Global Talent Visa: A Guide to Choosing the Right Endorsing Body

By Anna Bregstein - Immigration Barrister

11 Sep 2024

In This Article

1. Introduction to the Global Talent Visa
2. The Application Process for Global Talent Visas
3. Which Endorsing Body Is Right for Me?
4. Conclusion on Choosing the Right Endorsing Body
5. Contact our Immigration Barristers
6. Frequently Asked Questions
7. Glossary
8. Additional Resources

1. Introduction to the Global Talent Visa

The Global Talent visa is a valuable route for talented and promising individuals wishing to develop their careers in the fields of arts and culture, science, medicine, engineering, humanities and digital technology. 

The ‘talent’ category is for applicants recognised as world leaders in their field, whilst the ‘promise’ category is for those at the start of their career who show potential to become future world leaders. See our previous post: Arts & Culture Global Talent Visa Endorsement: Exceptional Talent or Promise? on which pathway is right for you. It provides exceptionally talented and promising individuals the opportunity to sculpt their careers in the UK without requiring a job offer, an English test or maintenance funds. It also offers one of the quickest routes to settlement, giving ‘exceptional talent’ visa holders the potential to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK after a continuous period of three years in the UK.

2. The Application Process for Global Talent Visas

The application process consists of two stages:

Stage 1 – Obtaining endorsement from the relevant endorsing body;

Stage 2 – Applying for the Global Talent visa under the ‘exceptional promise’ or ‘exceptional talent’ category once the endorsement has been secured.

This piece will focus on Stage 1 of the application process, specifically on which endorsing body you should be applying to for your field of expertise. 

It should be noted that an endorsement application is not an immigration application. Therefore, if you are applying from inside the UK, it does not extend your leave beyond the expiry date of your current visa. It is important to apply in good time to ensure that you can obtain the endorsement and apply for the Global Visa before your current visa expires, or to have time to reassess your options if the endorsement application is refused. 

3. Which Endorsing Body Is Right for Me?

There are six different endorsing bodies contracted by the UK Home Office to review endorsement applications:

• Arts Council England – endorses arts and culture applicants. Several other organisations handle endorsement for particular sub-categories on the Art Council’s behalf:
  • Producers’ Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT) – endorses Film and Television applicants;
  • The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) – endorses architecture applicants;
  • British Fashion Council (BFC) – endorses fashion applicants;
• Tech Nation (led by the Founders Forum Group) – endorses digital technology applicants;
• The Royal Society – endorses natural and medical science applicants
• The British Academy – endorses humanities or social sciences applicants;
• The Royal Academy of Engineering – endorses engineering applicants;
• The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – endorses applicants from all research fields, if they can show they have an eligible job offer as a researcher, academic, a fellowship, or a research grant from an endorsed funder UKRI approved.

The endorsing bodies have different expectations of candidates applying for endorsement in the ‘talent’ and ‘promise’ categories respectively. Each endorsing body will be taken in turn.

Arts Council: Endorsing Body for Arts and Culture, Film and Television, Architecture and Fashion

The Arts Council endorses applications in combined arts, dance, literature, theatre, and visual arts (including those working in galleries and museums in an artistic context). It delegates applications for Film and Television to PACT, for Architecture to RIBA, and for Fashion to BFC.

As explained in the Arts Council Guidance, applicants must be professionally engaged in producing work in their field, with exceptional talent applicants showing a ‘substantial track record of professional artistic engagements’ and exceptional promise applicants proving a ‘sufficient developing track record of professional artistic engagements.’

Evidence that must be provided to the Arts Council (who will then pass it on to the relevant sub-body) consists of three letters of support and no more than ten individual pieces of supporting evidence.

For the art and culture category, applicants are expected to provide a CV showing a substantial track record over the last five years for exceptional talent, and the last three years for exceptional promise. The CV requirement is to help the Arts Council understand which stage of your career you are at.

For example, an up-and-coming architect who has gained popularity in Germany by designing some unique buildings and exhibiting their work in galleries for the last 3 years may wish to make a name for themselves in the UK and expand their career. They would be applying to the Arts Council for endorsement, which would transfer their application to RIBA.  

Note that Global Talent applicants who hold a ‘Prestigious Prize’ can skip Stage 1 of the application; this list is updated regularly.

Tech Nation: Endorsing Body for Applicants With Technical and Business Skills in the Digital Technology Sector

Tech Nation (led by the Founders Forum Group) endorses applications for applicants involved in the digital technology sector, as well as sub-sectors like FinTech, AI, cyber and games. There are two eligible categories of applicants:

1. Technical applicants (e.g. programmers) from technical or non-technical organisations
2. Non-technical applicants (e.g. business roles) from technical organisations

Technical roles could include principal software engineers/developers, cybersecurity experts, virtual and augmented reality developers, experienced mobile app developers. Business roles could include being a solution sales expert or performance marketing expert in a tech business, having experience of expanding a significant product-led digital technology business, leading SaaS or enterprise sales for digital services. These lists are not exhaustive; more suitable examples of roles can be found in the Tech Nation Guidance.

For example, the recent founder of a Turkish virtual learning platform may wish to expand their business management career into virtual learning environments in the UK.

Alternatively, a software developer who has worked for multiple large US banks may admire the advancements in the UK fintech environment, and want to explore new career opportunities.

To be eligible for a visa in the ‘exceptional talent’ category, applicants must be recognised as a leading talent in the digital technology sector in the last 5 years, and have evidence of two of the following criteria:

• a proven track record for innovation as a founder or senior executive of a product-led digital technology company or as an employee working on a new digital field or concept
• proof of recognition for work beyond the applicant’s occupation that contributes to the advancement of the field
• they have made significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder, senior executive, board member or employee of a product-led digital technology company       
• they have demonstrated exceptional ability in the field by academic contributions through research published or endorsed by an expert.

For the software developer applying from a US bank, they may show that they have held a leadership role in the software team of a bank and have demonstrated exceptional ability in the field through research published into the creation of secure online banking software.

To be eligible for a visa in the ‘exceptional promise’ category, applicants must show they have been recognised as having potential to be a leading talent in the digital technology field in the last 5 years, and provide evidence of two of the following criteria:

• Innovation as a founder of a product led digital technology company or as an employee working on a new digital field or concept
• Proof of recognition for work beyond the applicant’s occupation that contributes to the advancement of the field
• They have made significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder or employee of a product-led digital technology company
• They have demonstrated exceptional ability in the field by academic contributions through research endorsed by an expert.
• Be at an early stage in their career.

As such, the young founder of the Turkish virtual learning platform may show that she led a crowdfunding effort, oversaw its implementation into schools and has won a prize as an innovative young business leader. She would have to be at an early stage in her career to be eligible for the exceptional promise category.

There is a specific list of recognised UK accelerator programmes which will fast track an application to 3 weeks if a candidate has been accepted onto one of them.

The Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering and UKRI: Endorsing Body for Science, Humanities and Social Science, Engineering, and Medicine Candidates

Individuals who are researchers in the fields of science, humanities and social sciences, engineering and medicine can apply for endorsement to the relevant endorsing body: the Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering or UKRI. Applicants will have to meet different requirements if they are applying for the ‘Fast track’ route, or the ‘Full peer review’ route.

For the fast track route, you will need to satisfy the endorsing body that you either:

1. Have been appointed to an eligible academic or research position at an approved UK Higher Education Institution or research institute on the list published by the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering or the British Academy;
2. Hold, or have held in the last 5 years, a peer-reviewed research fellowship or award named on the list published by the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering or the British Academy;
3. Will be hosted or employed in a UK research organisation named on the UKRI published list and provide critical contributions to work supported by a substantial research grant/award by the endorsed funder. You must also either:
   1. Direct independently, or under the supervision of a Principal Investigator, a unique research or innovation project and have a PhD qualification or equivalent research experience (including industrial or clinical research), actively participate in a relevant field in a University, research institute or industry and have your name or post listed on the grant or award as the Principal or co-investigator, Researcher Co-investigator, Post-doctoral researcher or Research Assistant, or an equivalent position acceptable to UKRI; or
   2. Make critical contributions to research by providing core technical or domain excellence or in developing new technologies and methodologies and have a UK bachelor’s degree or equivalent overseas research degree or equivalent research experience (including industrial or clinical research) and have research experience within a University, Research Institute or Industry.

To illustrate the different options for candidates, an environmental scientist might have the following options under the three different fast track routes:

Route 1 – Academic and Research Appointments

• Appointed Research Institute Director for the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture; or
• Appointed to lead a research project into water quality for the Environment Agency.

Route 2 – Individual Fellowships

• For exceptional talent: Awarded an individual fellowship under the Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in Science on the impact of climate change on human health; or
• For exceptional promise: Awarded an individual UKRI Industrial Innovation Fellowship at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to research the reduction of greenhouse gases in the fashion industry.

Route 3 – Endorsed Funder

• Obtaining a grant from the Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme to direct a research project into the geological evolution of the Antarctic region; or
• Making significant contributions in developing new technologies for tidal energy capture for the European Marine Energy Centre, holding a UK Bachelor’s degree and having research experience with a UK university in renewable energy research. 

A possible Route 4 is to submit an application for a full peer review. These applications are not fast-tracked, and will only be considered by the Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering or British Academy, not UKRI. The eligible disciplines will therefore be humanities and social sciences, engineering, natural and medical sciences – there is also a list of eligible sub-disciplines. Applicants do not need to have a job lined up before submitting their application for endorsement. 

• For exceptional talent: You must have been recognised as a leader in one of the eligible disciplines or subdisciplines. Additionally, you must:

• Be an active researcher within this discipline, e.g. in a university, research institute or industry;

• Have a PhD or equivalent research experience, including industrial or clinical research; and 

• Provide the required documents to be considered for assessment under peer review.

• For exceptional promise: You must have been recognised as having exceptional promise in one of the eligible disciplines or subdisciplines. Additionally, you must:

• Be an active researcher within this discipline, e.g. in a university, research institute or industry;

• Have a PhD or equivalent research experience, including industrial or clinical research; 

• Show that you are at an early stage of your career; and 

• Provide the required documents to be considered for assessment under peer review.

For example, a researcher in Ancient Greek language and literature at the University of Athens may wish to apply for endorsement via a full peer review to explore opportunities in UK academia. They could be eligible for exceptional talent if they had a PhD in Ancient Greek language and literature and held an active research position in their own university. To be eligible for exceptional promise if they were at an early stage of their career, such as having only held the role for two years.

4. Conclusion on Choosing the Right Endorsing Body

Establishing whether your skillset falls within the remit of one of the endorsing bodies is important. The Global Talent route is a highly desirable route, which offers the flexibility for talented and promising individuals to expand their career opportunities in the UK. It also provides a potential 3-year route to settlement (or 5 years if endorsed on the ‘promise’ pathway by the Arts Council or Tech Nation). Please see our blog post: Global Talent Visa: Settlement and ILR in the UK for the additional requirements that must be met for indefinite leave to remain on the Global Talent route. 

5. Contact our Immigration Barristers

For expert advice and assistance regarding an endorsement application for a Global Talent visa, contact our business immigration barristers on 0203 617 9173 or complete our enquiry form below.