‘It Made My Life Easier’: Dmitry Blinov on the UK Global Talent Visa
Software engineer Dmitry Blinov fell in love with London during a weekend visit with friends. He moved to the UK with his family on a Skilled Worker Visa but soon realized its limitations when he was laid off. He says the experience of facing pressure to secure a new job within six weeks made him seriously consider a Global Talent Visa, which doesn’t tie your residence in the UK to a specific employer. Once he obtained the visa, he gained much greater freedom, both professionally and personally. In this interview, he shares his experiences and insights about life in London
We were living in Amsterdam at the time, and I was working at booking.com in the team responsible for integrating rentalcars.com, which Booking Holdings had acquired shortly before I joined. Rentalcars.com is based in Manchester and, just in case I had to travel there on business, I applied for a UK visa through booking.com. One of my university friends was working at Facebook in London, and he invited me over for a weekend. I accepted, and after just two days in London I decided— and managed to convince my wife—that we needed to move there. Not long after, I received a job offer from Amazon Alexa in London, and that’s how we made the move.
We relocated right in the middle of COVID, on the last flight out of Moscow on December 30, 2020. Flat viewings had to be done by video, and at the time you were only allowed outside to go to the supermarket, and only one person at a time. My university friend suggested Canary Wharf, and we ended up finding a fantastic apartment on the 18th floor with an incredible view and even a tennis court. The view was there from day one, but the furniture wasn’t—we had none at all. Ikea didn’t accept non-UK bank cards, so we only got a bed delivered in mid-January. After that, everything was remote work. In fact, I never set foot in Amazon’s office.
After six months at Amazon I learned what a PIP was (Performance Improvement Plan). To pass it, I had to fix the issue of duplicate wish lists—from Amazon and Alexa. With the voice assistant, items went into one list; without Alexa, into another, with no way to link them. The US team owned wish lists, and their workday began as mine ended, but I kept trying. Later I realized PIP was Amazon’s way of easing people out. After dismissal, I had six weeks to find a job or leave the UK. I got offers from OVO, Monzo, ComplyAdvantage, and Deliveroo, chose Deliveroo, and the experience pushed me to apply for a GTV.
I watched a YouTube video with Mikhail Sharonov. I wrote to him, we had a call, and then started preparing the documents for submission.
There were two major surprises. The first was that I received a rejection, with the wording: “everything is bad, you don’t qualify for GTV under any criteria.” I was very upset and wrote to Immigram.io. They replied: “Don’t worry, one appeal is free.” They prepared an appeal letter, five A4 pages long, which clearly explained why I met all the criteria. On the very same day, I got a response: “Yes, we were wrong—here is your GTV.”
The second surprise came when we submitted the documents at the visa center. The man who accepted them looked at me and asked:
— So, what do you do?
— I’m a software developer.
— A software developer who got a GTV?
— Yes, why?
— Well, GTV is usually given to celebrities of some sort…
I didn’t stay at Deliveroo for long. I quickly found a role at the American startup Omneky.com through Wellfound, and since I no longer needed sponsorship, I accepted the offer and started working. The GTV also allowed me to get ILR after three years in the UK, which made getting a mortgage much easier and even allowed us to get a UK ID for my daughter. Honestly, living without constantly worrying about sponsorship has made life so much easier.
I spent over two years at an American startup, which completely changed my perspective. American companies have access to the most lucrative markets, but competition is intense. They work longer hours and, more importantly, much more productively than in Europe. Experiencing this firsthand has been invaluable, especially now that I’m building an international project at Sota Rival Tech, where I’m in charge of the pricing and payment system.
The GTV allowed me to work for an American company and earn an American salary as a self-employed professional. The costs of the visa and Immigram.io’s services more than paid off, and I also learned how to optimize taxes. Even setting aside the intangible benefits, the GTV has been a very worthwhile investment.
