BEFORE YOU LEAVE

Innovator Visa

The innovator visa category is for an experienced business person who wishes to establish a business in the UK.
All applicants must meet the points requirement (70 points required). Applicants can score points under either the requirements for new businesses or the same business. Applicants can only score points under either the new business or same business requirements, and they cannot combine points from both. All applicants must also score points for English language and finances. Those who are coming to the UK for the first time will need to apply under the 'new business' requirement.

New Business

Applicants applying under the 'new business' criteria will need to demonstrate:

• Innovation: The applicant has a genuine, original business plan that meets new or existing market needs and /or creates a competitive advantage.
• Viability: The applicant has the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and market awareness to successfully run the business.
• Scalability: There is evidence of structured planning and of potential for job creation and growth into national and international markets.

Same Business

Applicants applying under the 'same business' criteria, the endorsing body must be satisfied that:

• There is significant progress in made by the business against the business plan assessed in their previous endorsement.
• The business is registered with Companies House and the applicant is listed as a director or member of that business.
• The business is active and trading.
• The business is sustainable going forward.
• The applicant has demonstrated that they are actively involved in the day-to-day management and development of the business.
• The endorsing body is reasonably satisfied that the applicant will spend their entire working time in the UK on continuing to develop business ventures.

Visa Entitlements

Successful applicants under the Innovator visa are issued for an initial maximum period of three (3) years. They can set up a business or several businesses and work for their business which includes being employed as a director, or self-employed as a member of a business partnership. They will have free access to public schools and the National Health Service. Eligible dependents may also be able to work or study without any restrictions.

Upon successfully holding an Innovator Visa for a total of three (3) years, applicants may be entitled to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) provided they meet the settlement requirements.

FAQ

• Can we have an Innovator team? v

  • Applicants do not need to be the sole founders of their businesses. Whilst multiple innovators in the same company can receive endorsements each applicant must have been endorsed in their own right. For new business applications, each innovator applicant must also be able to demonstrate that they have their own £50,000 available to invest in the company.
    
    Where there are co-directors in a company, who are both applying for initial permission on the basis of endorsements issued in the innovator route, that they both have the required investment funds in their own right.

• How much funds (financial requirement) do I need? v

  • Applicants who are applying from in the UK and has been in the UK for more than 12 months at the time of application they will automatically meet the financial requirement.
    
    Where an applicant is applying from outside of the UK or has not already been in the UK for at least the 12 months before their application they must demonstrate that they have sufficient funds to support themselves and any dependants.
    
    The relevant levels for innovator applicants are: £1,270 for the main applicant, £285 for a dependant partner, £315 for a first child and £200 for each subsequent child.

• Can I switch within UK? v

  • Applicants can switch into the Innovator route unless their last grant of permission was in any of the following routes:

    • visitor
    • short-term student
    • Parent of a Child Student
    • Seasonal Worker
    • domestic worker in a private household
    • outside the Immigration Rules.
    
    
    Applicants who are on immigration bail are also unable to switch into the route.

• Genuine Innovator requirement v

  • The Home Office may carry out a genuineness assessment for innovator applications in certain circumstances. An endorsing body will already have assessed an applicant's business plan and the Home Office are not expected to duplicate that assessment. A balance of probability test should only be carried out on an application if the Home Office have reason to believe that there are specific grounds to doubt a migrant's genuineness. This power is primarily intended to be used where the Home Office has information that would not otherwise have been considered by an endorsing body when it has assessed a migrant's suitability for endorsement.

• How many days am I allowed to stay outside UK to apply for ILR? v

  • An applicant must complete a continuous residence period of 3 years as an innovator. In order to meet the continuous residency requirement, applicants under the Innovator visa category should not be outside the UK for more than 180 whole days in any of the three consecutive 12-month periods, preceding the date of the application for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

• What are the Settlement criteria for Innovator visa? v

  • In order to qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain (or ILR visa), an applicant under Innovator visa must meet at least 2 of the following: -

    • at least £50,000 has been invested into the business and actively spent furthering the business plan, or
    • the number of the business's customers has at least doubled within the most recent 3 years and is currently higher than the mean number of customers for other UK businesses offering comparable main products or services, or
    • the business has engaged in significant research and development activity and has applied for intellectual property protection in the UK, or
    • the business has generated a minimum annual revenue of £1 million in the last full year covered by its accounts, or
    • the business is generating a minimum annual revenue of £500,000 in the last full year covered by its accounts, with at least £100,000 from exporting overseas, or
    • the business has created the equivalent of at least 10 full-time jobs for settled workers, or
    • the business has created the equivalent of at least 5 full-time jobs for settled workers Each job must have an average salary of at least £25,000 a year (gross pay, excluding any expenses).
    
    
    Applicant should also meet other settlement requirements.

• How much funds (financial requirement) do I need? v

  • Applicants who are applying from in the UK and has been in the UK for more than 12 months at the time of application they will automatically meet the financial requirement.
    
    Where an applicant is applying from outside of the UK or has not already been in the UK for at least the 12 months before their application they must demonstrate that they have sufficient funds to support themselves and any dependants.
    
    The relevant levels for innovator applicants are: £1,270 for the main applicant, £285 for a dependant partner, £315 for a first child and £200 for each subsequent child.

• Rights of Dependantsv

  • Dependants (including children under 18 years of age or husband, wife, civil partner, unmarried partner or same-sex partner) will be eligible to live and stay in the UK with the main applicant. They can live and work in the UK without any restrictions. They will be granted leave in line with the expiry date of the PBS migrant's (or main applicant's) leave.

    • No recourse to public funds;
    • Registration with the police, if applicable;
    • No Employment as a Doctor or Dentist in Training
• Conditions of Stayv

  • Applicants will have the following conditions attached to their leave:

    • No recourse to public funds;
    • Registration with the police, if applicable;
    • • No employment other than working for the business or businesses that you have established, joined or taken over; and
    • No employment as a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach).
• What is my immigration status while my application is pending?v

  • If applicants submit their application before their authorised stay ends, their existing immigration status will continue until their application is decided, even if the decision is not made until after the end of their permitted stay. An applicant can continue to work until their case is decided if the conditions of their existing leave allow them to do so.

• Biometric Requirementv

  • Non-EEA nationals applying under Innovator visa have to apply for a biometric residence permit.
    
    The biometric residence permit is a residence permit which holds a migrant's biographic details (name, date and place of birth) and biometric information (facial image and fingerprints), and shows their immigration status and entitlements while they remain in the UK. This also means that a UK visa will no longer be stamped in the applicant's passport and all applicants will be issued one of the new Biometric visa cards instead. These cards look very similar to a (pink) UK driving license, except they have a microchip in the back.
    
    Once the application for Skilled worker visa is submitted online, applicants are required to attend their biometric appointment at one of the Visa Application Centers to provide their fingerprints, photo and signature. .
    
    Successful offshore applicants will receive a 30-day' vignette sticker' in their passport instead of a vignette with the full grant of leave. This 30-day visa will be the date they indicated as their intended travel date in their visa application. Applicants under Skilled worker visa will be required to collect their BRP from the Post Office branch detailed in their decision letter within ten days of arrival in the UK. The Post Office branch is linked to the postcode that they submitted in their visa application. The BRP card can then be used as proof of right to work, study and access public services in the UK.

• Digital Statusv

  • EEA nationals making an application under the Innovator visa using the UK Immigration: ID Check app will be given digital status if their application is successful.
    
    EEA applicants as a part of the Skilled worker visa application process can use the UK Immigration: ID Check app to complete the identity stage of their visa application. Using the app, they should confirm their identity, verify their documents and take a picture.

• Immigration Health Surchargev

  • The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) was introduced by the Home Office on 6 April 2015. People coming to the UK for more than six months have to pay this health surcharge as a part of their immigration application towards the National Health Service (healthcare in the UK). Offshore applicants will have to pay the health surcharge if they are applying for a visa for a period of longer than six months, and onshore applicant will have to pay the health charge for any length of visa.
    
    Applicants will have to pay £470 per year as a student, or as a Youth Mobility Scheme or applicant who is under 18 years. For all other visa and immigration applications, they have to pay 624 per year. Dependants will usually need to pay the same amount as the main applicant. The exact amount they have to pay depends on how much leave they are granted. They can calculate how much they will have to pay before you apply. If the period of grant applied for is less than 6 months, then half of the yearly amount to be paid and if the period of grant applied for is more than 6 months, then whole year amount is to be paid.
    
    Visa application will not be granted if applicants do not pay the healthcare surcharge or application will be delayed if the right amount is not paid.
    
    Following persons are exempted from paying the IHS:

    • diplomats or a members of a visiting armed forces and not subject to immigration control
    • dependants of a member of the UK's armed forces
    • dependants of a member of another country's armed forces who is exempt from immigration control
    • applicants for a visa for the Isle of Man or Channel Islands
    • British Overseas Territory citizens resident in the Falkland Islands
    • asylum seekers and applicants for humanitarian protection, and their dependants
    • domestic workers who have been identified as victims of slavery or human trafficking
    • those applying for discretionary leave to remain in the UK as someone who has been identified as a victim of slavery or human trafficking, and their dependants
    • those applying for permission to remain as the victim of domestic abuse, and their dependants
    • those claiming that being made to leave the UK would be against their rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and their dependants
    • Applicants and their dependants applying for Health and Care Worker visa
• Government Fees

  • Home Office fees for Innovator visa Application
    	Postal	Super Priority Service	Overseas or Offshore application
    Main Applicant	£1,277	N/A	£1,021
    Partner & Child aged under 18 (if applying together)	£1,277	N/A	£1,021
    Partner or child aged under 18 (if they are applying later), or child aged over 18	£1,277	N/A	£1,021
    **Application fee will be automatically reduced by £55 if an applicant is a national of one of the following countries: - Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden or Turkey. This reduction only applies to their visa application, and their partner and children will still need to pay the full application fee.

• Processing Timesv

  • In line with the Home Office service standards for processing UK visa applications for Innovator visa, they decide within 3 weeks if applying from the outside UK and within 8 weeks, if applying within UK.