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Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

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Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#21

Post by reaperducer »

chrisseaton wrote: post #5

It’s ‘visa’ not ‘VISA’. Why do so many people think it’s an acronym? It’s just a normal word.

It’s ‘visa’ not ‘VISA’. Why do so many people think it’s an acronym? It’s just a normal word.

See also: Most of the Windows people in my company's IT department write "MAC" instead of "Mac." Few of them work with networking, so I don't think it's related to MAC addresses.

Wikipedia seems to concur that this is common:

"Mac or MAC most commonly refers to... Macintosh, a brand of computers and operating systems made by Apple Inc."

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#22

Post by twic »

chrisseaton wrote: post #11
itsbits wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand as well..why are compensations so low in London compared to other places? I mean even if you consider cost of living..not good at all

My understanding is that London is extremely bi-modal. There’s £30k jobs and £300k jobs and not a lot in between. So you can get a good salary but it’s hard to make the enormous job to get into that band.

Something like this, but not quite this. The going rate for a good senior developer at a decent company is on the order of 80 - 90 k (maybe more). Where by "good" i mean "Pivotal Labs alumnus", and "senior" i mean 5+ years experience, and "decent company" i mean successful FTSE100 company or funded startup, since those are most of the data points i have.

That's base salary, and there will be pension contributions, benefits, maybe worthless options, etc, but not a stock package that doubles the total comp.

High finance and FAANGs with London offices pay much more - more base salary, and chunky stock or bonus packages. Not all of finance pays well - plenty of high-street banks pay their developers poorly (and it shows). I work in a successful trading firm and earn comparably to an L5 at Google, according to levels.fyi.

Day rates for contractors seem to vary a lot, but 400 - 600 a day, maybe? The contracting scene is still adapting to recent tax law changes, though.

This is assuming we're talking about programmers. Median salary across the whole of London is ~40k. Tons of people earning 20k working in a shop etc.

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#23

Post by vultour »

klipt wrote: post #3

If you can qualify for that, you might also qualify for O1/EB1 visas in the US which gives a fast track to green card. From what I've heard London has similar high cost of living to Silicon Valley but much lower software engineering compensation, so seems a less desirable place for engineers to work.

COL is ~1k per bedroom in zone 2/3. I'd say average compensation for "serious" IT positions is 50-70k, you can get to about 150k if you work for a hedge fund or in senior positions at large corporations, after that it's very difficult.

So yes, obviously less desirable than making 400k in SF, but as far as Europe goes it doesn't get much better anywhere else.

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#24

Post by te_chris »

I’ve got the old Tech Nation one - about to finish year 5 next year. I hate the Home Office with all my passion though, £600 a year for this bullshit NHS surcharge is daylight robbery - a ridiculous charge invented by Theresa May to feed the Daily Mail and their braying hordes in 2015. Honestly, tell them to go fuck themselves and move elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#25

Post by [deleted] »

throwgt wrote: post #19

> the requirements seem intimidating Don't be discouraged from applying because of this! The UK parliament published a report stating that the UK gov failed advertising this visa with too stringent requirements [1]. In reality, you definitely don't have to be a Nobel prize laureate to get this visa, especially if you go through the 'Promising Talent' route. If you apply, the only thing you lose is £450 and some time.…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#26

Post by klipt »

vultour wrote: post #23
klipt wrote: post #3

If you can qualify for that, you might also qualify for O1/EB1 visas in the US which gives a fast track to green card. From what I've heard London has similar high cost of living to Silicon Valley but much lower software engineering compensation, so seems a less desirable place for engineers to work.

COL is ~1k per bedroom in zone 2/3. I'd say average compensation for "serious" IT positions is 50-70k, you can get to about 150k if you work for a hedge fund or in senior positions at large corporations, after that it's very difficult. So yes, obviously less desirable than making 400k in SF, but as far as Europe goes it doesn't get much better anywhere else.

> as far as Europe goes it doesn't get much better

Sure, I'm just saying that if you qualify for a highly skilled visa you can probably get one anywhere, so it's better to compare options before you put down roots and you're subject to sunk cost fallacy.

A UK passport used to be a great asset but after Brexit I think the value has gone down significantly.

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#27

Post by user5994461 »

twic wrote: post #22
chrisseaton wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that London is extremely bi-modal. There’s £30k jobs and £300k jobs and not a lot in between. So you can get a good salary but it’s hard to make the enormous job to get into that band.

Something like this, but not quite this. The going rate for a good senior developer at a decent company is on the order of 80 - 90 k (maybe more). Where by "good" i mean "Pivotal Labs alumnus", and "senior" i mean 5+ years experience, and "decent company" i mean successful FTSE100 company or funded startup, since those are most of the data points i have. That's base salary, and there will be pension contributions, be…

>>> Day rates for contractors seem to vary a lot, but 400 - 600 a day, maybe? The contracting scene is still adapting to recent tax law changes, though.

Contracting has taken a massive hit with COVID and with the change in tax rate, that both happened almost at the same time.

Contracting was definitely the way to make it in London. You could charge £500-1000 easily a decade ago with very little taxes. Depends on the skillset. I think that was made it on-par with what you could make in the Silicon Valley and NYC depending on the exchange rate (2016 Brexit really hurt).

Some commenters may rightfully point out that it's not as high as L6 compensation, but it's much easier to get and you don't have to spend $60k for a year of college or a day in a hospital (that's the number one of my US coworker quoted for his daughter).

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#28

Post by randomname2 »

twic wrote: post #22
chrisseaton wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that London is extremely bi-modal. There’s £30k jobs and £300k jobs and not a lot in between. So you can get a good salary but it’s hard to make the enormous job to get into that band.

Something like this, but not quite this. The going rate for a good senior developer at a decent company is on the order of 80 - 90 k (maybe more). Where by "good" i mean "Pivotal Labs alumnus", and "senior" i mean 5+ years experience, and "decent company" i mean successful FTSE100 company or funded startup, since those are most of the data points i have. That's base salary, and there will be pension contributions, be…

London day rates I've seen for contractors are more like 700 - 900/day on average at places that pay a bit better and 1000+ for specialists. And base salaries I've seen advertised for senior developers at funded startups (e.g. Wagestream, Truelayer) are more like 105k now (more for higher levelings - i.e. Principal/Staff).

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#29

Post by maverick-iceman »

What are the advantages of this in a world which is transitioning towards remote work?

The UK has the best and cheapest process to incorporate a company (it takes literally 15 mins and 40£ to form an LTD)

And you can be CEO from everywhere in the world!

Granted the country you are living in might receive your UK LTD bank account informations pursuant the Common Reporting Standard/Global FATCA [0]

That opens a whole lot of considerations because odds are that your home country has a higher corporate and VAT tax rate than the UK or just wants to come after you for paying taxes there while using your native country roads , airports, IT infrastructure and hospitals.

I had to look into this case recently: Swedish entreprenur owning a UK LTD , working (and hiring) remotely within the UK but living in Sweden

Sweden says clearly that doesn't want any part of foreign companies incorporated outside its borders by its own citizens:

[1]"Entities formed/registered/incorporated outside of Sweden (foreign legal entities) are not considered resident in Sweden for income tax purposes, not even if their place of effective management is situated in Sweden"

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Reporting_Standard

[1] https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementati...

Re: Ask HN: Did anybody apply for UK Global Talent visa? How did it go?

#30

Post by RugnirViking »

voisin wrote: post #17
hkt wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who lives in the UK, I would like to point out the only affordable city on your list is Newcastle. The rest are in the midst of a crisis of earnings to rent/mortgage costs nightmare.

Everyone from any reasonably sized city in any reasonably developed country seems to be saying the same thing at the moment!

hah - although that is true, there do exist cheaper cities and more expensive cities. It's why many folks interested in startups are choosing places like Austin, Boulder, Detriot etc over NY or san fransisco.

A reccomendation from me would be sheffield - great university and good startup culture as well as relatively affordable leases

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