UK Global Talent — Endorsement Received (Category Changes)

Toward the end of 2025, I realized that I wanted to work on technologies close to the frontier. I spent all of 2025 working on AI4SDLC at T-Bank, but it was clear to me that something was missing.

By early summer 2026, I had decided to try to obtain a UK Global Talent visa. Readers may remember that I had already traveled to London a couple of times this year: first with my wife, and then with my wife and children. The city suited me quite well as a place to live.

I then turned to the bureaucracy and worked through the process. The requirements proved quite manageable:

• Complete an online application, including a personal statement — the equivalent of a motivation letter;
• Include three recommendation letters from respected people in the industry who have known your work for at least 12 months and can describe your qualities and achievements with specific examples;
• Include no more than ten evidence documents. At least two must show that you are recognized as a leading or potentially leading specialist, and at least four more must cover two additional criteria, with two documents for each.

That makes a minimum of six evidence documents.

Global Talent actually has several routes. I applied through the Digital Technology route, which offers Exceptional Talent and Exceptional Promise options. I applied as Exceptional Talent.

I approached the process as a manager and used working backwards: I first pictured the target outcome, then worked backward to define the steps.

• I wrote the personal statement.
• I selected respected people in the industry who knew my work well and could confirm facts about me that fit the application's overall narrative.
• Next came the evidence documents. I decided to collect my achievements from different years on polomodov.tech.
• I spent a long time bringing presentations, podcasts, award nominations, and other materials together there. I also began publishing longreads on the site.
• Once all the facts were assembled, I worked with Claude and Codex to map them to the criteria and draft a document package that best supported my application. The facts and the final evidence selection were, of course, mine.
• A great deal of manual refinement followed.
• Then I went to a translation bureau to have some evidence documents translated.
• At first, I attached originals and translations separately to the letter that had to be sent to the Home Office.
• About a week later, I was told that each translation in my package had to be combined with its corresponding original in a single file; otherwise there were too many documents and the package exceeded the limit.
• I corrected everything and sent the revised package. Eleven days later, I received a positive endorsement decision, which happened this morning. This is, of course, only the timeline of my case, not an official benchmark.

The letter used the following wording:

Tech Nation has advised that you meet its criteria for Exceptional Talent and I am therefore satisfied that you can be endorsed under Global Talent.

The second stage remains: within three months I need to submit a separate application for the visa itself and receive that decision. After that, it will be time to plan the move. Overall, the process did not seem difficult, but this is my personal experience, not immigration advice. Requirements change over time, so it is always better to check the current rules on GOV.UK.

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