Join the Global Talent working in UK tech

The Tech Nation Visa Alumni Network

Whether you’re moving from Europe, North America, Or far East Asia, making the decision to relocate is a big one. Knowing that there will be people who have made similar journeys  before you, and are available to help you build a comfortable professional life can make all the difference. The Visa Alumni Network is one of the greatest advantages that comes along with the Global Talent Visa: a ready-made support system prepared to introduce you to all the practicalities, emotional support and guidance you need to start your life in the UK. 

So, whether you’re an applicant researching opportunities in the UK tech sector, or a Global Talent Visa holder thinking about joining the network, rest assured – through the Global Talent Visa route you’ll find like-minded individuals to celebrate your achievements with. This is your opportunity to join an eclectic group of ambitious founders, tech experts and industry disruptors. The Visa Alumni Network is all about building connections, creating community and championing each other’s accomplishments. 



How will you benefit from the network?

Once you’ve received the Global Talent Visa, you’ll be able to connect to individuals that have navigated all the highs, lows, technicalities and documentation involved in practically setting up a life in the UK. They’ve been there, done that and can support you to make the transition smoothly. Why? Because these talented individuals are committed to paying it forward. 

Plus, our Visa Alumni have incredible stories, and harness incredible skills. With more than 1600 active members, it’s a growing community of experts in key technology systems, all of whom contribute to world-class innovation in digital technology. You’ll build personal and professional relationships. 

Who wouldn’t want to join them? Don’t just take our word for it though. Explore our Alumni stories now – spanning countries, skills, job titles and showcasing the amazing impact they’ve already had in the UK. 


Select one or more locations

Clear
Russia – London
Russia - London

Yulia Ogoordnikova

Head of Marketing at Tools for Brokers


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £8m

Roles created: 2

Russia – London
Russia - London

Yana Abramova

Managing Partner at Pretiosum Ventures


Sector: VC Investment

Visa Granted: 2019

Economic contribution: £1000m

Roles created: 80

Ukraine – Northern Ireland
Ukraine - Northern Ireland

Taras Lanchev

Chief Engineer at Erised


Sector: No Code

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £20m

Roles created: 6

100% definitely do it. It is so worth it. UK is a great place to build your startup with a lot of diverse talent from all over the globe!
India – London
India - London

Subhash Ghosh

Founder at Technoplat Ltd


Sector: VC Investment

Visa Granted: 2018

Economic contribution: £75m

Roles created: 15

Hong Kong – South East England
Hong Kong - South East England

Steven Chan

Snr. Principal Product Manager at Oracle


Sector: Data Science

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £1.5m

Roles created: 7

India – North West England
India - North West England

Saurabh Doshi

Founder at Virtualness (ex Sr. Director – Meta)


Sector: Metaverse

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £280m

Roles created: 27

Belarus – London
Belarus - London

Slaviana Pavlovich

Product Manager at J.P. Morgan


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £125m

Roles created: 2

Singapore – London
Singapore - London

Sarveen Chester

Head of International Expansion at Shares


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2022

Economic contribution: £30m

Roles created: 5

Australia – London
Australia - London

Sarah Gall

Data Scientist at Sarah C Gall Ltd


Sector: Political

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: N/A

Roles created: 1

India – London
India - London

Sanjana Govil

Data & Digital Manager at Social Finance


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2019

Economic contribution: £2.5m

Roles created: 5

Russia – London
Russia - London

Pavel Odintsov

Co-Founder and CTO of FastNetMon


Sector: Cyber

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £60m

Roles created: 2

India – London
India - London

Nitish Mutha

CTO at Genie AI


Sector: AI / Machine Learning

Visa Granted: 2018

Economic contribution: £600m

Roles created: 25

USA – London
USA - London

Nicole Maltrotti

Marketing at Officely


Sector: HR Tech

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £3m

Roles created: 0

Nigeria – London
Nigeria - London

Michael Okaredje

CEO at Pickmeup Technologies


Sector: Transport Logistics

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £5m

Roles created: 10

Australia – London
Australia - London

Lisa Gray

CEO at Black Meteor


Sector: Entertainment Tech

Visa Granted: 2016

Economic contribution: £80m

Roles created: 50

USA – London
USA - London

Kaoru Fujita

VP Sales at Omnipresent


Sector: HR Tech

Visa Granted: 2019

Economic contribution: £15000m

Roles created: 1100

Philippines – London
Philippines - London

Jason Torres

Co-Founder at Slerp


Sector: eCommerce

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £1200m

Roles created: 36

Spain – London
Spain - London

Hector Alemany Briz

5G Programme Manager at Wayra


Sector: VC Investment

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £500m

Roles created: 40

India – London
India - London

Harjas Singh

Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Shares


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £400m

Roles created: 60

Turkey – South East England
Turkey - South East England

Gokhan Celebi

Chief International Expansion Officer at Early Technologies UK


Sector: EdTech

Visa Granted: 2019

Economic contribution: £50m

Roles created: 36

St. Vincent & The Grenadines – South East England
St. Vincent & The Grenadines - South East England

Gamal Crichton

Senior ML Scientist at Sense St. Ltd


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2019

Economic contribution: £30m

Roles created: 0

Nigeria – London
Nigeria - London

Funfere B. Koroye

VP of Technology & Engineering at NupayTech


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2022

Economic contribution: N/A

Roles created: 12

Take your time before you apply, there is no rush. And if you get rejected, don't be afraid to try again!
Nigeria – Midlands
Nigeria - Midlands

Francisca Chiedu Otu

Programmes Director at Citizen Partnership


Sector: VC Investment

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £2m

Roles created: 10

Brazil – London
Brazil - London

Fernanda Dobal

CEO at Bia Care


Sector: HealthTech

Visa Granted: 2019

Economic contribution: £165m

Roles created: 52

USA – London
USA - London

Emily Sappington

Director of Product Management at Twilio


Sector: SaaS/AI

Visa Granted: 2017

Roles created: 13

Turkey - London

Didem Cikse

CEO at Hub21


Sector: EdTech

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £350m

Roles created: 60

USA – Midlands
USA - Midlands

Devon Geary

Network & Partnerships Manager at Innovation Alliance for the West Midlands


Sector: Tech Infrastructure

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £5m

Roles created: 4

Australia – London
Australia - London

Caitlin Rich

Associate Director of Product Design at Freetrade


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2018

Economic contribution: £10m

Roles created: 12

Egypt – Midlands
Egypt - Midlands

Ashraf Attia

CEO at Predictiva


Sector: AI / Machine Learning

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £80m

Roles created: 6

Russia – London
Russia - London

Anna Buldakova

CEO at Vektor AI


Sector: AI / Machine Learning

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £1080m

Roles created: 12

Global Talent visa gave me an opportunity to start a business in the UK and also to become a part of the unique community of talented people from across the world. It's not just a visa - it's a gateway to the UK tech ecosystem, with a lot of support and knowledge. I haven't seen anything like that in other countries.
Russia – London
Russia - London

Anita Koimur

COO at LiveFlow


Sector: FinTech

Visa Granted: 2020

Economic contribution: £300m

Roles created: 9

Australia – London
Australia - London

Amber Robertson

Head of Product Management at Dotdigital


Sector: MarTech

Visa Granted: 2017

Economic contribution: £100m

Roles created: 20

South Africa – London
South Africa - London

Alexandria Procter

Co-Founder / Head of Product at DigsConnect


Sector: PropTech

Visa Granted: 2022

Economic contribution: £5m

Roles created: 20

Ukraine – London
Ukraine - London

Alexander Vilinskyy

Lead Product Designer at Grammarly


Sector: Comms

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £10m

Roles created: 0

Nigeria – South East England
Nigeria - South East England

Adeyinka Ojo

Data Engineer at PA Consulting


Sector: AI / Machine Learning

Visa Granted: 2021

Economic contribution: £8m

Roles created: 7

If you are eligible, take the risk and apply. Take the time to prepare and plan your application. Try not to be intimidated with the guidelines, take it one step at a time.
Canada

Tristan Khan

I lead the executive team across all functional areas of the business, set high-level strategic direction and ensure the company is adequately resourced for achieving objectives.

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Ukraine

Lyubov Guk

Scout, select and invest in great early-stage international founders, supporting them to realise their vision in the UK.

Read more

Amazon, Cambridge. Lauren Kisser
USA

Lauren Kisser

I am the Director for Alexa AI based at Amazon’s Development Centre in Cambridge, U.K. In this role I lead a globally diverse team of knowledge engineers, product/program managers, business and data analysts building delightful information based experiences on Alexa.

Read more

Kimeshan Naidoo, Chief Technology Officer
South Africa

Kimeshan Naidoo

I lead the engineering team to scale existing products and develop new ones, to drive critical business outcomes at Unibuddy

Read more

Jillian Kowalchuk, Founder / CEO
Canada

Jillian Kowalchuk

As the Chief Executive Officer, my role is quite versatile, which I love. Most days, I spend managing the operations of our teams and projects, sales prospecting and customer relations, iterating on our strategy while researching and developing new product and growth ideas.

Read more

Jason Laing , Founder / CEO
South Africa

Jason Laing

I oversee new product development, Innovation opportunities and Executive networks.

Read more

Jack Wang, Principal
Australia

Jack Wang

I source, coach and nurure founders of amazing tech start-ups with capital and personal support, to sustainably bring their incredible solutions to market

Read more

Elie Matta, Head of Engineering
Lebanon

Elie Matta

I lead a high-performing cross functional teams made of software engineers, QA, DevOps, Data Science and Designers. My role is to enable teams and individuals to develop on the personal/career level while delivering on new features. As we are in hyper scale growth, expanding the team is an important aspect of my day-to-day and I love it!

Read more

Deepak Paramanand, Director of AI Research & Product Management
India

Deepak Paramanand

I am in charge of directing research in areas of AI, ML and Cryptography to find innovative ways to solve existing problems. Based on this research I then lead the teams who build products and services that benefit JP Morgan’s employees, partners and clients.

Read more

Daniel Glazer, Managing Partner
USA

Daniel Glazer

I lead the US Expansion group and the London office at the Silicon Valley-headquartered law firm Wilson Sonsini. My team supports UK/EU startups and scaleups on venture financing, M&A, and IPO transactions, and through their US life cycle

Read more

Turkey

Cansu Deniz Bayrak

I lead fundraising for Bethnal Green Ventures and run our highest performing portfolio’s seed and Series A deals.

Read more

Bade Adesemowo, Founder / CTO
Nigeria

Bade Adesemowo

As a person who thrives in high-pressure and fast-paced situations, I strive for positive results through the application of my leadership abilities and innovative thinking. In addition, I possess expertise in technology both from the technical and business perspective. I have an aptitude for optimising performance and motivating colleagues. In any position, I am able to visualise success, and identify innovative and effective strategies for achieving it.

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Alexander Chikunov, Managing Partner
Israel

Alexander Chikunov

As a Managing Partner of UK-based VC, I am investing into UK startups. We are supporting them at every step of the way and provide them with the necessary tools to scale and raise capital and to develop their solutions more rapidly.

Read more

Akram Dweikat, Engineering Manager
Palestine

Akram Dweikat

Engineering leadership, I lead engineering teams building algorithms & machine learning powered products at scale. Currently, I am an Engineering Manager at Deliveroo, and ZbyHP Global Data Science Ambassador. 

Read more

Bihe Zhu, Senior Product Manager
China

Bihe Zhu

I am the owner of one strategic growth programs of Amazon Fashion in Europe. I own the product feature request, timeline to implement, and define the Go-To-Market strategy. I also leverage customer feedback to improve their online shopping experience. Our mission is make every customer coming to Amazon Fashion look and feel good, all the time.

Read more

Need support before, or during the process?

Our Alumni have created a forum for current applicants and those considering applying for a Visa, to ask any questions you may have about the Tech Nation Visa and the application process, as well as practical guidance.

Topics explored on the Visa Alumni Forum:

Health Insurance

Tax

Dependants

Evidence & recommendation letters

Switching from another visa route

Whether you fit the eligibility criteria

Alumni Interviews

In this video series, discover how the Visa application works, why people chose the UK and much more.

Meet our Visa ambassadors

The Tech Nation Visa ambassadors are a select group of Alumni who act as a ‘link’ between Tech Nation, the Alumni Network and the wider tech community. They are on hand to provide insight from their experience as former applicants when it comes to the process of applying for the Global Talent Visa.

Are you already a Visa holder?

Awarded the Global Talent Visa and want to join our Visa Alumni Network? 

The Tech Nation Visa Alumni Network is for holders of the Tech Nation Global Talent Visa, run directly by Visa Alumni ambassadors in partnership with Tech Nation. 

We’ll keep you posted on all the latest community events and meetups, network news, opportunities you can take advantage of and more, through a community monthly newsletter as well as a very active slack group. You’ll be able to reach out directly and connect virtually or in-person to other members right from when you join. So why wait? It’s time to build your professional and personal network now. 



As an Alumni member, you can also become an ambassador…

As a valued member of the Alumni network, you have the opportunity to become a Tech Nation Ambassador. By becoming an Ambassador, you are committed to helping Tech Nation raise awareness and develop the Global Talent route for future applicants, and are recognised for their efforts in supporting the Alumni Network.

As key representatives, they provide insight and intellect as former applicants into the process of applying for the Global Talent Visa.


Register your interest to join the network

To fill out the form, please click on the drop-down menu here.

*Please note*

This form will be used to verify your status as an approved Global Talent Visa recipient. Only approved visa holders will be invited to join the Alumni Network.