Global Talent Visa to ILR residence requirements

To qualify for ILR as a Global Talent visa holder, you must:

• Still, be endorsed by the approved endorsing body
• Have met the 3 or 5-year UK continuous residence requirements
• Have earned money in the UK in a relevant field
• Meet the English language requirements
• Pass the Life in the UK test

When can I apply for settlement?

You will be eligible to apply for ILR after just 3 years if you were endorsed by either:

• The British Academy
• The Royal Academy of Engineering
• The Royal Society
• UK Research and Innovation
• Arts Council England or Tech Nation (as long as you were endorsed as a leader, i.e. exceptional talent on a UK Artist visa or Tech Nation visa)

In addition, you may be able to apply for ILR after just 3 years if you did not need formal endorsement because you had an eligible award.

If you were endorsed by Arts Council England or Tech Nation as an emerging leader (i.e. exceptional promise), you would need to wait 5 years before applying for ILR.

Meeting the residence requirements

One of the other attractive of the Global Talent visa is that you can combine time spent in some categories with time spent in the UK as a Global Talent Migrant in order to meet the qualifying period for settlement or ILR.

To qualify for ILR, you can combine the time you have held any combination of the following visas: Global Talent (including Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)), Tier 1 (General), Tier 1 (Entrepreneur), Tier 1 (Investor), Skilled Worker visa including Tier 2 (General)), T2 Minster of Religion, International Sportsperson visa, Innovator visa, Scale-Up visa, Representative of an Overseas Business (replaced by the UK Expansion Worker visa)

Financial Requirement

You are not required to have been employed in the United Kingdom under the Global Talent visa category; however, you must demonstrate that you have earned money in the United Kingdom during your most recent period of permission in the field for which you were previously endorsed under the Global Talent route. You may have been employed or self-employed, and you need not have been for the duration of your absence, as long as you can provide evidence of income.

Continuous residence requirements

The continuous residence requirement is met if the applicant has spent the qualifying unbroken continuous residence period required by their route lawfully in the UK. To meet the continuous residence requirement you must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period.

Where the applicant was endorsed by The Royal Society, The Royal Academy of Engineering, The British Academy, or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), any absence linked to their permission to stay (such as a scientist undertaking research overseas), does not count as an absence, regardless of its length.

Therefore, Global Talent migrants who hold leave following an endorsement by one of the endorsing bodies for science, engineering, humanities, and medicine and who have undertaken research overseas directly related to their grant of leave, will not have such absences counted when they apply for settlement.

English Language Requirement

For settlement under the Global Talent route, you must demonstrate English language proficiency on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in speaking and hearing to at least level B1. There is no English language requirement to enter or extend under the Global Talent visa category.

It is possible to rely on an English language test administered by a Secure English Language Test provider, a degree awarded in the United Kingdom, or a degree taught in English from an overseas institution if this is accompanied by a confirmed statement from UK NARIC. The confirmation must confirm that the qualification meets or exceeds the recognised degree standard awarded in the UK and, if not taught in a majority English-speaking country, that the degree was taught or researched in English.

Pass the Life in the UK test

Applicants who wish to settle in the United Kingdom under the Global Talent category must also pass the Life in the United Kingdom test.