Multiple businesses (on the start-up and innovator visas)

Multiple businesses on the innovator visa: On the innovator visa you can set up multiple businesses. The visa conditions say:

[…] no work, other than working for the business(es) the applicant has established

[…] working for the business(es) does not include any apprenticeship or any work pursuant to a contract of service […] with another business (which means successful applicants cannot fill a position or hire their labour to another business, even if the work is undertaken through contracting with the applicant’s own business or through a recruitment or employment agency).

Restriction on employment: So the restriction on the innovator visa is that you are not permitted to do anything which effectively amounts to employment (whether in your own right or through a company). Innovators may be:

Developing other businesses as well as their main idea – any business pursued outside their endorsement does not need to be monitored by you, however you should ensure that you are happy that their pursuit of said businesses will not negatively impact their ability to progress their endorsed business.

So your other businesses do not need to be endorsed. You will just need to ensure that they do not interfere with the business for which you have been endorsed. It is clear that you will need bring the other businesses to the attention of the endorsing body, so that they are in a position to make this assessment. So other businesses will need to be pursued openly and with their consent.

Multiple businesses on the start-up visa: On the start-up visa you can also set up multiple businesses.

The main visa condition is:

  1. So you are not restricted to work for the business for which you have been endorsed.
  2. The government’s guidance references this (in describing the start-up visa):

The position I explained for the innovator visa also applies equally to the start-up visa. So start-up applicants may be:

Requirement to notify / be transparent: So my comments about transparency with the endorsing body about the other businesses apply equally here.