Denis Afanasev's career is defined by his successful creation and management of innovative technology products in Big Data, AI, and virtual assistants, as well as his leadership in large IT projects and international business development. With over 20 years of experience in the tech industry, he founded CleverDATA, which became a leader in Big Data and AI, launched the largest data marketplace in Russia, and led a team of 500 specialists at SberDevices, overseeing the successful launch of several groundbreaking products, including a video conferencing platform
Three years ago, Denis was awarded the UK Global Talent visa, and in this interview, he shares his experience of living in the UK for the past three years
In 2023, I moved to London with my family and joined a young company called CrossOverMarkets as the CPO. We’re working on a trading platform for institutional clients to trade digital assets, which is a really exciting project. The platform handles a ton of orders and quotes in real-time, and we’re running it globally, with data centers in 30 countries and clients from all over the world.
I started out in software development and eventually moved into tech entrepreneurship. I founded CleverDATA, where I built the biggest data marketplace in Russia. Then, I joined SberDevices, where I led a large team and helped create cool technologies like virtual assistants and video conferencing services. I got to work with big names like Sberbank and became pretty deep into Big Data and AI.
Out of all the visa options, the Global Talent visa stood out to me the most. It’s super flexible – there’s no need to commit to a specific employer or project, and it’s a fast track to getting Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). The visa also covers my whole family and doesn’t put any restrictions on work or study. Plus, renewing it is really simple, without any extra checks or requirements. All in all, it gives me the most freedom and flexibility to choose projects and opportunities.
From my own experience, I know that getting all the paperwork right and preparing the profile takes a bit of know-how. Even though the instructions and criteria are there, the official documents and guides leave a lot of gray areas. When you start putting together your application, you run into questions about how to phrase things, what to highlight, and which parts of your experience best match the visa requirements. Answering all these questions takes not just knowing the official documents, but also having experience with different cases.
The first thing was signing the agreement and filling out a questionnaire with a lot of detailed questions. Honestly, working on the case is a team effort because no one knows your story and career strengths better than you. So, it’s really important to work with your consultant on the questionnaire and the materials you need to prepare.
I was surprised by how few documents and descriptions you actually need. What really matters is being clear, having a logical structure, and making sure it aligns with the criteria. It’s all about picking out the key moments from your experience that fit the visa requirements and explaining them in a clear, straightforward way. You also need to remember that the visa officer isn’t judging you as an expert or a great person—they’re just checking whether you meet the criteria, and they do it in a pretty formal way.
If you're looking to work on the global stage, I’d say go for it without hesitation. As I mentioned, the visa doesn’t require you to live and work in the UK, it just gives you the option. So, you don’t need to make career or relocation decisions before you get the visa.
