My Tier 1 story

[LenaRiab]

This is a short story about my experience of getting Tier 1 Exceptional talent/promise UK visa. I hope it may be useful to someone who is planning to apply for the same.

I am a postdoc, at the moment of application I had 12 publications and had been recently awarded a Marie Curie fellowship. I applied by post for the endorsement to the Royal Society on the 10th Nov 2016. I obtained the recommendation letters from my PhD supervisor and my future fellowship host (both professors at UK universities). My application has been forwarded to the Royal Society on the 15th Nov 2016, and on the 7th Dec 2016 I received an email from the Home office confirming my endorsement. To proceed with the second step of the application, I posted my passports, BRP and the application form to the Home Office on the 5th Jan 2017. On the 10th Jan 2017 I received a paper letter that instructed me to submit my biometric information (photo and fingerprints) at a designated post office, which I did the next day. On the 21st Jan 2017 I received an email from the Home Office officer who was processing my case, requesting my police registration certificate. I replied to the email immediately, explaining that I had not been required to register and therefore did not have the certificate. Nevertheless, this led to a week of delay (and no excuses from the officer), and on the 28th Jan 2017 I received another email, saying that my case had been processed and my documents had been dispatched. I was not told what the outcome was though! After five days of nerve-wracking tracking on the Royal mail website – yes, they sent my passports by second class mail despite me paying over £1500 for this application – on the 1st Feb 2017 I received back my passports and a letter. The letter said that my application had been successful, and my new BRP will arrive in the next 10 days, at which point I will have to go and register with the police. No new visa stickers have been added into my passport. So now I am waiting for the BRP and struggling to pay my bills. Happy end!

[noajthan]

Congratulations.

Paragraphs would have made it clearer.

Second post normally used unless you enclose pre-paid, self-addressed, specialdelivery-type return envelopes.

[ramadhas]

Congrats


I am also MC fellow,

Recommendation letter from UK Professor is Sufficient. Or it must be from VC.

If it is not confidential, can you outline recommendation letter content

Thanks

[mattewreuben1]

Congrats


I am also MC fellow,

Recommendation letter from UK Professor is Sufficient. Or it must be from VC.

If it is not confidential, can you outline recommendation letter content

Thanks

Have a look at the below link, they talked about recommendation letter

http://www.techcityuk.com/blog/2016/08/ ... lice-shyy/

Techcity says, recommendation letter from a professor is fine if they know your work and they have confident in recommending you. ( However , Royal Society might be different anyways ).

[LenaRiab]

Hi,

sorry, just saw your question here!

You need to provide 2 letters, I believe. My letters were from my PhD supervisor (UK emeritus professor) and a Vice-dean of research for the Faculty where I currently am.

I received very useful recommendations as to the content of the letters by contacting Royal Society and via them - UK SBS Immigration Team. In my Vice-dean's letter, the content was like this:

- It is my pleasure to provide this recommendation for Dr XXX's application for a Tier 1 Exceptional Talent/Promise visa.

- Dr XXX is an exceptional young scientist who has demonstrated outstanding success in the field of XXX, and is rapidly developing an international reputation in the field of XXX. Dr XXX has an excellent track record in studying [describe your recent high-profile papers here, highlight media attention to them, if any]. This work gives Dr XXX an excellent platform for future work as an independent group leader.

- Dr XXX will join the University of XXX as XXX. She will investigate [describe your next project here, and why it's important, especially how it aligns with UK's government research and development strategies]. Moreover, Dr XXX experience provides her a unique expertise, not currently present in the UK, in the field of XXX. Indeed, only a handful of laboratories worldwide possess similar expertise. Thus, Dr XXX's work will be pivotal for the UK's academic international profile in this research area.

- Dr XXX's interdisciplinary background and research in XXX make for a perfect fit to the Faculty's research portfolio. Dr XXX will benefit from active collaborations with members of the Faculty’s extensive XXX community... [write how you will be very useful for the faculty by training students, bringing media attention, and educating general public. Write how you will be, no doubt, very successful in the future].

- In summary, Dr XXX is an exceptionally promising young scientist who will greatly benefit from, and contribute to, the advancement of academic science in the UK. It is my opinion that Dr XXX is precisely the kind of young, talented scientist who should be attracted and encouraged to develop their career in the UK. I fully support Dr XXX’s Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa application without reservation.

Signature

My PhD supervisor wrote more about me as a student, and about my research at that time, but sort of along the same lines - very talented and very useful for the UK, of course.

Hope this helps!

Congrats


I am also MC fellow,

Recommendation letter from UK Professor is Sufficient. Or it must be from VC.

If it is not confidential, can you outline recommendation letter content

Thanks

[elizanne]

Thanks for sharing your story. Can you also share what the duration was for your visa? Was it just long enough to cover your time in the Fellowship? Or was it awarded for the full 5 years? Thanks!

[LenaRiab]

It was for full 5 years. I think there probably was a box I ticked that I want it for 5 years.

Thanks for sharing your story. Can you also share what the duration was for your visa? Was it just long enough to cover your time in the Fellowship? Or was it awarded for the full 5 years? Thanks!

[sudipratan73]

Hi, I have recently completed PhD in Math in India and want to apply Tier 1 Exceptional Promise. I was awarded full studentship from a Univ in UK for PhD in 2014 and spent 1 year there. I have got 3 journal papers at international level. I have few queries before applying in my case.

1. Am I eligible for Tier 1 Exceptional Promise since my phd is not awarded now ??
2. Will Royal Society consider PhD studentship as award ??
3. Is the recommendation letter mandatory ?? I got a statement in the guide book that not mandatory for Promise candidate ??

Please advice if anyone have any experience.

Thanks in advanced.

[rmoore]

The year of PhD doesn’t matter.

You definitely need recommendation letters, either promise or talent.