Innovator Founder: endorsed founders of innovative, viable, scalable businesses

Eligibility requirements

• An endorsement letter from an approved endorsing body confirming that the business venture is innovative (a genuine, original plan meeting new or existing market needs or creating a competitive advantage), viable (realistic and achievable with the founder's resources) and scalable (structured planning with potential for job creation and growth into national or international markets).
• For a new business, the applicant must be a founder who will be a director or member with a significant role in day-to-day management and development. A person cannot be endorsed to join a business that is already trading as an ordinary employee. Founders continuing a business previously endorsed under Innovator Founder, Start-up or Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) are assessed under the same-business criteria.
• The applicant must confirm they will attend at least two contact-point meetings with the endorsing body during the permission period; GOV.UK describes these as taking place at 12 and 24 months. Endorsement may be withdrawn, and permission curtailed, if the business is not progressing as planned.
• English at CEFR B2 in all four components (INNF 11.1), unless exempt.
• Funds of at least £1,270 held for 28 days (INNF 12.2), unless the applicant has been in the UK with permission for 12 months or more.
• Validity and suitability requirements, including no breach of immigration conditions that would disqualify a switch. Applications may be made from overseas or by switching from most routes, including Student, Graduate and High Potential Individual.

Legal framework

Build the evidence

Prepare records that substantiate the relevant criteria. The final checklist depends on the applicant, route and filing authority.

• A business plan written for the endorsement criteria: the problem, the original solution, evidence of market need, competitor analysis, financial projections, resourcing, and a job-creation and growth plan.
• Evidence of the founder's own background and the team's capacity to deliver the plan: CVs, prior ventures, technical credentials, letters of intent from customers or partners.
• Endorsement letter from the endorsing body, issued within the period the Rules require before the immigration application.
• English evidence at B2 (SELT, Ecctis-confirmed degree taught in English, or qualifying nationality) and 28 days of bank statements for the £1,270 funds unless exempt.
• For extensions and settlement: Companies House filings showing the applicant as director or member, contact-point meeting records, accounts, payroll records, investment and customer data, and R&D or intellectual-property evidence mapped to the growth criteria.
• Dependants' relationship and birth evidence and their own maintenance funds unless exempt.

How to apply

1. 01

   Test the idea against the criteria before approaching a body

   Endorsing bodies reject plans that are viable but not innovative, or innovative but under-resourced. Write the plan to the three criteria and identify the evidence that supports each. Decide whether the applicant will be sole founder or part of a team, since team members need separate endorsements and cannot share growth-criteria evidence at settlement.

2. 02

   Secure the endorsement

   Apply to one of the approved endorsing bodies, pay the endorsement fee (£1,000 per GOV.UK) and attend the assessment. The Global Entrepreneurs Programme endorses only founders it has already invited. An endorsement does not itself confer permission to be in the UK.

3. 03

   Apply for permission

   Submit the immigration application online with the endorsement letter, English and funds evidence; GOV.UK quotes £1,357 for applications from outside the UK and £1,693 for in-country applications, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge. The initial grant is for three years.

4. 04

   Build the business and meet the contact points

   Incorporate (if not already done), register for tax, and run the business as planned. Attend the contact-point meetings (GOV.UK quotes £500 each) and keep records of progress against the plan. Withdrawal of endorsement leads to curtailment.

5. 05

   Prepare the settlement or extension case

   At three years, assess which two of the growth criteria the business can evidence: £50,000 invested and spent; customers at least doubled and above the comparable mean; significant R&D with a UK IP application; £1 million gross revenue; £500,000 revenue with £100,000 from exports; 10 full-time jobs; or 5 jobs at a mean of £25,000. Where the criteria are not yet met, apply to extend for a further three years under the same-business criteria.

After approval & family planning

• Partners and children may join as dependants and may work and study. A partner's settlement period is five years, not the founder's three, unless the Rules provide otherwise on the application date.
• The founder must remain a director or member of the endorsed business with a day-to-day role. Working for another employer is permitted only as the Rules allow, and the business must continue to be the main activity.
• Settlement requires three years' continuous residence with no more than 180 days' absence in any 12 months, the Life in the UK test, English (speaking and listening B2 from 26 March 2027) and a current endorsement confirming the growth criteria. Naturalisation may be sought after a further period with indefinite leave to remain.
• The earned settlement consultation proposed that Innovator Founder holders should retain a three-year route; this is a proposal and the current Rule is the operative text.

What this route builds, and what it opens

WG assesses every route on three returns: the knowledge it adds, the cognitive capability that sustained work abroad develops, and the institutional opportunity it opens or closes. Real work is the mechanism in each case.

Programme context. Where a participant is the genuine founder of a new UK venture with a plan that meets the endorsement criteria, this route may be assessed. A managerial role in an existing affiliate is not a founder case and points instead to the Global Business Mobility routes. Read the framework ↗

Frequently asked questions

Points to consider

• Endorsement is a judgement by a private body applying Home Office criteria. Treat the endorsement application as the substantive hearing and the visa application as the formal step.
• The growth criteria are measured at settlement. A plan that aims only at survival for three years will usually need an extension rather than settlement; plan the evidence from the first financial year.