The UK Innovator Founder Visa is the UK's main immigration route for entrepreneurs launching innovative, viable, and scalable businesses. It replaced both the former Innovator Visa and the Start-up Visa on 13 April 2023 as the single endorsement-based entrepreneur route. From 8 April 2026 the visa fee is £1,357 from outside the UK or £1,693 to switch inside the UK, alongside the £1,000 endorsement fee and two mandatory £500 contact point meetings. There is no minimum investment threshold, and the route offers a 3-year accelerated pathway to Indefinite Leave to Remain — half the time of the standard Skilled Worker route. The year-ending-March-2024 success rate of approximately 86% reflects how the endorsement gateway filters applications before they reach the Home Office. Full route mechanics live in official Innovator Founder visa guidance on gov.uk.
The Innovator Founder visa is the UK's primary entrepreneur immigration route. Applicants need endorsement from a Home Office-approved Business Endorsing Body — three are openly accessible (UK Endorsing Services, Innovator International, Envestors Limited), plus the invite-only Global Entrepreneurs Programme — confirming the business idea is innovative, viable, and scalable. From 8 April 2026 the visa fee is £1,357 outside UK / £1,693 inside UK, plus £1,000 endorsement, £500 × 2 contact point meetings, and £1,035 per adult per year Immigration Health Surcharge. The route grants 3 years initially, allows unlimited extensions, and leads to ILR after 3 years if the business meets at least 2 of 7 settlement achievement criteria. English requirement: B2 (IELTS 5.5 each component).
- What is the UK Innovator Founder Visa?
- Innovator Founder Visa Requirements 2026
- Is There a Minimum Investment Requirement?
- Fees from 8 April 2026
- Innovator Founder Visa Success Rate
- Business Ideas and Examples by Sector
- Endorsement Process and Approved Bodies
- Existing Innovator Visa Holders: Extensions and Switching
- 3-Year ILR Pathway and Settlement Criteria
- Frequently Asked Questions
UK Innovator Founder Visa 2026: Requirements, Success Rate & 3-Year ILR Pathway
The Innovator Founder visa was introduced on 13 April 2023 to replace two predecessor routes — the former Innovator Visa (£50,000 minimum investment, closed to new applicants on the same date) and the Start-up Visa (closed concurrently). The merger created a single endorsement-based pathway. The key structural change was removing the £50,000 minimum investment threshold while preserving the 3-year accelerated ILR pathway. Detailed eligibility lives in Appendix Innovator Founder of the Immigration Rules.
Two important changes apply in 2026. First, under Statement of Changes HC 1333 (25 November 2025), Student visa holders who have completed their course can now switch directly to the Innovator Founder visa without leaving the UK and may begin self-employment while their application is pending. Second, the 8 April 2026 fee uplift raised the visa application fee from £1,274 to £1,357 outside the UK and from £1,590 to £1,693 inside the UK. The endorsement fee (£1,000), contact point meeting fees (£500 each), and Immigration Health Surcharge (£1,035 per adult per year) were unchanged.
What is the UK Innovator Founder Visa?
The Innovator Founder visa is the UK's primary endorsement-based immigration route for entrepreneurs establishing innovative, viable, and scalable businesses. It requires no minimum investment, demands endorsement from a Home Office-approved Business Endorsing Body, and grants 3 years of permission initially with a direct pathway to Indefinite Leave to Remain after 3 years. The route replaced both the former Innovator and Start-up routes on 13 April 2023.
The Innovator Founder route sits within the wider UK work-visa system as the principal alternative to sponsored employment. Where the main UK sponsored work permission requires an employer-issued Certificate of Sponsorship, the Innovator Founder route requires an endorsement letter from a Business Endorsing Body confirming the venture is "innovative, viable, and scalable." Once endorsed, applicants apply directly to UKVI without an employer intermediary. Founders considering alternative routes should also evaluate the Global Talent endorsement route for exceptional individuals (better suited to recognised tech, science, or arts leaders) and the High Potential Individual route for top-50 university graduates.
Innovator Founder Visa Requirements 2026
Applicants need a valid endorsement letter from an approved Business Endorsing Body, must be 18 or over, must demonstrate B2 English (IELTS 5.5 in each of reading, writing, speaking, and listening), must hold £1,270 in personal savings for 28 consecutive days (or have been in the UK 12+ months), and must intend to play an instrumental day-to-day role in the endorsed business. The points test requires 70 points: 50 for the endorsed business plan, 10 for English, 10 for the financial requirement.
Eligibility Criteria Summary
- Age: 18 years or over at the date of application
- Endorsement: Valid letter from an approved Business Endorsing Body, issued within 3 months of the visa application date
- Business idea test: Must be new (not joining an existing trading business), innovative (different from anything else on the market), viable, and scalable
- English language: CEFR B2 across all four components (IELTS UKVI 5.5 in each, or equivalent)
- Maintenance funds: £1,270 held for 28 consecutive days, or 12 months continuous UK residence
- Active role: Day-to-day management and development role — passive investors do not qualify
- Suitability: Must not fall within the Part Suitability refusal grounds
Is There a Minimum Investment Requirement?
No. The Innovator Founder visa has no statutory minimum investment requirement. The former Innovator visa demanded £50,000 and the Tier 1 Entrepreneur route demanded £200,000 — both thresholds were removed when the new route launched in April 2023. However, endorsing bodies will independently assess whether you have sufficient lawful funds to start and sustain the business through to milestones in the business plan. The £50,000 figure remains relevant later: it is one of the 7 settlement achievement criteria measured at the 3-year ILR stage.
Removing the fixed investment threshold was the most significant design change between the old Innovator Visa and the new Innovator Founder route. The change recognised that highly innovative IP-led ventures often require modest initial capital — many high-growth software and digital businesses launched with under £20,000 and grew rapidly through revenue rather than equity. The 2023 reform decoupled "innovative venture" from "capital-rich applicant." Comparison with the predecessor Tier 1 Entrepreneur ILR pathway shows the policy shift clearly — Tier 1 Entrepreneur required £200,000 minimum investment plus job-creation evidence; Innovator Founder requires neither at entry stage.
Innovator Founder Visa Fees from 8 April 2026
From 8 April 2026 the Innovator Founder visa application fee is £1,357 from outside the UK and £1,693 when switching inside the UK — both rates rose from £1,274 and £1,590 respectively. The £1,000 endorsement fee, the £500 contact point meeting fees, and the £1,035 per adult per year Immigration Health Surcharge were all unchanged. There is no employer sponsor, so no Certificate of Sponsorship or Immigration Skills Charge applies. Total worker-side cost for a 3-year application from outside the UK is approximately £6,462 (visa + endorsement + IHS + 2 contact point meetings).
| Fee Type | Amount from 8 April 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Visa application (outside UK) | £1,357 | Per applicant including each dependant |
| Visa application (inside UK switching or extending) | £1,693 | Per applicant including each dependant |
| Endorsement fee | £1,000 + VAT | Paid directly to the Business Endorsing Body |
| Contact point meeting (12 months) | £500 + VAT | Mandatory check-in with endorsing body |
| Contact point meeting (24 months) | £500 + VAT | Mandatory check-in with endorsing body |
| Immigration Health Surcharge | £1,035 per adult per year | £3,105 total for a 3-year visa |
| IHS — under-18 dependants | £776 per year | Reduced rate for child dependants |
| Priority service (optional) | +£500 | 5-working-day decision target |
| Super Priority service (optional) | +£1,000 | Next-working-day decision target |
| ILR application (after 3 years) | £3,226 | Per applicant from 8 April 2026 (up from £3,029) |
£1,357 visa fee + £1,000 + VAT endorsement + £1,000 + VAT contact point meetings (£500 × 2) + £3,105 IHS (3 × £1,035) ≈ £6,462 plus VAT on endorsing-body fees. For a family of two adults and one child, the total rises to roughly £12,829 (2 × £1,357 visa + £1,000 endorsement + £1,000 contact point meetings + £3,105 × 2 adult IHS + £776 × 3 child IHS). Comparison with the wider complete UK work visa cost breakdown places the Innovator Founder route between the standard Skilled Worker (cheaper headline fee) and the higher-capital £2,000,000 Investor route legacy framework. The £1,035 per year NHS funding levy is the single largest cost component over a 3-year visa.
Innovator Founder Visa Success Rate
The Innovator Founder visa success rate is approximately 86% based on Home Office statistics for the year ending March 2024 — 990 visas granted against 137 refusals out of 1,154 resolved applications. The predecessor Innovator visa over its 2019–2023 operational period achieved approximately 83% (1,512 grants from 1,814 applications) but with early-year refusal spikes during 2020 as applicants and endorsing bodies adjusted to the innovation, viability, and scalability test. Endorsement-stage approval rates vary by sector and endorsing body from approximately 54% to 93%.
Understanding the success rate at decision stage understates the true approval picture because most weak applications are filtered at the endorsement-letter stage before reaching the Home Office. An applicant who secures endorsement has approximately an 86% chance of receiving the visa. The endorsement bottleneck is where most failures occur — endorsing bodies apply rigorous innovation, viability, and scalability tests, and reject applications with generic business plans, weak market research, or insufficient evidence of the applicant's central role.
| Period | Applications Resolved | Granted | Approval Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year ending September 2020 (Innovator visa) | 1,269 | 573 | ~45% |
| Lifetime total 2019–2023 (Innovator visa) | 1,814 | 1,512 | ~83% |
| Year ending March 2024 (Innovator Founder visa) | 1,154 | 990 | ~86% |
Innovator Founder visa refusals concentrate around five themes: generic or weak business plans that fail to demonstrate genuine innovation against existing UK market offerings; insufficient evidence of the applicant's instrumental role in developing the venture (the route is for active founders, not passive investors); gaps in maintenance-funds documentation (£1,270 must be held for 28 consecutive days at the application date); expired English language SELT certificates (validity 2 years); and inconsistencies between the business plan submitted to the endorsing body and supporting documents submitted to UKVI. Applications submitted without professional immigration advice show materially higher refusal rates than represented applications. See our wider analysis of common UK work visa refusal triggers.
Business Ideas and Examples by Sector
The "innovative, viable, and scalable" test is sector-neutral — the route is open to tech and non-tech ventures alike provided the idea meets all three criteria. Innovation means the idea is different from anything else on the UK market (not necessarily globally novel — incremental innovation against UK competitors can qualify). Viability requires realistic financial projections and operational planning. Scalability demands evidence the business can grow into national and international markets with job-creation potential.
Innovative Business Idea Examples by Sector
| Sector | Example Business Concepts | Typical Initial Capital |
|---|---|---|
| HealthTech | AI-driven diagnostics, telepsychiatry platforms, elderly care monitoring technology | £10,000 – £100,000 |
| FinTech | Blockchain financial infrastructure, AI-powered planning tools, niche payment innovations | £15,000 – £200,000 |
| AgriTech | Vertical farming systems, crop analytics platforms, sustainable food supply chain | £8,000 – £120,000 |
| EdTech | AI tutoring platforms, VR learning experiences, skills assessment SaaS | £2,000 – £40,000 |
| Green Tech | Renewable energy hardware, carbon tracking software, sustainable packaging | £10,000 – £150,000 |
| E-commerce | AI personalisation engines, sustainable marketplaces, hyper-niche platforms | £5,000 – £75,000 |
| DeepTech / R&D | Hardware prototyping, biotech research, novel materials science | £25,000 – £500,000 |
Endorsing bodies look beyond the sector to the strength of the plan itself. Business plans must demonstrate detailed UK market research, realistic financial projections supported by source data, operational milestones tied to capital requirements, and competitive differentiation against named UK competitors. The bar is substantially higher than at the Tier 1 Entrepreneur era — endorsing bodies have publicly stated that generic templated plans are the leading cause of endorsement refusal.
Endorsement Process and Approved Bodies
Endorsement from a Home Office-approved Business Endorsing Body is mandatory and precedes the visa application. As at 2026, the GOV.UK list of Business Endorsing Bodies that can issue endorsements for new Innovator Founder applications names three openly accessible organisations — UK Endorsing Services, Innovator International, and Envestors Limited — plus the Global Entrepreneurs Programme (GEP), run by the Department for Business and Trade, which endorses only founders it has already invited onto its programme and is not open to direct applications. The current list is published on the official endorsing bodies list on gov.uk and is updated periodically, so always check it before applying.
- Genuine innovation: Original concept differentiated from existing UK market
- Detailed business plan: Including UK market research, financial projections, and growth milestones
- Scalability evidence: Demonstrable job-creation and national/international growth potential
- Lawful funding: Sufficient capital to start and sustain the business, fully documented sources
- Active role: Applicant's central responsibility in business strategy and day-to-day operations
- Fit-and-proper status: Clean immigration record, no relevant convictions, no adverse business history
- Contact point commitment: Agreement to attend 2 mandatory progress reviews at 12 and 24 months
Contact Point Meetings
During the 3-year visa period, applicants attend two mandatory contact point meetings with their endorsing body — typically scheduled at the 12-month and 24-month anniversaries. Each meeting carries a £500 + VAT fee paid to the endorsing body. The meetings review progress against the original business plan, assess whether the venture remains innovative, viable, and scalable, and confirm continued eligibility for extension or settlement. A poor contact point review can trigger endorsement withdrawal — which in turn produces visa curtailment with 60 days to leave the UK or apply for an alternative route.
Existing Innovator Visa Holders: Extensions and Switching
The original Innovator visa closed to new applicants on 13 April 2023 — the same date the Innovator Founder route launched. Workers granted Innovator visa permission before that date retain transitional rights and three options for their settlement pathway.
Existing Innovator visa holders can: (1) extend Innovator permission through a Legacy Innovator Endorsing Body that previously endorsed them, (2) apply for ILR after 3 years under the original Innovator settlement framework, or (3) switch to the Innovator Founder route under the "same business" provisions by securing endorsement from one of the current Business Endorsing Bodies. The 3-year accelerated ILR pathway applies to both routes. Legacy Endorsing Bodies cannot endorse new ventures or new applicants — only continue supporting existing ones.
Three Options for Existing Innovator Visa Holders
| Option | Endorsing Body | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Extend Innovator visa | Legacy Innovator Endorsing Body that previously endorsed you | 3-year extension; same business; remains on Innovator route |
| Apply for ILR under Innovator rules | Legacy body issues settlement endorsement against 2+ achievement criteria | Indefinite Leave to Remain under Appendix Innovator settlement rules |
| Switch to Innovator Founder route | A current Business Endorsing Body (UK Endorsing Services, Innovator International, Envestors, or invite-only GEP) | Move under "same business" provisions to the current route — unlocks secondary employment flexibility |
The Innovator Founder route allows secondary employment outside the endorsed business at RQF Level 3 or above — Innovator visa holders could not take outside employment at all. For founders supplementing their income through consultancy or part-time professional work during the bootstrapping phase, the new route's flexibility is materially more useful. The 3-year ILR pathway and 3-year visa duration are identical between the two routes, so the switch carries no settlement-timing penalty.
Comparison: Innovator vs Innovator Founder
| Feature | Innovator (Closed) | Innovator Founder (Active) |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Closed to new applicants 13 April 2023 | Open |
| Minimum investment | £50,000 | No fixed minimum |
| Secondary employment | Not permitted | Permitted at RQF Level 3 or above |
| Visa duration | 3 years | 3 years |
| ILR pathway | 3 years | 3 years |
| Endorsement bodies | Legacy bodies only — cannot endorse new ventures | Current Business Endorsing Bodies |
| English requirement at entry | B2 (historical standard) | B2 (IELTS 5.5 each component) |
3-Year ILR Pathway and Settlement Criteria
The route's strongest commercial feature is the 3-year accelerated ILR pathway — half the standard 5-year qualifying period for permanent settled status routes applicable to sponsored workers. The 2025 White Paper proposes extending most work-route ILR periods under an earned-settlement framework, but the Innovator Founder 3-year pathway is specifically protected in current proposals. Standard SET(O) settlement decision timelines run up to 6 months from biometric enrolment for Innovator Founder ILR applications.
Innovator Founder visa holders can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after 3 years of continuous residence if their business demonstrates significant achievements by meeting at least 2 of 7 specified settlement criteria. These cover investment growth, customer base growth, R&D activity, revenue milestones, export performance, and job creation. Settlement requires endorsement from the endorsing body confirming the achievement test is met, plus a Life in the UK test pass, B2 English standard, no absence exceeding 180 days in any 12-month rolling period, and good character. The ILR application fee is £3,226 from 8 April 2026.
The 7 Settlement Achievement Criteria
The applicant must demonstrate the business met at least 2 of the following 7 criteria during the 3-year visa period. The criteria are assessed by the endorsing body at the 24-month contact point meeting and confirmed in the settlement endorsement letter:
- Investment criterion: At least £50,000 invested into the business and actively spent on furthering the business plan
- Customer growth criterion: Customer base at least doubled within the 3 years and the current base is higher than the UK mean for the sector
- R&D criterion: Significant research and development activity with a UK intellectual property application — patents filed, trade marks registered, or design rights protected
- Revenue (Option A): Annual gross revenue of at least £1 million in the most recent full financial year
- Revenue (Option B): Annual gross revenue of at least £500,000 with at least £100,000 from export sales
- Job creation (Option A): Created at least 10 full-time jobs for settled UK workers
- Job creation (Option B): Created at least 5 full-time jobs for settled UK workers with an average salary of at least £25,000 per year
ILR Application Requirements
- 3 years continuous residence: Maximum 180 days absence in any rolling 12-month period — see the 180-day absence rule for settlement
- Settlement endorsement: Letter from endorsing body confirming 2+ achievement criteria have been met
- Life in the UK: Pass the settlement knowledge assessment
- English at B2: Maintained at the entry level — see our CEFR test routes and exemptions for UK visas guide
- Good character: No relevant unspent convictions, no immigration breaches, clean record
- Active business: Venture must remain active and trading at the application date
From ILR to British Citizenship
Holders of ILR can apply for UK naturalisation as a British citizen 12 months after the settlement grant. The combined timeline from initial Innovator Founder visa to British citizenship eligibility is approximately 4 years — among the fastest pathways available for non-EU founders. During the 12-month wait between ILR and citizenship application, absence must not exceed 90 days. Refused visa applications can sometimes be challenged through UKVI internal administrative review within 14 days of the decision.
- The Innovator Founder route replaced the Innovator and Start-up visas on 13 April 2023
- From 8 April 2026 the visa fee is £1,357 outside UK or £1,693 inside UK
- No minimum investment required — focus is on innovation, viability, and scalability
- Approval rate of approximately 86% (year ending March 2024) for applications reaching the Home Office stage
- Endorsement bottleneck: ~54%–93% approval at the endorsing-body stage depending on body and sector
- Accelerated 3-year ILR pathway — half the standard Skilled Worker route
- Settlement requires meeting at least 2 of 7 business achievement criteria
- Dependants can join and work without restriction (except as professional sportsperson or coach)
- HC 1333 (Nov 2025) allows direct Student-to-Innovator Founder switching in-country
- Existing Innovator visa holders retain extension and ILR rights through Legacy Endorsing Bodies
For the canonical text of the rules, see Appendix Innovator Founder of the Immigration Rules and the current official endorsing bodies list.
There is no statutory minimum investment requirement. The previous Innovator visa required £50,000 and the Tier 1 Entrepreneur route required £200,000 — both thresholds were removed when the Innovator Founder route launched on 13 April 2023. However, endorsing bodies will independently assess whether the applicant has sufficient lawful funds to start and sustain the business through to the milestones set out in the business plan. The £50,000 figure remains relevant later in the journey — it is one of the 7 settlement achievement criteria assessed at the 3-year ILR stage.
The Innovator Founder visa success rate is approximately 86% based on Home Office statistics for the year ending March 2024 — 990 visas granted against 137 refusals from 1,154 resolved applications. The predecessor Innovator visa over its 2019–2023 operational period had an overall approval rate of approximately 83%. Endorsement-stage approval rates vary substantially by sector and endorsing body — published rates range from approximately 54% to 93%. Most applications that fail do so at the endorsement letter stage rather than at the Home Office stage, so reaching the visa application typically signals a strong chance of approval.
From 8 April 2026 the visa application fee is £1,357 from outside the UK and £1,693 to switch inside the UK. Additional costs include the £1,000 + VAT endorsement fee, two £500 + VAT contact point meetings during the 3-year visa, and £1,035 per adult per year Immigration Health Surcharge (£3,105 total for the 3-year visa). Optional Priority service adds £500 and Super Priority adds £1,000. A single applicant applying from outside the UK should budget approximately £6,462 for the full 3-year visa period including endorsement and IHS.
Standard visa processing is approximately 3 weeks for applications from outside the UK and approximately 8 weeks for in-country applications, measured from biometric enrolment — see our wider guide to decision timelines after enrolling biometrics. The endorsement-stage timeline depends on the chosen Business Endorsing Body and typically runs 4 to 8 weeks. The complete journey from business plan preparation to visa decision normally runs 4 to 6 months end-to-end. The 5-working-day Priority service shortens visa decision substantially; Super Priority targets next working day, subject to availability at the Visa Application Centre.
Yes. Innovator Founder visa holders can take secondary employment outside the endorsed business — a key advantage over the closed Innovator visa, which prohibited outside work. The secondary role must be at RQF Level 3 or above (A-level equivalent skill). The endorsed business must remain the applicant's primary focus. Workers cannot fill positions through their own company or an employment agency, and cannot use the route as a backdoor to general sponsored employment. Studying alongside the business is also permitted.
Yes. Spouses, civil partners, unmarried partners of at least 2 years, and children under 18 can apply as dependants. Each dependant pays the same visa application fee as the main applicant (£1,357 outside UK / £1,693 inside UK from 8 April 2026), plus the Immigration Health Surcharge. Dependants can live, work, and study in the UK without restriction — including starting their own businesses or taking sponsored employment — but cannot work as professional sportspersons or coaches. Dependants qualify for ILR at the same time as the main applicant. Full mechanics in our UK family dependant visa guide.
Endorsement withdrawal triggers visa curtailment — the Home Office reduces the visa's validity to 60 days, giving the holder 60 days to leave the UK or apply for an alternative immigration route. Withdrawal typically follows business failure or cessation of trading, repeated missed contact point meetings, failure to pay required fees, or a fundamental change to the business idea that means it no longer meets the innovation, viability, and scalability tests. Withdrawal can also follow a fit-and-proper-person concern arising during the visa period.
Yes. From 25 November 2025 under Statement of Changes HC 1333, Student visa holders who have completed their course can switch directly to the Innovator Founder visa without leaving the UK. Students may also begin self-employment while their application is pending — provided they have completed the course (or have spent 24+ months on a PhD) and have obtained endorsement from an approved Business Endorsing Body. The switching change makes the UK significantly more competitive against the US and EU graduate entrepreneur routes.
The visa is granted for 3 years initially. It can be extended for further 3-year periods indefinitely provided the business remains active and the endorsing body continues to support the venture at each contact point review. After 3 years of continuous residence, applicants can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain if the business meets at least 2 of the 7 settlement achievement criteria. There is no statutory cap on the total time someone can remain on the Innovator Founder route — but the practical pathway leads to settlement and citizenship within 4 to 5 years.
The Innovator visa closed to new applicants on 13 April 2023 and was replaced by the Innovator Founder visa on the same date. The two routes differ in three material respects: (1) the Innovator Founder route removed the £50,000 minimum investment threshold that applied to the old Innovator visa; (2) the Innovator Founder route permits secondary employment outside the endorsed business at RQF Level 3 or above, whereas the Innovator visa prohibited it; and (3) the endorsing bodies have changed — current Business Endorsing Bodies issue new endorsements, while Legacy Innovator Endorsing Bodies can only continue supporting existing pre-2023 holders. The 3-year ILR pathway and 3-year visa duration are identical between the two routes.