars (early modern English literature)

- Theatre studies scholars

We regularly help individuals applying for endorsement under the Global Talent visa route. We encourage applicants to ask themselves the following questions before doing so:

1. Can I be bothered with this?
2. What is my field?
3. Do I meet the criteria?
4. How does my evidence show that I meet the criteria?

Further elaboration on these questions is available in our blog post “Can I be bothered with this?” And other questions to ask yourself before applying for a Global Talent visa.

Leaving any other immigration options that might be available, there are usually two options: either apply again with better evidence, or ask for the decision to be reviewed.

This is a question on which we regularly advise via our one-off consultation sessions: we'll need to see the documents you relied upon and submitted in the application, and the refusal decision, and understand your views on how you feel you meet the criteria. We should then be in a position to assess the merits of either course of action.

This will depend on your particular case and the criteria of the endorsing body considering your application.  

We offer an initial viability assessment of your profile. For further details, see here.

No 

Stage 1 is not an application for permission to stay or entry clearance, so there is no requirement for applicants to provide a passport or biometrics. 

This is important because, if you are in the UK on a different visa route (e.g. skilled worker), you can make as many applications as you want without it affecting your underlying right to remain in the UK.

The length of the visa is up to an applicant, and can be up to 5 years.  

Note that those endorsed as leaders in their fields will qualify for settlement after 3 years. Those endorsed as having exceptional promise will qualify after 5 years.  

Bear in mind the costs increase depending on how long you wish to stay due to the per year charge (payable up front) of the Immigration Health Surcharge.