Innovator Founder visa (UK innovator visa)

Overview

The Innovator Founder visa is the UK route for people who want to set up and run an innovative business that is different from anything else on the market.

To apply you need three things: a business idea that an approved endorsing body has assessed as new, innovative, viable and scalable; an endorsement letter from that body; and the personal eligibility requirements — age, English and savings. The visa used to be called the Innovator visa. It is granted for 3 years, can be extended in 3-year blocks without limit, and leads to settlement after 3 years if your business meets the growth criteria.

Once in the UK you can set up one or several businesses, work for your business as a director or as a self-employed partner, take other work needing at least a level 3 qualification, bring your partner and children, and travel freely. You cannot claim most public funds or work as a professional sportsperson or coach.

Eligibility in detail

Every condition below comes from GOV.UK. The endorsing body tests the business; the Home Office tests you.

• A new business

  You cannot join a business that is already trading. The idea must be new, innovative, viable with potential for growth, and scalable.

• Endorsement letter

  An approved endorsing body must assess your business or idea and give you an endorsement letter. You must also have your business assessed again each time you extend.

• Funding for the business

  You must prove to your endorsing body that you have enough funding and where it is from. No investment funds are needed if your business is already established and endorsed for an earlier visa, or you changed your business with your endorsing body’s agreement.

• Age

  You must be at least 18 years old.

• Knowledge of English at B2

  Read, write, speak and understand English to at least B2 on the CEFR scale, proved by a UK school qualification, a UK degree, an Ecctis-confirmed overseas degree taught in English, or a Secure English Language Test — unless you are exempt or proved it in an earlier successful application.

• Personal savings of £1,270

  Held in your bank account for 28 consecutive days before you apply, or before you extend or switch if you have been in the UK for less than a year. Investment funds and money earned by working illegally in the UK cannot be used.

• Progress meetings

  Meet your endorsing body after 12 months and 24 months to show progress. Your visa may be cut short if the endorsement is withdrawn.

• Tuberculosis test

  Provide TB test results if you are applying from a country where the test is required.

Countries and territories whose nationals do not need to prove English:

• Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British overseas territories, Canada.
• Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Malta, New Zealand.
• St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, the USA.

Fees and costs

Figures as published on GOV.UK, last updated 21 October 2024 (Innovator Founder visa) and 31 October 2024 (Innovator Founder settlement).

Visa fee — applying outside the UK

£1,357 per person

Visa fee — extend or switch inside the UK

£1,693 per person

Endorsement (paid to the endorsing body)

£1,000

Contact point meeting at 12 and 24 months (each)

£500

Healthcare surcharge

Payable per year of stay

Personal savings you must hold for 28 days

£1,270

Additional savings — partner

£285

Additional savings — first child

£315

Additional savings — each further child

£200

Biometric enrolment

No fee

Indefinite leave to remain after 3 years

£3,226 per person

Processing times

From the point you have applied online, proved your identity and provided your documents.

Applying from outside the UK

Usually within 3 weeks

Extending or switching inside the UK

Usually within 8 weeks

Partner or child applying from outside the UK

Usually within 3 weeks

Indefinite leave to remain

Usually within 6 months

The published in-country and overseas processing-time tables (updated 21 July 2025 and 26 June 2026) confirm the 8-week and 3-week standards for Innovator Founder. GOV.UK says you will be contacted if your application will take longer — for example if a family member needs an appointment and you do not, your documents need to be verified, you need an interview, or because of personal circumstances such as a criminal conviction.

Documents you will need

You may be asked for more depending on your circumstances. Anything not in English or Welsh needs a certified translation.

• Your endorsement letter showing an approved endorsing body has assessed your business or business idea.
• A valid passport or other document that shows your identity and nationality.
• Bank statements showing at least £1,270 in savings for 28 consecutive days before you apply (and the extra amounts for any dependants).
• Proof that you meet the English language requirement — qualification, Ecctis confirmation or SELT result.
• Tuberculosis test results if you are from a country where the test is required.
• For dependants: evidence of your relationship, and for children, evidence of their address such as a bank statement, credit card bill, driving licence, NHS registration or an official letter from their university or college.
• For children born in the UK during your stay: a full UK birth certificate showing both parents’ names.
• Certified translations of any document not in English or Welsh.

Application process

Partner and children

Your partner and children can apply to join or stay with you as dependants if they are eligible.

A dependant is your husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner, a child under 18 (including one born in the UK during your stay), or a child over 18 who already has permission as your dependant. Their visa usually ends on the same date as yours; where parents’ visas end on different dates, the child’s ends on the earlier one. Each family member makes a separate application and pays the visa fee.

• Partner: prove a marriage or civil partnership recognised in the UK, or that you have lived together in a relationship for at least 2 years; if you cannot live together, show an ongoing commitment through regular contact, financial support, shared care of children or time spent together.
• Child: must live with you unless away in full-time education, and must not be married or in a civil partnership. Provide evidence of their address.
• Savings: in addition to your £1,270, £285 for your partner, £315 for one child and £200 for each additional child, held for at least 28 days — GOV.UK’s example is £1,870 for a partner and one child. Proof is not usually needed if applying in the UK after a year or more here.
• Dependants applying from abroad usually get a decision within 3 weeks. Dependants applying in the UK must not travel until decided.
• Dependants cannot switch to this route from a visit visa, Short-term student visa, Parent of a Child Student visa, Seasonal Worker visa, domestic worker visa, immigration bail or permission outside the rules. Student dependants can switch only after completing their course or 24 months of PhD study.
• A child born in the UK is not automatically British; apply for their dependant visa before they turn 18 and before travelling in and out of the UK with them.
• Dependants can work (not as a sportsperson or coach), study and travel, but cannot claim most public funds or the State Pension. They can apply to settle after 5 years in the UK.

Extending and switching

Both are made online from inside the UK, and your dependants must apply separately or at the same time.

• Extend if you still meet the eligibility requirements and are still running a business in the UK or want to set up a new one. Your business must be assessed again by an endorsing body.
• Each extension is for 3 years and there is no limit on the number of extensions. Apply before your current visa expires — you can stay until a decision if you applied in time.
• You can also apply online from abroad to extend an Innovator Founder visa held in the last year, or at a visa application centre in a country where you have permission to live for at least 6 months.
• Switch from most other visas if you meet the eligibility requirements. Students must have completed their sponsored course or have studied full time for a PhD for at least 24 months.
• You cannot switch from a visit visa, Short-term student visa, Parent of a Child Student visa, Seasonal Worker visa, domestic worker in a private household visa, immigration bail, or permission outside the rules.
• If you have been in the UK for less than a year when you extend or switch, you must again show £1,270 in savings for 28 days.
• Decisions on extensions and switches usually take 8 weeks; do not leave the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man while waiting.

Path to settlement (ILR)

Apply for indefinite leave to remain after 3 years on an Innovator Founder or Innovator visa. Time on any other visa does not count.

For the settlement endorsement you must have an active key role in the day-to-day management and development of a business that is registered at Companies House with you as a director or member, is currently trading and can continue trading for at least the next 12 months. The business must also have done at least 2 of the following:

• Had £50,000 of investment, which you have spent on developing the business.
• Doubled the number of customers in the last 3 years, to more than the average for similar businesses.
• Applied for intellectual property protection in the UK.
• Made £1 million revenue in the last full year covered by accounts.
• Made £500,000 revenue in the last full year covered by accounts, with £100,000 of this from exporting overseas.
• Created the equivalent of 10 full-time jobs that have existed for 12 months.
• Created the equivalent of 5 full-time jobs that have existed for 12 months, with an average salary of £25,000 a year.

What you can and cannot do

The visa is built around running your own business, with limited scope for other work alongside it.

• Set up a business or several businesses.
• Work for your business, including as an employed director or as a self-employed member of a partnership.
• Do work outside your business if the job needs at least a level 3 qualification.
• Bring your partner and children as dependants if they are eligible.
• Travel abroad and return to the UK.
• Apply to settle permanently after 3 years if you meet the other requirements.

You cannot:

• Apply for most benefits (public funds).
• Work as a professional sportsperson, for example a sports coach.
• Join a business that is already trading — the business must be new.

Common reasons applications are refused

• No valid endorsement letter, or an endorsing body assessment that does not confirm the business is new, innovative, viable and scalable.
• Trying to join a business that is already trading rather than setting up a new one.
• Personal savings below £1,270, not held for the full 28 consecutive days, or drawn from investment funds or illegal earnings.
• English evidence that does not reach B2 or comes from a provider or qualification the Home Office does not accept.
• Switching from a category that is not permitted — visitor, Short-term student, Seasonal Worker, domestic worker, immigration bail or permission outside the rules — or as a student who has not completed the course.
• Missing or unaccepted tuberculosis test results where required.
• False, incomplete or untranslated documents.
• Applying to extend without a fresh endorsing body assessment, or after the endorsement has been withdrawn.
• Travelling outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man while an in-country application is pending, which withdraws it.
• Personal circumstances that engage the general grounds for refusal, such as criminal convictions.

Source note

Information sourced from GOV.UK (Innovator Founder visa, last updated 21 October 2024; Indefinite leave to remain if you have an Innovator Founder or Innovator visa, 31 October 2024; Visa processing times: applications inside the UK, 21 July 2025; Visa processing times: applications outside the UK, 26 June 2026) and reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Rules change; we verify requirements at the point of instruction.

Ready to launch your UK business?

We guide founders through endorsement, the visa application, contact point meetings and the settlement endorsement three years on.