An Indian-origin tech educator took to X to share his personal experience of attaining permanent residency in the UK, which is also known as indefinite leave to remain or settlement, in just three years. His post emerged as a shocking affair at a time when the United Kingdom Parliament has tabled its proposal to extend the wait period before international migrants apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been reiterating long enough that becoming a part of the UK is “not a right but a privilege… that must be earned.” Just a while back, she announced that the qualifying period for settlement or indefinite leave to remain would be extended to a standard wait-period of 10 years. Some migrants will also be faced with 20-year wait before getting access to permanent residence.

Indian-origin tech educator opens up about fast-track UK residence

Taking to his X profile Kunal Kushwaha, a tech educator and developer advocate, wrote, “I got my UK permanent residency in 3 years.” Noting that while the rules are now witnessing a drastic policy revision in light of the UK’s immigration crackdown, the Indian-origin professional pointed towards something people could still consider an option, as it had reeled in fruitful results for himself.

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He continued, “It’s called the Global Talent Visa, and if you’re endorsed under the Exceptional Talent category, you can get ILR in 3 years. The time spent in the UK also counts towards this period.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Kushwaha is “teaching millions how to code and helping businesses scale,” and is a Senior Developer Advocate at CAST AI. Detailing his own experience, he added on X, “Open source work, my business work, and my experience in the cloud industry really helped me get endorsed.”

Kushwaha highlighted that the Global Talent Visa offers a lot of flexibility, meaning that you won’t need a sponsor, and can live and work in the UK, even open your own company. The two-step process of moving towards acquiring the visa in question, as per Kushwaha’s explanation, is all about getting the endorsement and then applying for the visa.

Offering guidance on what worked out for him, he went on, “To get endorsed, you need to build a strong application. You should check out @Immigram_io, they helped me with my application and the legal process. Highly recommend them. They’re not paying me to say this.”

He concluded the post by wishing aspiring applicants good luck, while also foregrounding that some of the things that helped make his application weighty were proof of work, open-source contribution, PRs, conference talks, business work and his work in the cloud industry.

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What is the UK Global Talent Visa?

According to the official UK government website, one can apply for a Global Talent Visa to work in the United Kingdom if they’re a leader or potential leader in either academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology. The applicant must be at least 18 years old.

The official description further lays out that one can apply for the visa directly if they’ve won an eligible prestigious prize. On the other hand, those who haven’t won an eligible prestigious prize will have to get an endorsement first to prove their worth as a leader or potential leader in their field.

Each application costs £766. The payment will be split in two parts: £561 when you apply for the endorsement and £205 when you apply for the visa itself. In case, you need to include your spouse or children in the application, they’ll each need to £766 as well.

The Royal Society website further notes, “The Global Talent visa allows you to work in the UK on a flexible basis with fewer restrictions and costs than other immigration categories.” On top of that, this particular visa gives you freedom to switch jobs as it’s not line the UK’s main Skilled Worker Visa, which comes under a sponsored immigration category.

The Global Talent Visa, worth £766, is even cheaper compared to the Skilled Worker Visa application fee set at £1,751.

Extended wait for UK’s ILR

Under a new “earned settlement” model, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the House of Commons in November that the current five-year automatic indefinity leave to remain would be extended for most applicants.

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The new changes indicated that low-paid workers will face a 15-year wait for ILR and migrants with taxpayer-funded benefits for more than 12 months would have to wait for as long as 20 years. The standard extended wait was set at 10 years, applying to the estimated 2.6 million who have been in the UK since 2021, as per the BBC.

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