My life has definitely become much calmer and more structured. More opportunities have opened up — for example, cinemas, theaters, exhibitions, and museums. The cultural life in London is probably among the best in the world. I’ve made many friends, and I think my career has also taken a significant leap.
I work in an international company. When I worked in Russia, I was limited in communicating with partners and colleagues due to geographic constraints. Now, I have no such limitations. In London, there are people from all over the world with very diverse experiences, and all you have to do is choose who you find most interesting.
It was at the end of 2022. I was living in Georgia, working at an edtech startup, and simultaneously launching a marketing agency. This was a small startup where I held the position of Head of Communications, and by that time, my team had grown the brand to 200,000 followers. I enjoyed the work, but it wasn’t the peak of my professional ambitions. Before that, I had worked at Yandex, from which I left a bit earlier.
I only speak English among foreign languages, so it was important for me to live in a country where I could communicate freely. Since I’m not a big fan of the US, I focused on the UK.
The Global Talent visa is very transparent: the rules for living there are clear, and it’s well defined what you can and cannot do. This provides a sense of stability — you can focus on your life and work without constantly worrying about bureaucratic visa issues. Even though the visa is hard to get, once you have it, everything becomes much easier: the rules are clear and predictable.
I took the “Can I get the GTV?” test on the Immigram website. The result was generally positive, so I had a call with the team, and we started the process of creating and developing my case.
The hardest part was matching my career and experience to the visa requirements and finding proper evidence of my talent. However, once we outlined the projects I wanted to highlight in my case, it became much easier.
I applied for the visa as a digital marketer, although at the time of preparing my documents I was already working as Head of Communications. I had relevant experience, but I had to dig it up from the past. For example, finding proof of KPIs and other documents was challenging. I was lucky to have good relationships with former colleagues who helped me gather everything I needed.
In short — global. I now work as CMO in a startup that creates volumetric video, already applied in XR, VR, CG, and VFX industries. The company is called Gracia.
We work with big tech companies, Hollywood production studios, and have public projects with brands like PortAventura, fashion designer Karl Kani, and rapper Tinie Tempah. This year, I aim to reach even higher professional achievements. I’m very glad I found this job, which was, of course, made possible in large part because I was already in London.
Start developing your public profile long before you even think about a visa. Sounds like I’m so smart, right? But honestly, about 60% of my case’s success was having a strong public profile. I had an educational course, taught at HSE, ran a podcast I created myself, and had many articles and media mentions. I did all this because, well, I’m a hyperactive jack-of-all-trades. A couple of years later, it turned out to be a huge advantage. So, yes, it helped—don’t read too much into it as advice!
