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Innovator Founder Visa UK

The Innovator Founder visa is designed for entrepreneurs who want to establish and develop an innovative business in the UK.

The route can be attractive for founders with a genuinely original proposition, but it is not simply a business visa application.

You must first secure endorsement from an approved endorsing body and then satisfy the separate Home Office immigration requirements.

Garth Coates Solicitors provides immigration advice to entrepreneurs, founders and their families at different stages of the Innovator Founder route.

We can assess your immigration position, explain the requirements that apply to your circumstances, identify potential issues before submission and help you prepare the visa application and supporting evidence.
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Innovator Founder visa advice for entrepreneurs

A successful application depends on more than describing a promising idea. Your business plan must show that the venture is innovative, viable and scalable, and you must have generated or made a significant contribution to the ideas in that plan. You must also intend to play an active day to day role in developing the business.

The endorsement and immigration stages need to work together. An endorsement letter must meet the Immigration Rules, while your personal application must address requirements including age, English language ability, maintenance funds where applicable and suitability.

Our firm was established in 2008 by Garth Coates, who previously worked within the Home Office as an immigration officer. Garth Coates Solicitors is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, number 491304. You can read more about Garth Coates Solicitors and the firm.
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Support from application through to your next immigration step

We can advise whether the Innovator Founder route fits your current immigration position, help you understand the evidence required for the visa application and consider issues affecting switching, dependants, extensions and future settlement.

The route normally grants permission for three years. During that period, the endorsing body continues to monitor the progress of the business through required contact point meetings. If you later extend your permission, change your business plans or work towards settlement, your immigration position and the status of the endorsed business remain important.

Careful preparation can therefore matter both before the initial application and throughout the period in which you hold the visa.

If you are considering an Innovator Founder visa, contact Garth Coates Solicitors to discuss your circumstances and the next steps.
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FAQs

The Innovator Founder visa allows eligible entrepreneurs to establish and develop an innovative business in the UK after securing endorsement from an approved body. Garth Coates Solicitors can assess your immigration circumstances, explain the requirements, help prepare your Home Office application and supporting documents, and advise on issues that may affect the application.

The route is intended for founders who have generated, or made a significant contribution to, the business idea and who will play an active role in carrying out the business plan. The applicant can be a sole founder or an instrumental member of a founding team.

For a new business, the proposal must satisfy the endorsement requirements for innovation, viability and scalability. After endorsement, the visa application is a separate legal process. The endorsement letter must normally have been issued no more than three months before the date of the visa application and must not have been withdrawn.

We can help you understand how the endorsement evidence and your personal immigration evidence fit together so the application is prepared consistently.

Garth Coates Solicitors can advise on the immigration requirements surrounding endorsement and help you understand what an approved endorsing body is expected to assess. We can review your position against the Innovator Founder rules, explain the evidence you may need and help ensure that your visa strategy is aligned with the endorsement you obtain.

For a new business, the endorsing body must be satisfied that you have a business plan, that you generated or significantly contributed to its ideas, that you will have a day to day role in carrying it out and that you are either the sole founder or an instrumental member of the founding team.

The business must also meet the innovation, viability and scalability tests. Endorsing bodies can examine matters such as market need, competitive advantage, available resources, your skills and experience, growth planning and potential job creation.

Only organisations on the current Home Office list can issue new Innovator Founder endorsements. Because that list can change, it is important to check the approved bodies in force when you are preparing your application rather than relying on an older article or previous list.

For an Innovator Founder visa, innovative means having a genuine and original business plan that meets a market need or creates a competitive advantage. Viable means the plan is realistic and achievable. Scalable means there is structured potential for growth, including job creation and expansion into national and international markets.

These are not labels that can simply be added to a business plan. The endorsing body will look at whether the evidence supports the claims being made.

Innovation may involve the product, service, technology, delivery model or another meaningful competitive advantage, but the idea must be credible rather than different only in a superficial way. Viability is closely connected to the resources available to the business and whether you have, or are developing, the skills, knowledge, experience and market awareness needed to operate it successfully.

Scalability requires a convincing growth case. The rules specifically refer to structured planning, job creation and growth into national and international markets. Garth Coates Solicitors can help you understand how these immigration requirements affect the evidence needed for your application.

There is no fixed £50,000 minimum investment requirement for a new Innovator Founder visa application. You must, however, show the endorsing body that sufficient funding is available for your proposed business and explain its source. Separate personal maintenance requirements and visa, healthcare and endorsement charges can also apply to your application.

If you are applying from outside the UK, or applying inside the UK after having permission for less than 12 months, you normally need at least £1,270 in personal savings. The money must generally have been held for 28 consecutive days. Business investment funds cannot be used to satisfy this personal maintenance requirement.

As at September 2026, the Home Office application fee is £1,357 per person when applying from outside the UK and £1,693 per person when applying to switch or extend from inside the UK. The endorsement costs £1,000, and each required contact point meeting costs £500. The Immigration Health Surcharge is also payable where applicable.

Government charges can change, so the current figures should always be checked when you are ready to apply.

If your endorsement is withdrawn or your Innovator Founder visa is refused, Garth Coates Solicitors can review the decision and advise on the immigration options available in your circumstances. Depending on what has happened, the next step may involve addressing an evidential problem, making a fresh application, considering administrative review or examining another immigration route.

Endorsement and the visa decision are separate processes. A refusal by an endorsing body does not automatically mean that every future application will fail, but the reasons for refusal should be understood before you approach the process again. If endorsement is withdrawn after a visa has been granted, the Home Office may consider action against the existing immigration permission.

Where a Home Office visa refusal involves an alleged caseworking error, administrative review may be available. In other situations, a fresh application or another legal remedy may be more appropriate.

If you are affected by a refusal, withdrawal or possible cancellation of permission, obtain advice promptly so that any deadline and your current immigration status can be assessed.

Yes, where the Immigration Rules allow switching, Garth Coates Solicitors can assess your current permission, confirm whether an application from within the UK is available and help you prepare it. Some visa holders can switch from within the UK, while several categories are specifically excluded and must leave the UK to apply.

You cannot switch to the Innovator Founder route from a visit visa, short term student visa, Parent of a Child Student visa, seasonal worker visa or domestic worker in a private household visa. People on immigration bail or with certain permission outside the Immigration Rules are also excluded.

Student visa holders face additional conditions. They generally need to have completed the course they were sponsored to study, unless they are studying for a full time PhD and have completed at least 24 months of that course.

If the Innovator Founder route is not suitable, another business or work route may need to be considered. For example, our Skilled Worker visa guidance explains the sponsored work route.

An Innovator Founder visa is normally granted for three years. You must continue developing the endorsed business and attend at least two contact point meetings with your endorsing body during your permission. You may also take work outside your own business if that job requires at least a level 3 qualification.

The contact point meetings allow the endorsing body to assess your progress against the endorsed business plan. If the endorsing body withdraws its endorsement, this can affect your immigration permission, so ongoing compliance should be treated as part of the visa route rather than something that ends once the Home Office grants permission.

You can establish one or more businesses and work for your own business as a director or as a member of a business partnership. You can also travel abroad and return to the UK while your permission remains valid.

If your business later needs to recruit sponsored workers, that is a separate immigration process. Our sponsor licence application service explains the requirements for UK employers that want to sponsor eligible workers.

Eligible partners and children can apply as dependants of an Innovator Founder visa holder. Garth Coates Solicitors can consider the family applications alongside the main applicant so that relationship evidence, maintenance requirements and application timing are addressed together. Each dependant must make a separate application and meet the requirements that apply to them.

A dependant partner can include a spouse, civil partner or qualifying unmarried partner. Eligible children are usually under 18 when first applying, although an older child may sometimes continue as a dependant where they already hold permission in that capacity.

Additional maintenance funds can apply. Under the current rules, this is £285 for a partner, £315 for the first child and £200 for each additional child, in addition to the main applicant’s maintenance requirement where that requirement applies.

Dependants can generally work and study in the UK, although work as a professional sportsperson or sports coach is restricted. Their route to settlement is not necessarily the same as the founder’s three year settlement route.

Yes. The Innovator Founder route can lead to indefinite leave to remain after three years, but completing three years does not by itself guarantee settlement. Garth Coates Solicitors can review your immigration history and business position, explain the settlement requirements and help prepare the application where you meet the relevant rules.

For settlement, you need a fresh endorsement confirming significant achievements against the business plan. The business must be registered with Companies House, active and trading, and expected to remain sustainable. You must also continue to have an active key role in its day to day management and development.

The business must satisfy at least two specified success criteria. These include qualifying levels of investment, customer growth, research and development with an application for UK intellectual property protection, revenue and export performance, or creation of qualifying jobs for settled workers.

You must also meet the continuous residence requirement, which currently limits absences to no more than 180 days in any 12 month period, and meet the Knowledge of Life in the UK requirement.

Planning your evidence well before the end of the three years can make it easier to identify gaps while there is still time to address them.

Garth Coates, Immigration Law Firm
Garth Coates

Principal Partner

A Message from Our Principal

At Garth Coates Solicitors, we provide expert legal advice and unwavering support across the full spectrum of UK immigration matters. Before qualifying as a solicitor, I worked within the UK Home Office (UKVI) as an Immigration Officer — a role that gave me valuable insight into the inner workings of the immigration system. Since then, I have gone on to represent clients at several of the UK’s most prominent immigration law firms, and later established this firm to deliver a more focused and client-centred approach.

Together with my senior legal team, we bring over 30 years of combined experience in the UK immigration sector. This depth of expertise enables us to successfully handle even the most complex and challenging cases — from visa refusals and judicial review proceedings to corporate sponsorships, family reunifications, and permanent settlement applications.

We are proud of our high success rate, earned through strategic thinking, meticulous preparation, and a commitment to delivering results. Our multilingual team of solicitors, caseworkers, and support professionals is well-equipped to serve a global clientele with care, professionalism, and cultural understanding.

At Garth Coates Solicitors, we fight for our clients’ rights and treat each case with the attention and seriousness it deserves. Whether you’re applying for the first time, facing an appeal, or unsure of your options, we are here to guide you with clarity and confidence.

Warm regards,

Contact us for an Innovator Founder Visa UK consultation

(Typical response time 2 business hours)