Innovator Founder visa

Overview

The visa is granted for 3 years. You can run one or more businesses, work for them as a director or as a self-employed partner, study, travel in and out of the UK and bring your partner and children. You can also take a job outside your business, as long as it is at RQF level 3 or above, which is roughly A-level standard. You cannot claim most public funds or work as a professional sportsperson or sports coach.

There is no minimum investment, and no job offer is needed. In return for the endorsement, you agree to meet the endorsing body at least twice during your visa so it can check your progress.

Since 25 November 2025, a student who has finished their course and applies with an endorsement while still holding Student permission can start working on the business before the decision. From 26 March 2027 partners applying to settle will need English at B2 instead of B1.

Who can apply

You must be 18 or over and either the sole founder or an essential member of the founding team. A typical applicant is a software engineer with a new way of matching freight loads to empty lorries, who has written the plan, tested it with potential customers and wants to build the company here.

• Founders with a new business idea that an endorsing body has endorsed.
• People already on the Innovator Founder or Start-up route who want to continue with the same business.
• People in the UK on most other visas, including the Graduate visa. Students must have completed their course, or at least 24 months of a full-time PhD.

It is not for joining a business that is already trading, for passive investors, or for people on a visitor, short-term student, seasonal worker, Parent of a Child Student or domestic worker visa, who cannot switch in the UK. If your employer abroad is sending you to open a UK branch, see the UK Expansion Worker visa. If you are recognised in research, the arts or digital technology, the Global Talent visa may suit you better.

Requirements

• An endorsement letter from an approved endorsing body, issued no more than 3 months before you apply.
• A business plan that you wrote or contributed to significantly, with a day-to-day role for you in the business.
• A business that the endorsing body accepts as innovative, viable and scalable.
• A commitment to attend at least two contact point meetings with your endorsing body.
• English at level B2 in reading, writing, speaking and listening, unless you are exempt, for example as a national of a majority English-speaking country.
• Savings of £1,270 held for 28 days in a row, unless you have been in the UK with permission for 12 months.
• A tuberculosis test certificate if you live in a listed country, and written consent if a government or international scholarship paid for your UK studies in the last 12 months.

Endorsing bodies

Three business endorsing bodies currently assess new applications: UK Endorsing Services, Innovator International and Envestors Limited. The Global Entrepreneurs Programme also endorses founders, but only those it has invited onto its programme. The universities and accelerators that endorsed under the old Start-up and Innovator routes no longer take on new applicants.

The endorsement test

Innovative means a genuine, original plan that meets a new or existing market need or gives you a real competitive advantage. Adding an app to an ordinary taxi firm is not enough. Viable means the plan is realistic given your skills, your market knowledge and the money you can reach, with financial forecasts you can defend. Scalable means a credible path to growth, with jobs created in the UK and the potential to reach national and international markets.

Contact point meetings

The meetings take place as close as possible to 12 and 24 months after you arrive, and the endorsing body visits your main trading premises at one of them. If you miss a meeting without good reason, or cannot show progress, the endorsing body may withdraw its endorsement and tell the Home Office, which can then cut your visa short.

Working outside your business

A job elsewhere at RQF level 3 or above can help while the business finds its feet. What you cannot do is use your company to hire yourself out to another business, for example as a contractor or through an agency. That is working for someone else, not running your business.

How to apply

1. Prepare your business plan, financial forecasts and evidence of the market.
2. Apply to an endorsing body and pay its fee. Expect questions and possibly an interview.
3. When you receive the endorsement letter, apply for the visa within 3 months.
4. Gather your passport, endorsement letter, English evidence, bank statements, any tuberculosis certificate and translations.
5. Apply online from outside the UK, or from inside the UK if you are switching.
6. Prove your identity through the UK Immigration: ID Check app or at an appointment.
7. If granted, your permission is held as an eVisa in your UKVI account.

Costs

You pay the Home Office application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge for each year of the visa, and so does each family member. The current figures are shown on this page and in our visa cost calculator. A priority decision costs extra where it is offered.

You also pay the endorsing body directly. GOV.UK currently lists £1,000 for the endorsement and £500 for each contact point meeting; the meeting fees apply only if your visa is granted. Other costs include the English test, a tuberculosis test, translations and any professional help with the business plan.

Processing times

The Home Office usually decides applications within 3 weeks from outside the UK and 8 weeks from inside, and you may be able to pay for a faster decision. The endorsement stage comes first and adds its own time.

Partners and children

Your partner and children under 18 can come with you or join you later. Each needs savings (£285 for a partner, £315 for the first child and £200 for each other child) held for 28 days, in addition to your own £1,270, unless you have all been in the UK for 12 months. Your partner can work in any job except as a professional sportsperson or sports coach.

Your partner can settle after 5 years with permission as your partner, once you have settled as an Innovator Founder or are settling at the same time. They need English at B1 in speaking and listening, or B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027, and must pass the Life in the UK test.

Extending your stay and settlement

You can extend for another 3 years, as many times as you need, with a new endorsement. To continue with the same business, it must be active, trading and sustainable, and you must have made significant achievements against your plan and attended your contact point meetings.

You can apply for indefinite leave to remain after 3 years as an Innovator Founder. Time on the Start-up route does not count. Your endorsing body must confirm that the business is registered at Companies House with you as a director, is active, trading and likely to be sustainable for at least the next 12 months, and that you have met at least two of these criteria:

• at least £50,000 invested in the business and actively spent on it;
• the number of customers at least doubled in the last 3 years and above the average for similar UK businesses;
• significant research and development, with an application for UK intellectual property protection;
• gross revenue of at least £1 million in the last full year;
• gross revenue of at least £500,000, with at least £100,000 from exports;
• the equivalent of at least 10 full-time jobs for settled workers;
• the equivalent of at least 5 full-time jobs for settled workers, paying an average of at least £25,000 a year.

Jobs must have existed for at least 12 months. You must also not have spent more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period, and pass the Life in the UK test. After settlement you can usually move on to British citizenship. The Government has consulted on changing how settlement works ("earned settlement"); this page describes the rules in force today.

How we can help

Before you pay an endorsing body, we can test your idea against the endorsement criteria and tell you plainly where the plan is weak. We review the business plan and forecasts, check your English and savings evidence, and prepare the visa applications for you and your family.

Later, we advise before contact point meetings and on any outside job, help you choose and evidence your two settlement criteria, and act for you if an endorsement is withdrawn or an application refused, including on administrative review.

Frequently asked questions

How much money do I need to invest?

There is no fixed figure. The endorsing body judges whether you have, or can raise, enough money for your plan. Investing £50,000 is one of the seven settlement criteria, and you need two.

Can I join a company that is already trading?

Not on a first application. The business must be new. The exception is a founder who is already on the route, or was on the Start-up route, and is continuing with the same business.

What happens if my business fails?

Tell your endorsing body. If you plan a new innovative, viable and scalable venture, it may continue to support you. If not, it will withdraw the endorsement and the Home Office may cut your visa short, so take advice early about other routes.

Can two co-founders both apply?

Yes, if each is an essential member of the founding team. At settlement, though, you cannot both rely on the same investment or the same jobs to meet the criteria.

Can I switch from the Graduate visa?

Yes. Graduate visa holders can switch in the UK once they have an endorsement. If you are still on a Student visa, you must have completed your course first.