Develop your career in the UK with greater freedom over how you work.
Global Talent offers a route for recognised leaders and emerging talent in academia, research, arts and culture, and digital technology.
Knightsbridge helps you understand the requirements and prepare your visa application, with any endorsement work agreed separately.
Our free initial enquiry identifies whether we can assist and the appropriate service. Detailed eligibility advice and evidence assessment are agreed separately.
About this route
Global Talent allows you to work in most jobs, be self-employed or run a company without employer sponsorship. You can choose permission of up to five years and apply to extend if you meet the requirements.
Most applicants need endorsement from an approved organisation. Named winners of an eligible prize on the Home Office’s list can apply directly.
Eligible partners and children can apply as dependants. Settlement may be available after three or five years, depending on your application basis and whether you meet the remaining requirements.
Eligibility Check
The starting questions are:
- Are you 18 or over?
- Which eligible field and assessment pathway fit your work? Research appointments, fellowships and grants have different requirements from arts or technology portfolios.
- Do you need endorsement, already hold it or qualify through a listed prize?
- Can your evidence demonstrate the relevant achievements and recognition? Requirements differ between fields and endorsement categories.
- Can you apply from your current location and immigration status?
There is no initial English language or minimum salary requirement. A successful application still requires the relevant endorsement or prize basis and compliance with the immigration rules.
Understanding your situation
You may have an established career but be unsure how your achievements relate to the criteria. You may be developing your reputation, changing fields or already holding an endorsement.
We examine your background, current permission and timing to identify the next stage and appropriate service.
How Knightsbridge Helps
We confirm what work we can undertake before you instruct us. Any endorsement-stage service is scoped separately, including the evidence review it covers.
For an agreed visa application service, we:
- Check the endorsement or eligible prize basis and relevant deadlines.
- Review your immigration history and application requirements.
- Provide a tailored document list.
- Prepare and review the application with you.
- Complete submission and follow-up work included in your engagement.
The endorsing organisation assesses professional eligibility. The Home Office decides the visa application.
Addressing Challenges
Your CV may describe substantial experience while supporting records leave your individual contribution unclear. Recommendation letters, published work and achievements also need to address the criteria relevant to your field.
Where evidence assessment is agreed, we explain what the records demonstrate, identify gaps and set out the further preparation needed. Endorsement and visa approval remain independent decisions.
Timescales and Costs
Preparation depends on your application stage and document availability. Endorsement processing varies by field and assessment pathway.
The visa stage usually takes three weeks outside the UK or eight weeks inside, after the online application, identity checks and documents are completed.
For an initial application, current external charges are:
- Endorsement application: £561.
- Visa application following endorsement: £205.
- Visa application through an eligible prize: £766.
- Dependant application: £766 per person.
- Immigration Health Surcharge: normally £1,035 per year for an adult.
We confirm our professional fee, service scope and any applicable VAT in writing. Priority charges, where the service is available, are additional.
Situations requiring closer analysis
Previous refusals, uncertain immigration status or an approaching visa expiry may require separate assessment. An endorsement application alone does not extend your permission to stay.
If you apply after receiving your first endorsement, the visa application must be made no more than three months after the letter’s date.
Your journey at a glance
Assess → Plan → Evidence → Prepare → Review → Submit → Follow through.
We explain the stages relevant to your case and complete the work covered by your agreed service.
Ready to have your case assessed?
Tell us your field, professional background, endorsement or prize position, current location and intended timing.
The initial enquiry helps identify whether we can assist, the appropriate service and its fee. Detailed advice and application work follow once the scope is agreed.
