UK Innovator Founder Visa
The UK Innovator Founder Visa is designed for experienced entrepreneurs who want to establish a genuinely innovative and scalable business in the United Kingdom. Endorsed by an approved body, this visa leads to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in 3 years and British citizenship roughly 4 years in.
The UK Innovator Founder Visa grants residency to experienced entrepreneurs who establish a genuinely innovative, viable, and scalable business in the United Kingdom. The UK government sets no fixed minimum investment, but an endorsement from an approved endorsing body and English proficiency at B2 level are required. To maintain status, absences can't exceed 180 days in any rolling 12-month period. The visa is issued for 3 years and leads to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) after 3 years — faster than the standard 5-year settlement route. British citizenship can be applied for 12 months after ILR is granted (roughly 4 years total).
- Investment
- No fixed minimum
- Presence Requirement
- Max 180 days absence per 12 months
- Initial Visa
- 3 years
- Endorsement
- Required from UK body
- Settlement (ILR)
- Eligible after 3 years
- Citizenship Eligible
- After 4 years
Compare Other Programs
Other routes in this category that may fit your situation
Who Is This For?
- Experienced entrepreneurs with a genuinely innovative, viable, and scalable business idea
- Must obtain endorsement from a UK Home Office-approved endorsing body
- Business must be new to the UK market (not replicating an existing business model)
- Sufficient personal funds to support yourself in the UK without public funds
- English language proficiency at B2 level (CEFR) or above
- Can include spouse and dependent children as dependants
- No minimum investment amount required by the UK government
How It Works
- 1
Business Plan Development
Prepare a detailed business plan demonstrating innovation, viability, and scalability. ITC iLand works with business advisors to strengthen your application.
- 2
Endorsement Application
Apply to an approved UK endorsing body (typically a university, accelerator, or recognized business body). They assess your idea against the criteria: innovation, viability, scalability.
- 3
Endorsement Letter
Successful applicants receive an endorsement letter — valid for 3 months for visa application purposes.
- 4
UK Visa Application
Apply for Innovator Founder Visa at UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) online. Submit biometrics and supporting documents.
- 5
Settle in UK & Build Business
Enter UK and launch your business. Annual check-ins with endorsing body confirm business progress. To keep status, absences can't exceed 180 days in any rolling 12-month period.
- 6
Settlement (ILR)
After 3 years, meet settlement criteria: business established and trading, endorsing body confirms at least 2 of 7 growth criteria met with a fresh endorsement. Apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) — faster than the standard 5-year route.
- 7
Citizenship
12 months after ILR is granted (roughly 4 years total), apply for British citizenship — requires passing the Life in the UK test and no more than 90 days' absence in the 12 months before applying.
Reviewed by Ramin Asadi · RCIC · CICC #R407111 Verify
UK immigration and citizenship law sits outside the RCIC licence, which covers Canadian immigration. This page is maintained by ITC iLand and checked against official UK sources; the endorsement and visa application are handled by UK immigration counsel, with whom ITC iLand coordinates. Nothing on this page is UK legal advice.
Figures on this page were last verified against their official sources in July 2026.
This is not an investor visa — read this first
The United Kingdom does not currently offer a residence-by-investment route. The Tier 1 (Investor) visa — the £2 million route that most "UK Golden Visa" material still describes — was closed to new applicants in February 2022 and has not been replaced. No amount of money buys UK residence today.
What exists instead is the Innovator Founder visa, and it is a fundamentally different instrument. It is an entrepreneur route for someone establishing an innovative business in the UK. The gate is not capital; it is the judgement of an approved endorsing body about whether your business idea is genuinely innovative, viable and scalable.
That distinction decides who should read on. If you were looking for a passive investment that yields residence, the UK is not currently offering one, and Portugal or Greece are the honest alternatives. If you intend to actually build a business in the UK, this is one of the fastest routes to settlement in Europe.
The endorsement is the real application
Before the Home Office considers anything, an approved endorsing body must endorse your business against three tests: innovation, viability and scalability.
Innovation means an original business plan meeting a genuine market need or gap — not a new branch of something that already exists. Viability means the plan is realistic and that you have the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver it. Scalability means credible evidence of potential for growth, job creation and expansion into national or international markets.
A profitable, sensible business is not sufficient. Opening a restaurant, a consultancy or an import company — however sound — will generally fail the innovation test. The route is aimed squarely at something new.
The endorsement is where applications actually succeed or fail, and it is the part applicants routinely under-prepare. Endorsing bodies are a small set of approved organisations, each with its own focus and process, and they reject business plans that do not meet the bar. Choosing the right body and preparing for their assessment is the substantive work.
Source: GOV.UK — Innovator Founder visa
How much money you actually need
There is no government-set minimum investment. That fact is widely reported and widely misunderstood — it does not mean the route is cheap.
What it means is that the endorsing body decides how much funding your specific business plan credibly requires, and you must show you have it. A plan that needs £500,000 to be viable will not be endorsed on £50,000. The floor is set by your own business case rather than by a rule, which makes it less predictable, not lower.
Separately, you must meet the maintenance requirement — funds held for a defined period to support yourself on arrival — and satisfy an English language requirement at B2 level, which is materially higher than the A2 asked by Portugal.
Budget realistically for the business itself, the endorsing body's assessment and ongoing contact-point fees, Home Office application and healthcare surcharge fees for every family member, and UK legal and accountancy support. This page does not quote those amounts — Home Office fees and the healthcare surcharge are revised regularly, and are published on GOV.UK.
Settlement and citizenship
The reason to take this route seriously is the timeline. Three years to settlement is fast — most UK work routes take five.
| Timeline | What it actually requires | |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping the permit | Ongoing | No more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period during the qualifying residence. |
| Permanent residence | 3 years | Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) — faster than the standard 5-year settlement route. Requires a fresh endorsement showing at least 2 of 7 business-growth criteria met and that the business remains active. A November 2025 Home Office consultation proposed extending standard settlement to 10 years; Innovator Founder is expected to keep the 3-year path, but this was not yet finalized law as of mid-2026. |
| Citizenship | 4 years | Naturalization can be applied for 12 months after ILR is granted (so ~4 years total from visa start). Requires the Life in the UK test, English-language proficiency, and no more than 90 days' absence in the final 12 months before applying. |
What the three years actually require
Indefinite Leave to Remain is not automatic at year three. You need a fresh endorsement confirming the business is still active and trading, and evidence that at least two of seven business-growth criteria have been met — covering matters such as investment raised and spent, customer growth, job creation and revenue.
Throughout, you must not spend more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period during the qualifying residence. This is a real residence requirement, unlike the Portuguese and Greek programmes: the UK expects you to live here.
Citizenship follows twelve months after ILR, with the Life in the UK test, English at the required level, and no more than 90 days' absence in the final twelve months.
The business must genuinely succeed. If it fails, or fails to hit two of the seven growth criteria, the second endorsement does not come and neither does settlement. This route ties your immigration status to commercial performance far more tightly than any passive investment programme does.
Source: GOV.UK — Innovator Founder visa
Bringing your family
A partner and children under 18 can be included as dependants. They can work and study in the UK with essentially no restriction, and children access state education.
Each dependant carries their own application fee and their own Immigration Health Surcharge, which for a family across a multi-year route becomes one of the larger line items in the whole exercise rather than an afterthought. Dependants generally follow the main applicant's timeline to settlement, subject to meeting the same absence limits.
Policy risk worth knowing about
UK immigration rules change frequently and often at short notice. A November 2025 Home Office consultation proposed extending the standard settlement qualifying period to ten years. Innovator Founder was expected to retain its three-year path, but as of mid-2026 that had not been settled in law.
This is not a reason to avoid the route. It is a reason to treat the current three-year timeline as the rules in force today rather than a guarantee about the rules in three years, and to take advice at the point of application rather than relying on anything written earlier — including this page, which carries its verification date at the top for exactly that reason.
The general pattern in UK immigration has been that applicants are dealt with under the rules in force when they apply, with transitional provisions for those already in the system. That pattern is not a promise, and it has exceptions.
Who this suits — and who should look elsewhere
Innovator Founder suits a genuine founder with a genuinely innovative business, who intends to live in the UK, can satisfy an endorsing body, and wants settlement in three rather than five years. For that person it is among the best routes in Europe.
It is the wrong route if
- You want passive residence. This is a business visa; the business has to work.
- Your business is sound but conventional. Viability is not the same test as innovation, and conventional businesses fail the first one.
- You do not intend to live in the UK. The 180-day absence limit is enforced and settlement depends on it.
- You were looking for the Tier 1 Investor visa. It closed in February 2022 and has no successor.
- Your English is below B2 and you are not willing to get it there.
Country Location
Why ITC iLand for This Program?
ITC iLand has guided over 100 families through global citizenship and residency by investment programs — from Caribbean second passports to European Golden Visas. We work with government-authorized agents in each jurisdiction and bring 25+ years of international immigration expertise to ensure your application is compliant, complete, and processed without delays.
Frequently Asked Questions
Endorsing bodies assess three criteria: (1) Innovation — is the idea genuinely new, or a significant improvement over existing offerings? (2) Viability — is there a credible market and business model? (3) Scalability — does it have potential to grow significantly and create jobs?
The UK Home Office maintains a list of approved endorsing bodies. These include leading universities, startup incubators, and sector-specific business bodies. The right endorsing body depends on your industry.
No. The Innovator Founder Visa requires you to establish and actively lead a new UK business — you cannot simply invest in or buy an existing company under this route.
The UK Tier 1 Investor Visa (requiring £2M+) was closed in February 2022. The Innovator Founder Visa replaced the previous Innovator Visa in April 2023 as the primary entrepreneur route.
English language proficiency at B2 level (CEFR) is required — typically demonstrated through an approved Secure English Language Test (SELT) or recognized English-medium degree.
Absences cannot exceed 180 days in any rolling 12-month period during the qualifying period. This preserves the continuous residence needed for settlement (ILR).
After 3 years — faster than the standard 5-year route — provided all the qualifying time was accrued on Innovator Founder/Innovator leave only, you obtain a fresh endorsement confirming at least 2 of 7 specified business-growth criteria are met, and the business remains active and trading. Note: a November 2025 Home Office consultation proposed extending the standard settlement period to 10 years; Innovator Founder is expected to keep its 3-year route, but this has not yet been finalized into law.
You can apply 12 months after ILR is granted — roughly 4 years total from visa start. Beyond ILR, you'll need to pass the Life in the UK test, meet the English language requirement, and keep absences under 90 days in the 12 months before applying.
There is Always A Way