Candidate Interview: Global Talent Independent

Candidate Interview: Global Talent Independent

In this post, we are reading an interview with ‘kundikoi’ who received the Global Talent Independent visa in February 2020. They prefer to keep an air of mystery about themselves for privacy. They were kind enough to send us responses about their profiles and their views on the program. So without further ado.

I found out about the Global Talent Independent Program (GTIP) while onshore on ITNews: https://www.itnews.com.au/news/austr… igrants-533419

This was pretty much as soon as the government announced the program (with me in the middle of a skills assessment for ENS186 application). There wasn’t much information available about GTIP other than the DHA website (and with limited information at the time) – they have since improved the website and added more details.

One thing that caught my attention was the announcement of placing Global Talent Officers (GTOs) around the world, I looked them up on Google – and reached out to a GTO in a region I used to live in before moving to Australia. They were very helpful in guiding me through the Expression of Interest process.

I submitted my EOI in what was likely one of the first batches in mid-November 2019 and received my UID within two weeks in early December 2019. I have then submitted by 858 application in December, responded to S56 RFI in January, and secured a visa grant in February 2020.
I went to a Top 3 university worldwide for my Bachelor’s on a full scholarship with over 10 years of experience in Financial Services. I have focused specifically on FinTech in the last 4 years.

I have lived and worked in 4 countries over the same period while winning 3 individual awards and multiple (10+) team awards on various fronts – for active social responsibility work (such as fundraising, mentoring, and disaster relief response).

I am a regular speaker on several FinTech topics (e.g. Insurtech, Blockchain, hack-a-thons) including through interviews in a few regional publications. I had arrived in Australia on a TSS482 visa and have been earning above the Fair Work high-income threshold from the get-go.
a. Read through all available information on the Global Talent Independent Program (GTIP) on the web before starting any work on the Expression of Interest.

b. Don’t try to ‘game’ the system (e.g. embellish your credentials, inflate your earnings, ‘rig’ your nominator or their qualifications)- they will find you out. GTIP, through 124 or 858, is reserved for “Distinguished Talent” only and not everyone will be eligible for the visa by definition. It is much better to wait a few years and let the accomplishments accumulate naturally (or even specifically seek award nominations and speaking opportunities).

c. Contact a GTO for an initial chat on GTIP and prepare deep / situation-specific questions for them, answers to which are not readily available on the web (e.g. looking at the top 10 achievements I have listed out in my CV, which ones are the most relevant for my EOI?)

d. Remember that you cannot/should not press a GTO for any opinion/sign of how your EOI will turn out – they are mainly the gatekeepers/ambassadors for the program and they do all substantive decisions out of Australia. However, they can influence these decisions.

e. Do a thorough update of your CV – allocating a few days for it. You’ll be surprised how many more relevant achievements/awards (including ‘team’ awards) may pop out of your memory through this process (since most CVs are limited to 2-3 pages and most suitable professional candidates will have >10yrs of experience for GTIP, a lot of past information/achievements will not appear on the CV).

f. if you have a choice between ENS182 Permanent Residency, Subclass 189, or GTIP, absolutely go for GTIP as the 1st option because of the much faster turnaround time associated with it (~3 months end-to-end).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *