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Tech Nation is the official Home Office designated endorsing body authorised to assess endorsement applications from individuals with expertise in digital technology and who want to come to the UK under the Global Talent Visa.Together Tech Nation Global Talent Visa Alumni have contributed to the growth of the UK tech ecosystem, now worth more than $1Trillion.
The Global Talent Visa Alumni network represents a captivating tapestry of cultures, perspectives, and backgrounds. Despite this rich diversity, each member of this exceptional network discovers common threads weaving through their experiences. They are bright, possessing a keen intellect that propels them forward. They are curious, driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge and discovery. And above all, they are ambitious. Ambitious to learn and grow, to evolve into the tech leaders of the future, and to immerse themselves fully in the UK experience.
Our global Talent Alumni are diverse in experience and nationality. They have worked all over the world in a wide variety of roles and organisations. Each year we are proud to endorse diverse, talented and driven tech founders and professionals representing a myriad of different professions and cultures.
For those considering applying for the Global Talent Visa and seeking to understand our criteria, our alumni case studies offer invaluable insights into what it takes to secure endorsement. Whether you come from a technical background or a business-oriented profile, our case studies provide detailed accounts of successful endorsements, offering a firsthand glimpse into the qualities and experiences that resonate with our program.
Explore case studies featuring individuals with technical expertise, ranging from software engineers and data scientists to cybersecurity specialists and AI researchers. Learn about their innovative projects, groundbreaking research, and contributions to advancing technology within their respective fields.
System Architect
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Principal Software Engineer
Quantum Innovation Sector Lead
Director of Artificial Intelligence
Nationality: Lebanon UK Location: Bristol Company: Tenstorrent Role: System Architect Industry: Semiconductor Manufacturing Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2012 / 2022
Why the UK? During my master’s degree, I got a placement at Toshiba and I saw there was a huge gap between how advanced technology was in the UK compared with elsewhere. Then, during my PhD, I saw how fast AI was advancing and I wanted to leverage what I knew from telecoms engineering to get into AI. The beauty of the UK is that companies don’t look for what you’ve done in the past but what you could do in the future. When I joined Graphcore, I had no experience with chip design, but they looked a few steps ahead and saw how I could be beneficial because of my experience. Even in other European countries, you seem to be confined to a specific area that you already know. Here in the UK, you can make leaps.
Plus, the topics funded for research are very different to what you see elsewhere. There’s more risk-taking and money going into blue sky projects. The more advanced research environment driven by the universities means the UK has a far stronger startup ecosystem than other countries.
Why Bristol? Bristol is home to the Silicon Gorge and a big hub for chip design. If you want to work in software or finance, go to London, but Bristol, as well as Cambridge, is the place for hardware and semiconductors. It’s also a unique city with a lot going on that isn’t as hectic as London. In Cambridge or Oxford, everything revolves around student life and they’re quite empty outside of term time. In Bristol, there’s a new startup coming out every day, the universities are strong, and everyone is motivated to start new things. If you move somewhere just for one company, you might find yourself restricted. In Bristol, I know there will always be new opportunities coming up.
UK Career Highlights When I did my PhD at Oxford, I really felt at the cutting edge of tech. I was working with technologies 5-10 years before most people would even know about them. That drove me to come to the UK. The job at Graphcore was also a huge opportunity that I couldn’t say no to. I learned a lot and entered the domain of chip design that I hadn’t experienced before. I achieved several published patents for technologies that optimise communication between multiple chips to execute machine learning. I also worked on a complex simulator that drove a lot of the technical decisions being made related to connecting chips, and these techniques are still used by Graphcore today.
Advice For Global Talent The UK is a fast-moving, agile environment. You need to never feel too comfortable. Step out of your comfort zone and always try to learn something new, otherwise you’ll be left behind.
What Can the UK Do More? Internationals have the financial strain of paying for visa, healthcare, and also travelling back home each year to visit family. It would be helpful if you could pay for your visa from your expected salary over time.
Future Plans? I first entered the UK on a student visa, then I was sponsored by Graphcore, but Tenstorrent is a Canadian company with no UK office, so they couldn’t sponsor my visa. I wanted to get into open-source RISC-V CPU design at Tenstorrent, but I didn’t want to leave the UK. With the Global Talent Visa, I’m now able to work for any employer, so I can work for companies that aren’t well established in the UK, but are doing exciting things. In the long term, I’m interested in launching my own startup, but I’m waiting to gain enough experience and a view of the market to see where it could fit. I’ll do it in the UK, in Bristol, because of the funding environment and the talent here.
Nationality: Ukraine UK Location: Edinburgh Company: Safeguard Global Role: Principal Software Engineer Industry: SaaS Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2017 / 2018
Why the UK? I was looking for a place to build my life. In Ukraine, even then, you could feel the tension and uncertainty about what was going to happen. It was the moment for me to decide whether I would stay or move somewhere else. The US was one option, but I also had the opportunity to first move to London with the same employer. I didn’t have any particular expectations, but during my first few weeks in the UK, I couldn’t believe the infrastructure and the people. Everywhere you went, there was somebody who wanted to talk to you about machine learning or fintech! I was blown away and I decided that this was the place to be. It was the people that drove me to the UK and motivated me to stay.
Why Edinburgh? I initially moved to join the fintech company, Modulr, and since then I’ve built an incredible community here. Everyone knows everyone and it’s a close tech ecosystem. I’m now married to a Scottish woman, I’ve been here for four years, and I have no intention of leaving!
UK Career Highlights The BBC is still the most diverse and inclusive place I’ve ever worked. Their focus on equity plus quality is profound, and that’s reflected in the quality of the products they build and how accessible they are. I joined at a late stage and worked together with hundreds of people to create and launch BBC Sounds. On launch day, we had billboards on the tube and London buses, and we celebrated next to the London Eye; the scale of what we were doing was incredible.
Advice For Global Talent Don’t get a job for the sake of having a job unless you absolutely have to. It’s hard when you need income, but don’t focus on the name of your company; it’s what you do and the impact you can have that will give you fulfilment. Being completely committed to the cause and knowing that what you’re doing is going to solve a big problem; that’s what’s most exciting.
Future Plans? I’m going to travel and try the digital nomad lifestyle for a while, but Edinburgh and Scotland are where we’re going to stay. Now more than ever, I pay attention to what problems I can solve, not just where I can make money. What challenges do we face as a community? How can we address them to be more inclusive and bring people together? The future for me is about being purpose-oriented and building products for the greater good.
Nationality: India UK Location: Oxford Company: National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) Role: Quantum Innovation Sector Lead Industry: Quantum Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2016 / 2022
Why the UK? The UK Government funds knowledge transfer partnerships to translate cutting-edge research into technology. After my PhD, I joined a space company at the University of Strathclyde and we were awarded an Impact Acceleration Account fellowship to work with various companies to facilitate knowledge transfer. I was able to make my first steps into industry in the UK, while still maintaining my connection to academia and research. The UK also published the first national quantum strategy, which is used as a template by governments around the world. Plus, Innovate UK’s model of bringing together end users providing a service to customers with quantum researchers to focus on early-stage tech commercialisation is unique. I wanted to be part of that and make more early-stage commercialisation of quantum and AI technologies happen. Although the bare investment into quantum by the UK might be superseded by a couple of countries, its unique commercialisation ecosystem backed by a strong research and innovation pipeline combined with its ingenuity, focus on ethics, and open innovation culture, enables broad commercialisation of cutting-edge research initiatives into technology for societal and economic benefit in a holistic manner.
Why Oxford? Each city has its own story. Oxford has its university, it’s close to London, it’s very green with lots of parks, and I like mid-sized cities where everything is close by. I took advantage of the government’s shared ownership housing scheme to get on the property ladder, so we own 25% of our property and pay rent on the remaining 75%. Before Oxford, Glasgow was special, not only because it has such a vibrant space community (outside of California, Glasgow manufactures more small satellites than anywhere else in the world!), but also because of its citizen-centric policies and climate focus. Plus, it’s one of the friendliest cities in the UK!
UK Career Highlights The NQCC is one of only a few national quantum centres in the world. Working to discover use cases that are important to society and getting end users to adopt quantum computing into their business processes – that’s really exciting! Since coming to the UK, I’ve held one of the world’s first space quantum application developer positions and I was part of the technical team that led the development of two of the world’s first AI-powered quantum distribution modules for small satellites. From having had the opportunity to meet giants such as professors Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose, and Carlo Rovelli while researching black holes and quantum gravity in space, to representing Scotland at the Dubai Expo in 2021, to being named one of the most inspirational business women and top technical experts in Scotland in 2022 by Scottish Business Insider among others; my journey has been nothing short of interesting, if a little wiggly rather than a straight line!
Advice For Global Talent The UK is a very multicultural place, so take advantage of that. Be open to new ideas and mingle with as many different people as you can. If you reach out, people are more helpful than you’d expect. The UK also has a strong queer community as well as strong freedom of expression and queer and women’s rights, which is definitely a big strength in the current world. During my seven years in the Uk, and having had the chance to mingle with various generations, I have found our generation especially to be some of the most progressive in the world, and that goes a long way in making people feel welcome.
What Can the UK Do More? If you’re coming to the UK from abroad, you’re alway worried about your family and parents back home. The US has a well-established visa route that allows your parents to join you after working in the country for a certain number of years. The UK can do better on schemes and visa policies that allow skilled foreign nationals to bring over their parents, so we can be there and care for them, reducing distractibility and distress for talent with caring responsibilities in a rapidly ageing and globalising world. The UK also has great work-life balance, but salary packages are significantly lower than in the US. For many people, that’s the only real barrier. Finding a way to increase salaries for skilled people will reduce the brain drain.
Future Plans? Making the workplace more inclusive is something I’m really passionate about. I am a director of the UK Prospero Space Fellowship, which matches undergraduate students to internships and mentors in the business and technical sides of the space industry. I’m also the Founder & Chair of New Voices in Space, which took 200 satellite kits to schools in Scotland and Oxfordshire to provide students with hands-on training in small satellite building. I’m excited to see whether bringing quantum and AI together within an ethical framework will help us solve some of the biggest challenges we face in the world today. I’m looking forward to advancing the NQCC’s innovation strategy, focusing on the applications of quantum in healthcare and drug discovery, financial services, space, climate, and the intersection of quantum with AI.
Nationality: India UK Location: London Company: JPMorgan Chase & Co. Role: Director of Artificial Intelligence Industry: Finance Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2018 / 2022
Why the UK? Microsoft wanted a product manager who was capable of launching a computer vision product and willing to move to London. Back then, apart from DeepMind, there weren’t many big AI companies in the UK. I saw the opportunity to build AI expertise in the UK and help grow the industry here. The UK is also so forward-thinking in climate and sustainability. Plus, London is an eclectic mix of technology, finance, and food – there’s a vegan menu at every restaurant!
UK Career Highlights I launched Microsoft’s first B2C computer vision product on a mobile phone, SwiftKey, which attracted around three million users and maintained a 4.3 rating on the app store for over 400 days! At JPMorgan, we’re focused on research for AI innovations that are several years out to maintain the edge we have in the industry. I lead on synthetic data and LLM products. I’m publishing my first research-level paper and filing a patent application on my research. I also advise a startup using AI simulations and I’m a trustee of the Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust, which makes Indian classical art more accessible globally.
Advice For Global Talent Keep calm and carry on! This attitude of putting your head down, doing your work, and carrying on has been so important for me. I also live more frugally in the UK than I did in the US, and I’m more conscious of my environmental impact. Have a mindset of living sustainably within your means. The UK cares deeply about climate change and sustainability, so align to that mindset.
What Can the UK Do More? I like the fact that the UK gives us research grants, because you need an avenue for people to go and experiment, but I don’t like that there are a lot of strings attached. The UK could further support policies to drive more innovation and maintain its competitive edge. The UK also leads in climate tech, but must enable more companies to make sustainable changes happen faster. Talk more about successes locally and globally to inspire others.
Future Plans? I just got my British citizenship! There’s so much to do here, I’m creating a lot of impact, and I plan to stay in the UK and contribute to the sustainable development of AI. I love creating things from zero and, ultimately, I want to be an entrepreneur when the timing is right. For now, I’m living every day in the present and building skills so I can do better in the future.
Discover case studies highlighting entrepreneurs, business leaders, and professionals with expertise in areas such as product management, marketing, finance, and operations. Gain insights into their entrepreneurial journeys, leadership capabilities, and strategic vision for driving business growth and innovation.
Founder / CPO
CTO
Founder & CEO
Account Manager
Nationality: Belarus UK Location: Brighton & Hove Company: ChestPal Role: Founder / CPO Industry: Health Tech Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2022
Why the UK? I started a medical device startup in Estonia after bringing my coughing baby daughter to a clinic multiple times unnecessarily. I was worried she could be sick with pneumonia, but it turned out to be a post-nasal drip. So, the team and I developed a smart stethoscope. This device can detect abnormal sounds in your lungs that may be indicative of serious respiratory conditions, helping healthcare providers with diagnosis and patient management. In 2022, a UK company called ChestPal acquired the assets of the Estonian company, and so it made sense to come to the UK. The UK offers a balance between a great health tech environment and clinical expertise, and startups are helped by strong investment avenues and government-backed financial incentives, like the EIS. My daughter is now seven years old and she’s so happy here. When she asked me after her first week at school, ‘Mum, can we stay here for good, please?’ I happily told her: ‘Yes, we can!’.
Why Brighton? Don’t think that you have to be in London. ChestPal’s HQ is located in the heart of Brighton, which is known for its creativity and artistic vibe, and I live in nearby Hove, which has a more residential atmosphere, seaside charm, and is also just an hour’s train from London. There are really vibrant tech clusters and jobs outside London, and where I am provides the best combination for both family and business.
UK Career Highlights Since moving to the UK in January, my team and I have successfully launched our main product, ChestPal Pro, in the US. That’s a testament to the UK’s ability to drive forward medical technology on a global scale. We’re also collaborating with researchers from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust on what could be a breakthrough in respiratory technology. Our goal is to create a future where patients with chronic conditions can preempt severe episodes when possible and for families to confidently differentiate between a child’s common cold and something more serious.
Advice For Global Talent Health tech founders should take full advantage of the UK’s financial incentives for startups and leverage local expertise by collaborating with clinical and research leaders. Take the advice of clinical experts seriously. While their feedback might be challenging, adopting more stringent processes can lead to commercial success and product differentiation. I also found the UK government websites helpful when relocating with family. The data available helped me make informed decisions when it came to choosing areas and schools, and helped reduce the number of unknowns.
What Can the UK Do More? Some visas, like the Innovator Visa or Startup Visa, have quite stringent requirements. Making visas more accessible for skilled professionals would help lower entry barriers and encourage more tech mobility.
Future Plans? ChestPal is like my other baby and my goal is to make it affordable and available globally. Pneumonia is the single largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide, and one of the indicators of pneumonia is a crackling sound in the lungs, which our technology can detect. I want to be part of the solution to improve respiratory health detection and outcomes around the world.
Nationality: South Africa UK Location: London Company: BX Technologies Role: CTO Industry: Climate Tech Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2015 / 2018 Salary: £150k+
Why the UK? The two things you need to successfully start and scale a tech company are access to talent and capital. Many places have one of those, but finding countries with the combination of both is difficult. The UK has that combination. I moved to the UK to study computer science at UCL. I met my co-founder, started Unibuddy, and it took off from there. The SEIS and EIS tax benefit schemes were hugely helpful. In the early days, all the moneywe raised from angel investors was through those schemes. The UK is also a melting pot of the best talent from around the world – the first 10 employees at Unibuddy were from 10 different countries.
Why London? The number of startups, the amount of capital, and the size and maturity of the market in London is bigger than anywhere else in Europe or the UK. We built a foundation in London that allowed us to expand to the US, and a lot of companies do the same. In London, you have the talent and capital to build up to a certain level and go global from there.
UK Career Highlights I built the first version of Unibuddy for my master’s dissertation. Being able to grow a university project into something that helps three million users across the world and makes a real contribution to the economy is my biggest highlight. And it’s personally rewarding for me to know that we created more than 120 new, highly-skilled jobs.
Advice For Global Talent Founders who come to the UK are surprised by how easy it is to incorporate a company. It takes you 20 minutes online; it’s cheap, everything is very transparent, and the regulations are clear. Plus, the UK is very much a meritocracy. If you come up with the best solution, you’ll be rewarded for it. Start niche, understand your industry and how to reach your customers. Then, you’ve just got to deliver the right product to solve a problem for them. With Unibuddy, we started with a pilot with five universities. They used our product for free, loved it, and converted into paying customers – that’s when we knew we had product-market fit. From there, we spread by word of mouth and very quickly we had almost all the UK’s 160 universities using our platform.
What Can the UK Do More? We could never hire talent fast enough at Unibuddy. We grew from 20 to 100 people in a year and we had to drop the bar at some point; there just aren’t enough people with the skills startups need in the UK. The UK has Monzo and DeepMind, but we don’t have trillion dollar companies like Google or Microsoft coming out of the UK. What’s stopping us? We need the brightest people in AI and tech to study, stay, and build their careers here, and we need to ensure talent doesn’t go elsewhere.
Future Plans? Climate tech is going to be one of the fastest-growing sectors in the next 10 years, and I’m excited to build BX into a big company and leverage AI to help farmers become more profitable by reducing their carbon footprint. The UK is a great place to be for a climate tech startup, because there’s good consumer awareness and the government is setting positive targets towards solving the climate crisis. Once BX has grown to a certain level, I will likely join or start a company that leverages AI to solve a big problem, and I’ll do so in the UK. The government has done well to identify that it should be investing in AI. Making the UK one of the AI capitals of the world, and attracting companies to set up here because of AI regulation, not despite it – that may be the trick to producing the next trillion dollar company from the UK.
Nationality: Uganda UK Location: London Company: Eversend Role: Founder & CEO Industry: Fintech Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2023
Why the UK? We’ve moved our company HQ from Paris to London and we’re now in the process of hiring, finding office space, and setting up operations here. The UK is a great place to build a fintech business. We have subsidiary companies in Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya, but the best fintech talent is in the UK and there’s probably the world’s best regulatory environment for fintech. We wanted to take advantage of that.
Why London? We want to be at the centre of things. London is a global financial capital and a thriving tech ecosystem; it’s the perfect city for what we’re trying to achieve.
UK Career Highlights I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who are like me in London trying to do the same thing. The ecosystem has been so open and accepting and I’ve already been to a number of networking events where I’ve met a lot of super interesting people, potential customers and fellow fintech founders building in the same market.
Advice For Global Talent Be resilient and persistent, and cultivate friendships, partnerships, and communities. There are so many people in the UK to meet with and network with in your industry. The journey is always difficult, but if you deserve to be here, then you’ll make it.
What Can the UK Do More? I love that the FCA has a Regulatory Sandbox that allows you to test your ideas in the market. Any initiatives that can increase access to funding, networking opportunities, housing, and healthcare services for foreigners would be hugely helpful.
Future Plans? Today, we have half a million users. The goal is to build a massive global company, hire a team in the UK, and reach 10 million users in five years. Now, we’re planning to start fundraising and speaking to VCs in the UK and US.
Nationality: China UK Location: Newcastle Company: Fruugo.com Role: Account Manager Industry: Ecommerce Year Moved to UK / Visa Granted: 2014 / 2019
Why the UK? The biggest attraction was the quality of life in the UK. Compared with China, there’s more work-life balance here and more diversity. It’s a great environment to engage with local communities and I saw more opportunities to develop my digital marketing skills. I fell in love with the UK during my studies, so I decided to set up my own business, Busy Backpack, after graduation, which was an ecommerce platform that recommended local UK events to Chinese students.
Why Newcastle? I moved to Newcastle for my master’s programmes and I decided to stay. I was born in Shenzhen, which is a really busy city. Newcastle provides a good balance between countryside and city lifestyle, and I’ve made so many connections here over the years.
UK Career Highlights Number one was starting my own company. I was amazed by British culture and I wanted more internationals to get involved – that was my motivation to build the platform and the community. We got endorsed by Newcastle University as one of its enterprise projects, received funding from the North East Innovation Fund, and participated in Ignite’s pre- accelerator programme. Also, when I worked for TusPark Newcastle and Barclays Eagle Labs, the joint venture was still in its early stages. I was able to witness the whole process of two big ventures becoming one, and I learned how senior directors solved problems, minimised cultural differences, and broke down barriers.
Advice For Global Talent Get involved, talk to people, and attend as many events as you can to get information and meet people. I was shy at first, but it’s so important to network, because you’ll then start to feel like you’re part of the community, and there are always people to help. Also, have a clear career plan. Understand what the digital sector needs in the UK and how you can best utilise your skills.
What Can the UK Do More? The UK Government should send positive and attractive messaging about the UK to top talent around the world and provide more support and incentives for those who want to move. Relocating is a big investment and there’s an opportunity cost too, so showcasing the career opportunities in the UK will help attract more talent.
Future Plans? Big companies in China are looking to invest abroad. I have good relationships with investors in China, and I would like to help more companies with cross-border M&A. I’m also joining a charity project to help more young people develop their skills by connecting university students to big corporations. If there’s an opportunity, I would like to focus more on tech and the education sector.
Speak to our friendly alumni who’ve been successful in the application process here. Please note, this is not official immigration advice.
Once you’ve secured the Global Talent Visa, you can gain access to a valuable network of individuals who have successfully navigated the highs, lows, and intricacies of setting up life in the UK. These experienced guides have been there, done that, and are ready to support you in making a seamless transition.
Connect with active members and get the opportunity to build personal and professional relationships with them through our community events, monthly meetups and slack group.
