Bring your talent to the UK, get a Global Talent Visa

If you want to work in UK, you can apply for a Global Talent visa. This applies to you if you are an expert or a leader in any of the following fields:

• academia or research
• digital technology
• arts and culture

To be eligible for this visa, you have to be aged 18 years or more.

Are you or your family from any of the following?

• The EU
• Norway
• Liechtenstein
• Switzerland
• Iceland

If yes, then you could apply to the free EU Settlement Scheme in case you or your family member began to live in the UK before January 1, 2021. In any other case, you must have a visa to work in UK.

If you are an Irish citizen, you needn’t apply for a visa. Neither need you to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

In usual cases, you can apply for a Global Talent visa only if you have succeeded in applying for an endorsement. An endorsement will prove that you are indeed a leader or a potential leader in any of the fields mentioned above.

If you have won an eligible award, you are allowed to apply for the visa sans an endorsement.

Duration of stay in the UK

You are allowed to live and work in UK for not more than 5 years at a time.

If it’s your intention to stay longer in the UK, you can renew (practically extend) your visa when it reaches expiry. Every extension could be for terms of 1 to 5 years.

You could get indefinite leave to remain. That will allow you to settle in the UK after 3 or 5 years. That will depend on your field of work and your method of application. This helps you to get the right to live, study, and work in the UK for as much time you choose. You may even apply for benefits in case you are eligible.

How to apply for the Global Talent Visa

Applications to this visa must be done online. In fact, how you apply depends on whether you are:

• outside the UK and are coming to the UK
• inside the UK and switching from a different visa
• inside the UK and extending your current visa

How long does the process take?

As part of submitting your application, you must prove your identity as well as provide the necessary documents.

You may have to allow extra time in case you require an appointment to do this. You will learn if you need extra time when you start applying for the visa.

Decision on the application

Usually, you will get a decision made on your visa application within:

• 8 weeks, if you are inside the UK
• 3 weeks, if you are not inside the UK

If you must go to an appointment, you could pay to get a faster decision. How you do this is determined by whether you are outside or inside the UK.

Fees

The application cost is £608. If you are lodging an application on the basis of an endorsement, you will pay this amount in 2 parts:

• £456 during application for the endorsement
• £152 during application for the visa itself

If you are applying on the basis of an eligible award, you will remit the full amount when you lodge an application for the visa.

If you are adding your partner or children to your application, each of them will need to pay the application fee.

Healthcare surcharge

You will also have to remit the healthcare surcharge as part of applying for the visa. This is usually £624 per annum for each individual who’s applying.

What if you are from an eligible country?

Your application fee will get reduced by £55 automatically when you lodge an application for the visa itself in case you originate from any of the following nations:

• Latvia
• Poland
• Denmark
• Spain
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Croatia
• Greece
• Malta
• Slovakia
• Portugal
• France
• North Macedonia
• Germany
• Republic of Cyprus
• Italy
• Austria
• Czech Republic
• Norway
• Finland
• Netherlands
• Turkey
• Sweden
• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• Iceland

This reduction in fees is applicable only to your visa application. Your partner and children must pay the full application fee.

Documents required to apply

Here are the documents you will require to provide while applying for the Global Talent visa:

• a passport that’s valid or any other document that proves your identity as well as your nationality
• results of the test done for tuberculosis if you are from a country that mandates the test

If you have received a scholarship or an award to study in UK in the last year, you’ll also require permission in writing to apply from the government or agency that granted it.

In case your documents aren’t in English or Welsh language, you must also provide a translation that’s certified.

You must have a blank page in your passport for your visa if you are:

• from outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland
• from the EU, Switzerland, or EEA but don’t possess a biometric passport containing a chip

If you have received an award deemed eligible, the Home Office will check the information that’s publicly available (such as the website of the organization that gave the award) to get confirmation that you have won it. You will be asked to produce evidence for the award only if the authorities can’t find it.

Your partner and children

Your partner and children can lodge an application to join you or to stay in the UK under the status of your ‘dependants’. That is if they are eligible.

Your relationship

Here are the people considered a ‘dependant’:

• your civil partner, husband/wife, or unmarried partner
• your child aged under 18, even those who were born in the UK during your stay
• your child aged above 18 if they are right now in the UK living as your dependant

You’ll need to furnish evidence of your relationship with the dependents when you apply. This must be done as follows

Your partner

You must have the ability to prove that either:

• you are in a marriage or a civil partnership that’s recognized in the UK
• you have a history of living together in a relationship of least at 2 years at the time of lodging the application

If your child is aged 16 years or above

They must:

• be unmarried, not be in a civil partnership, or have any children
• live with you (unless they are involved in full-time education at a university, a college, or a boarding school)
• be having your support without using benefits such as public funds

If your child lives with you, you must provide 2 of the following documents that will confirm their address:

• credit card bills
• a bank statement
• driving license
• an official letter from their college or university
• NHS registration document

Fees

The cost to be borne by each dependent who applies is £608.

They are also required to pay:

• £19.20 for their biometric information to be taken if they are lodging the application in the UK
• the healthcare surcharge

Partner or children outside the UK

If your partner or children are outside the UK, they must either:

• apply online as a child
• apply online as a partner

Every family member must fill a separate application completely and remit the visa fee. They must lodge an application before they move to the UK.

They will be required to provide your application number so that the Home Office can link their application to you.

Partner/children in the UK already (via extension or visa switch)

Apply for the visa of your partner or child when you take an extension for your own Global Talent visa. This is applicable to children who took birth or turned 18 during your stay.

If you can’t apply simultaneously, your partner or your child can submit an application to switch or extend their visas at a future date. This needs to be done before their currently active visa expires.

Your partner and child can lodge an application to switch to your Global Talent visa under the status of your dependents. This is possible unless they are right now in the UK in one of the circumstances mentioned below:

• on a visit visa
• on a Parent of a Child Student visa
• on a short-term student visa
• on a seasonal worker visa
• on immigration bail
• on a Domestic Worker in a Private Household visa
• they were allowed to stay beyond the immigration rules as it’s when on compassionate grounds

How to apply

Your partner and child must submit their applications online so that they can either:

• extend or switch as a child
• extend or switch as a partner

They will require your application number. It will be available when you apply. This number is known as Unique Application Number (UAN) or Global Web Form (GWF). You will find it in letters and emails from the Home Office with regards to your application.

When they apply, they will be required to make an appointment at a UKVCAS service point to give their biometric information.

They must also file the supporting documents. They can:

• get the documents scanned during their appointment at UKVCAS
• upload them to the online service

They mustn’t go outside of the UK, the Channel Islands, Ireland, or the Isle of Man. This restriction is applicable till the time they get a decision. If they travel outside, their application will face withdrawal.

Children born in the UK

If you have children while you are residing in the UK, they won’t automatically be treated as British citizens.

You can submit an online application for the child/children’s dependant visa. You require to do this if you must travel in and out of the UK with your child accompanying you.

For each child, you must have a UK birth certificate in full. The certificate must show the names of the parents.

You will need to apply for their dependant visa prior to their reaching 18 years of age if they must stay in the UK.